The silence at the funeral was deafening, broken only by quiet sobs and the rustling of dry leaves underfoot. At the center of the cemetery, surrounded by mourning relatives and friends, stood a casket adorned with flowers. Inside it lay Sasha — just 23 years old. His death had been sudden and unexplained. Healthy, full of life, and then… gone. A doctor’s report cited cardiac arrest in his sleep. But to his family, especially to his mother, it made no sense.

Tatiana, his mother, stood closest to the casket, her entire being drained of energy. Her face, pale and sunken, barely registered the people around her. She didn’t hear the whispers, the prayers, or the consoling words. She was alone in her grief, trapped in a moment that had shattered her world. Her only child — gone without warning, without a goodbye. She couldn’t understand how to move forward, nor did she want to.

She had made a silent decision: once the funeral was over, she would lie on Sasha’s grave and never get up again. She had no reason to live.

— «Ma’am,» a man in a black jacket gently touched her shoulder. He was from the funeral service. — «It’s time.»

Tatiana staggered. If not for Olga, her daughter-in-law, she would’ve collapsed. Olga held her close as Tatiana wept uncontrollably. Around them, others lowered their eyes, many also crying.

— «Let’s just do it already!» Olga yelled at the gravediggers in frustration. — «Get it over with!»

The workers moved toward the coffin, slipping ropes underneath, preparing for the descent. The tension in the air was palpable. The crowd braced for the final moment of farewell.

And then it happened.

— «Who exactly are we burying?» came a man’s voice from the crowd.

Heads turned. Confusion rippled through the mourners. The question seemed absurd, even offensive. But what followed froze everyone in place.

A faint, raspy voice came from the coffin.

— «Mom…»

There was silence. Then screams. Someone dropped a bouquet. A woman fainted. Others gasped. Olga instinctively pulled Tatiana back, but she broke free and ran to the casket.

Her hands trembled as she reached for the lid. With all the strength she had left, she opened it.

And there he was.

Sasha. Eyes half-open. Lips cracked and pale. Alive.

Barely, but alive.

— «Cold…» he whispered, his voice no stronger than a breeze.

What followed was chaos. Someone called for an ambulance. A paramedic rushed over within minutes, and after a tense check of his vitals, confirmed the impossible — the young man was not dead.

He had suffered what is known in rare cases as a lethargic sleep, or suspended animation — a condition so extreme that it mimics death to the point of fooling even trained medical professionals. No breath, no heartbeat detectable with simple tools. Mistaken for dead, Sasha had been sent to the morgue. And from there — to his own funeral.

The aftermath was explosive. The hospital launched an internal investigation. Doctors were suspended. There were news stories, interviews, even rumors of lawsuits. But all Tatiana cared about was that her son was back.

She refused to leave his side as he recovered in the hospital. When he finally opened his eyes and looked at her, tears ran down both their faces.

— «You brought me back,» he told her.

— «No,» she said. «You called for me. And I heard you.»

Years have passed. Sasha moved to a new city, started over. He now studies medicine, driven by the mystery of what happened to him. Tatiana visits often. They speak every day.

And the casket? It was never buried. Tatiana keeps it, tucked away in a garage, as a strange, haunting reminder of how close she came to burying her son alive — and how thin the line between life and death really is.