The lamp in the upstairs hallway cast a long yellow shadow up the wall, and the stairs creaked as Jessica entered the foyer.
A full moon threw blades of silver light through the panes of glass above the front door—not enough to illuminate the area, only enough to emphasize its gloom.
The house had never felt more forbidding. She both dreaded and looked forward to the next day. Jessica looked forward to it because, during the night, her mind conjured up all kinds of dreadful scenarios, not that she needed much imagination given the numerous empty rooms that the huge house had. She also dreaded it in equal measure because the cooling equipment had broken down, and the summer heat made it impossible to stay in the house, and for someone who could not leave the house yet, it felt like a punishment. Jessica had noticed the decline in indoor air quality about a fortnight ago but had no way of contacting the cooling company to fix the climate control system. Her phone had found its way to the bottom of the pool, and her nearest neighbor was two miles away. With the plaster on her leg, she could not drive and was home alone. A honking car woke her up, and her sister showed up. She immediately contacted a cooling technician. When the cooling expert arrived for HVAC maintenance, Jessica’s sister had gone into town and gotten her a new phone. Jessica was relieved that all it took was replacing the air filter and comprehensive a/c service, and her air conditioner came to life. She couldn’t have been happier with the HVAC running and her sister keeping her company. The cooling specialist told her that the a/c setup had the latest cooling technology and, therefore, was easier to manage through regular maintenance.