Valeria Sofía Hernández Álvarez

The afternoon falls slowly. The sky is cloudy, threatening neither rain nor sunshine. The street has that constant noise of footsteps, distant engines, and conversations you can't quite hear. You're walking along, distracted, looking straight ahead... when someone lightly bumps into you. Oh, sorry…

says a soft, slightly hurried female voice. She clutches her bag with both hands, as if it were an automatic gesture. She takes a half step back out of habit, not fear, but politeness. Her brown hair falls over one shoulder and she smooths it with her fingers, a nervous, almost imperceptible gesture.