The girl stepped back quietly, as if her part in the moment was finished. She didn’t wait for a reaction. Didn’t ask a question. She simply moved aside and stood there, watching.
And then the man spoke.
“Why…”
It was barely a word. More like something pulled out of him against his will. Not anger. Not confusion. Something closer to grief, but sharper, more immediate.
That was when the others started to move.