The sky above the cemetery is a shade of gray, threatening to break open and pour rain at any given second while the wind howls through the trees, carrying the chill of the incoming winter.Ilya stands before the familiar gravestones with a single rose. Slowly, he drops to one knee, and instantly, the damp grass soaks through the fabric of his trousers, and gently, he brushes off the collection of dead leaves from the carved names of his mother, father, and two sisters.Instantly, Ilya is overwhelmed with a suffocating weight of grief, a pain he has carried on his own for many years. He's too familiar with it, yet it tightens around his throat like a vine."I'm sorry it took me so long to visit," he whispers, his voice raw, stripped of the tough persona he wears for the rest of the world. Here, he's allowed to be vulnerable and seen.He stares at the worn stone, and the memories return."I haven't forgotten," he continues, his voice dropping into a vow. Slowly, he reaches out to trace
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