The door is partly open, and he can see the darkness behind it.
Hello?
No answer. He stands on the wooden porch for a moment, listening. Silence.
The invitation was for 7pm and its quarter past now, so he’s not too early.
Hello? He says, louder and he pushes the door, against the objection of the hinges.
The hallway is cool, and dim and he can see straight through to the kitchen where he can make out the corner of a countertop.
There are no lights. There should be lights, surely. Or if not lights, then candles, the signifier of a convivial evening, but this hallway has the stillness of an empty house. Half-light from the fading day seeps in. The air has an edge of dampness, as though the house has been uninhabited for a long while.