A Slip into the Hall

I slipped through the gap into the wide, quiet hallway. Outside our door, the corridor stretched long and cool, lined with a runner of deep red carpet. I padded along the soft fabric edge, following the faint draft toward the stairwell. At the base of the banister, a dry brown leaf had drifted in from the street, sitting curled on the bottom step. I nudged it softly with my paw. It skittered a tiny inch with a paper-dry sound, and I sat down quietly beside it to watch the stairwell shadows rest.