A Beacon in the Dark

A soft red flicker caught my eye from behind the television stand as dusk settled in. I crept between the wooden leg and the baseboard, pausing to let my eyes adjust to the shadows. It was a power strip, humming very faintly, with several thick black cables curling around it like quiet garden roots. In the middle of the mess, someone had abandoned a striped twist-tie. I knelt down, picked up the flexible wire, and neatly coiled it around a loose cable loop so nobody would trip. Now the tiny red light blinks like a peaceful beacon guarding the corner.