You press the button and start walking before the light fully comes on.
It flickers once, then settles. By the time you reach the middle of the corridor it’s already there. Same brightness every time. Doors shut. Nothing moving.
You keep going.
Behind you, the light doesn’t go straight away. There’s always that short hold. Then a click.
It drops out behind you in sections. One, then the next.
The strip ahead comes on before you reach it. Most of the time. Sometimes it’s late and you take a step or two in the dim before it reacts. Shoes sound different for a moment. Then the light catches up again.
People walk through it the same way.
If you slow down, it changes. The one behind stays on longer. The one ahead comes on earlier. For a few seconds both are on.
Then one goes.
Someone stood still there once, roughly in the middle.
The light held. Then it went out anyway.
They shifted their weight. It came back.
They stayed again. It went again.
In the evening it’s quieter. No doors opening. No voices. Just the click behind you, then a few seconds, then the low hum above while it’s on.
You reach your door, unlock it, step inside.
The light stays on outside.
Then it goes.
