Angela stood in the mist-drenched cemetery, her small frame hunched as she stared blankly at the weathered gravestones. Her hands trembled as they hovered above one, tracing the letters without touching them, lost in a sea of swirling thoughts. The fog around her seemed to pulse with her confusion, thick and unyielding.

Suddenly, her eyes caught movement from the corner of her vision. Someone was there. She startled, jumping to her feet with an awkward, jerky motion, as if her limbs didn’t quite belong to her. Her wide eyes searched frantically for a moment before landing on the newcomer.

“Oh… I’m sorry,” she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper, as if unsure whether she should be speaking at all. She clasped her hands together nervously, shifting from foot to foot. “I… I didn’t mean to… disturb you.”

She looked down at the ground, avoiding eye contact, but after a beat, she spoke again, her words slow and uncertain, like they were being pulled from a deep well. “My name… is Angela. Angela Orosco. I… I’m looking for my mama. Have you… have you seen her?”

Her eyes flicked up for a brief moment, the fog around her seeming to close in tighter, suffocating. There was something vacant in her gaze, as if her thoughts were slipping away even as she tried to catch them. She winced, like the question she’d asked had hurt her, and wrapped her arms around herself, clinging to some semblance of comfort.

“I… Don’t… I don’t remember how long I’ve been looking,” she whispered, more to herself than to anyone else.