Students in Winter Coats Waiting Night Library

Deep night softens the edges of a campus library reading room near Ismailia. Students cluster in heavy winter coats against a long wooden table, their breathless stillness marked by dry season air. Overhead lamps cast pools of warm yellow light that pool on the polished floor, creating soft reflections against the nearby glass windows. Stacks of textbooks sit open before them, pages illuminated while shadows stretch long across the carpet. The room hums with quiet focus as figures huddle close, shoulders touching, heads bowed over papers. One reflection of a coat sleeve glimmers on the glass pane behind them.