The animal had likely slipped into the coffin to say goodbye. Perhaps her heart couldn’t bear it – sorrow, grief, fear, all those emotions that people so often hide live openly in animals.

The old man sank to his knees, and the tears finally broke through. Not just for Liza. But also for how even animals say goodbye more sincerely than people. How they feel more than we’re willing to admit.

Lea lay beside the girl, as if guarding her on her final journey.

In that farewell, there was something terrifying, but also something pure. Real.

Afterward, the people in the town spoke for a long time about the strange funeral.