Lamp Light on Marked Essays in Fallujah Lecture Hall

Warm yellow light spills from a teacher's desk lamp, pooling over a stack of graded essays scattered across a worn wooden surface. The papers show red ink corrections and handwritten notes in Arabic script. Dust motes hang suspended in the beam, catching the glow against the dim room. Sheer curtains on the window filter the pale, cool blue of pre-dawn morning, casting soft shadows that stretch across the desk edge. The wood grain is rough and textured under the artificial light, against the smooth, thin paper. One pen rests near the edge of the papers, its cap off, waiting for the next mark.