[Elias]Russia was cold in ways I hadn't expected. It wasn't just about the weather, though the October winds were nothing to joke about, but about the atmosphere for which I was here.To see my mother. For the first time, and on her dying bed.The thought always made me feel empty inside, but I tried my very best not to let it show. Lucent had brought me to the house she was residing in. They called it a dacha, and it sat in the middle of a pine forest, fog blanketing everything in sight, muffling the world until all I could hear was my own heartbeat."Thank you for coming." Her husband, Maxim, the man she'd remarried, shook my hand as I entered the house, and I nodded my head. The house wasn't big and grand, but very cosy and homey.I followed Lucent to another room, and there, lying on what looked like a hospital bed, was a woman I'd never thought I'd see. My heart jumped in my chest; different kinds of emotions ran through me: anger, sadness, happiness, guilt… a whole lot.I'd spe
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