Lilya's Goodbye

It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same, cold and desolate with smoke covering sky. Her eyes watered and the air was thin. She began coughing violently and collapsed on the floor, her body was beginning to give out. Taking short breaths, she reached into her pocket and removed a small item covered in rags. She kissed the mysterious item and put it back in her pocket. She knew it wasn’t much further. She began to crawl and grasp the cold gravel under her hands. She had to make it to the gates, she needed to get there as fast as she could. Her movements began to slow and her eyelids became heavy. she needed to make it home to Redwood Ranch. 

“Lilya!”  

 A familiar voice called out.  

“Lilya, wake up, this is no place for a nap young lady!”  

Lilya woke up with her mother standing over her with her arms at her hips.  

“You know you can’t just hang around the mailbox all day. It’s not going to make his letters arrive any faster you know.” Her mother sniffed, “I know you miss him. I miss him too dear.” 

Lilya’s eyes began to water.  

“it’s not fair mum. Why did he have to leave for the war?” 

Lilya’s mother looked away unable to look her daughter in the eyes.  

“The country needs your bother dear. Like it or not he didn’t have a choice..” 

“But.. I.. never said goodbye to him!” Lilya shouted with anger and rage in her voice.  

“It’s never easy to say goodbye, but he’s not gone forever dear”. Her mother reassured her. “He will return and you will get to spend time with him”. 

“Yeah.. I guess so” Lilya said as she wiped her tears away. 

“Do you want to see what I got your brother for his birthday?”  

“yes”. 

Lilya’s mother took out a small item wrapped in fresh rags, Lilya removed the rags and the two smiled brightly at each other as the sky began to get darker overhead with smoke and ash.  

A violent earthquake shook the cold dark ground beneath Lilya causing her wake up. She gasped and coughed as her eyes started to readjust. She was surprised by what she saw. She saw the same mailbox from when she was a kid. She couldn’t believe it, she finally made it home. The mailbox had bullet holes through it. She gathered her strength and stood up slowly to reach inside the mailbox.  

Her hands moved frantically. Up and down and all around the sides of the box making a clinging noise with each movement. There was nothing there. It was the same as her childhood. Not a letter, not a package, nothing from her brother.  

Tears streamed down Lilya’s face as she made her right hand into a fist and punched the wood post that the box sat on. The mailbox fell over and a deep sadness overcame her. The pain that she should have felt in her fist was masked behind her tears wondering if she will ever see her brother again. 

 While on her feet, she stumbled and a sudden gust of wind pushed her to cross the gate of the place she once called home. She continued walking forward slowly until she came across an old shed. The shed’s door was blown off of the hinges and the roof was nonexistent. She peered into the abandoned shed and what she saw shocked her to her core.  

Two skeletal remains laid huddled up next to each other slumped against the wall of the shed. One was fairly large wearing a tattered ripped apron with sunflowers on it. Similar to a piece of clothing her mother would wear for special occasions. The other seemed to be the remains of a small child clutching the adult skeleton’s right arm tightly. 

Lilya screamed into the air and feel on her knees at the sight of the two bodies. She cried out in intense pain as the thick air enveloped her lungs. Tears came pouring down her face as she yelled and pounded the ground as hard as she could with both of her hands.  

She slowly crawled to the adult sized skeleton and caressed the skull with her hand.  

“Mother”. She sobbed, “ I am so sorry.. Please forgive me.. I should have been here. You needed me and I couldn’t be there”.  

 Lilya focused her eyes on the child’s remains with tears blurring her vision. The remains seemed to be that of a young girl. The girl had on tattered and worn overalls and she held on tightly to mother’s arm. She was scared about what was to come and braced for it the only way she could. There was a bracelet on the girl’s right wrist. It was an old leather bracelet with some letter etched onto the outside of it. With a quick blow of air, the letters became much more visible and spelled out a name.  

 “Lilya”  

Everything in the world seemed to stop at that moment. A dark realization and shortness of breath overcame Lilya as she collapsed backwards onto her back. She couldn’t believe what she saw. She looked over and saw a broken mirror piece on the ground and held it to her face trembling.  

The mirror showed an older man with no hair and a green collared military jacket on and a feeling of hopelessness and loss in his eyes. The man in the mirror began to speak. 

I am sorry. 

I am so sorry. 

I am so sorry Lilya, I should have written you letters. I should have been here for you and mother.  

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out an item wrapped in rags. He pulled all the rags off to reveal a pocket watch. He dangled it in front of his face and tossed the rags aside. He positioned himself next to the skeletal remains of Lilya and his mother and put one arm around them. The other arm was positioned in front of them. He opened the locket to reveal an old family photo of Lilya, himself, and their mother all smiling peacefully in the photo.  

The man leaned in and whispered to Lilya.

I am here now.  

For both you and mom.  

Lilya, you never had to say goodbye to me, because I am here and that was all that mattered.