Behind me a dim light came into the hallway from the open bedroom door. This hallway and these stairs. The kitchen and living-room.

I could look

out the

windows by

standing on

my toes and

the windows

were just at

street level.

To enter the apartment from the street, you had to walk down four steps past a window that looked into the living room and then go through an outside door, beyond which was a foyer big enough to hold me and maybe three of my friends.

There was a second door to the left, at a right angle to the first one, and that was the door that led into the hallway. When you walked through that door, the first thing you'd see, right in front of you, was the flight of stairs going up to the second story landing, where you'd find the entrance to the bedrooms. To your left a third door led into the living room.

out of which flowed scattered darkness the musty smell heart beating like ice