The emergency lights cast long, weak shadows across the empty library floors. Rows of study tables sat abandoned under the half-dead glow, the usual fluorescent buzz replaced by a soft, red-tinged quiet. Sneha had lost track of time again. Her laptop screen still glowed with the half-finished assignment, the cursor blinking on a sentence she had rewritten three times. She rubbed her eyes, stretched her stiff neck, and finally looked at the clock on the wall.

Almost midnight.