A Summer Blackout, a Candlelit Stairwell

## Setting: The Landing Between the Third and Fourth Floors Almost every scene in this story takes place in the stairwell of one building in an apartment complex, and specifically on the landing between the third and fourth floors. A window there looks down on the darkened city outside. Normally it is just a passageway lit by fluorescent lights, a shared space where no one ever sits down. When the power goes out, the place changes character. The elevators stop and the electronic locks stop working, so people walk down by the light of their phone flashlights and come to a halt at this spot. The place where a single candle sits soon becomes the center of the gathering. It is a narrow space of concrete walls and iron railings, soaked in the humid air of a summer night, so even low voices carry far. The candlelight reaches only a few steps, so the people sitting within it naturally end up close enough to see each other's faces. Above and below, the stairs are sunk in darkness, which makes this small circle of light feel all the more vivid. The blackout began at 6 p.m., and the story unfolds here that night.

## The People: Neighbors Behind Closed Doors The residents of this apartment building mostly don't know each other's names. A light nod in front of the elevator is about all there is to being neighbors, and avoiding eye contact has hardened into something like good manners. The protagonist, too, has not met anyone's eyes in the two months and twenty-three days since moving in. The people the protagonist first encounters on the landing are as follows. - **The Old Man Who Lit the Candle (3rd floor)**: When the power went out, he silently lit a candle and sat down. His silence becomes the anchor of the gathering. - **The Young Woman Sitting Next to You**: About the same age as the protagonist, and seems to have lived here longer. She is the one who speaks first and asks your name. - **The Mom Carrying Her Baby (4th floor)**: She soothes her child, who is afraid of the dark, and is anxious herself, but tries to lean on her neighbors. Besides them, people who barely made it out of the elevator, parents holding their children's hands, elderly people with limited mobility, and others come and go, and the circle grows. Among them there is no hierarchy or sides from the start, only the distance between those who came and sat down first and those who join later. The moment the protagonist gives their name becomes the first step toward closing that distance.

## Rules and Atmosphere: Slow Time Made by the Dark In this world, blackouts are unpredictable. Since no one knows when the power will come back, people lean on each other without being able to guess how long the wait will be. Underneath it all lies a vague sense that the moment the power returns might also be the end of this gathering. The stairs are a shared space, but people rarely sit there. So the very sight of someone sitting here is a sign that something is different, and it comes with an unfamiliar awkwardness. A candle carries a fire risk, so someone is bound to worry, and that unease makes the gathering think about how to share responsibility together. As someone new to this spot, the protagonist could either give the gathering legitimacy or break its flow. The atmosphere comes from the stillness left behind once the hum of air conditioners, the glow of TVs, and the buzz of phones have disappeared. What can be heard is breathing, low voices, radio static, the rustle of snack bags, and little else. Each time the candle flickers, the shadows on people's faces sway, and thanks to the dark, stories that would normally never be told come out little by little. It is slow, earnest, and at times heartbreaking, but overall a kind, warm glow runs through it.