The woman with traces of recent hardships in her features paused, but for barely one moment, like when one's eyes caught a fleeting image. It felt family, jolting with some distant impression in the brain. The latter, however, had yet to process everything, yet to find the connection provoking a reaction, the source of the sense of familiarity, yet to process everything.
So the woman turned and continued on her way, but she hardly took a few steps before her eyes widened. Her heart skipped a beat, as she turned back to confirm the thought that surfaced in her mind.
She found nothing however, no one, and her anxiety climbed higher, this time clear, and for a reason very different from the one that had made her age etch deeper marks on her face.