What metaphors are used in The Necessary Grace to Fall by Gina Ochsner?

The first time the space metaphor appears is early in the story, when Howard is first disappointed with the routine nature of his job: Howard's "shoulders slumped and he could feel a space widening in his rib cage." Having seeded the story with this image, Ochsner works with it until it seems to signify something transcendent, a state of being without boundaries that is quite the opposite of little Howard's constant petty fears and imaginings.