"It’s funny how it always rains at funerals, isn’t it? It’s as though all the sorrows of the world are combined and emptied from above."

"Voices danced around me as if they were echoing off some barrier between us, and they seemed strangely distant in my ears; almost as if I were underwater."

"I looked behind me, seeing the orange tree standing out against the grey horizon. Its old and twisted branches were stiffened at an odd angle, almost as if they were waving goodbye to me."

unbetad

"I stared through the whiteness, looking past my orange tree. It’s branches framed my view, the gnarled and twisted fingers caressing the corners of my eyes. There was nothing beyond it, even though I could feel that there was something there."

"“What’s happening to my Luna?” I demanded, raising my voice in order to attract her attention. “Take me back there, let me go back!”

“No,” she said, her eyes still focused on the blemish on the horizon. “I cant allow that.”

“I want to know what’s happening to my daughter!” I drew my arms around my chest and hugged myself tightly. If I uncrossed my arms, I feared I would try to strike out even though I knew it was impossible to hurt her. “Please.”"