Listening to Ranran calling for her mother over and over made tears well up in my eyes. We should never measure a child's world with an adult's worldview, because their world is not as complex as ours.
We watched Ranran enter the house, then come back out. She searched every room in the courtyard.
We knew she wouldn't find anything.
After wandering a while longer, Ranran returned to the doorway of the room where it happened, squatting down and burying her face in her knees.
She whimpered softly, "Mama, where are you? I miss you... Did you abandon Ranran? Ranran will be good from now on, Ranran will listen... Mama, come back..."
Ranran looked up, crying, and gazed toward the main gate. We followed her gaze—only darkness, wind, and us three observers. No sign of the mother she sought.
