When Maria received a call from the unit, she immediately understood that something had happened.
The voice on the other end was trembling but tried to sound official:
— Ma’am… your son is no longer alive. He died from a severe infection. The body will be delivered in a sealed zinc coffin. I beg you — do not open it under any circumstances. Please accept my condolences!
Maria didn’t say a word. Only the phone fell from her hands.
The next day, a military truck drove into the yard. Two soldiers carried out the coffin — sealed, cold, with a plate reading “Do not open”.
At the funeral, the mother stood barely able to keep herself upright. Neighbors and friends held her, but she heard no one.
— This is a lie, — she whispered. — My son was never sick. They are hiding something.
— Maria, don’t… — her neighbor begged. — They say the infection is dangerous. It happens.
— What infection? — she broke down. — He called me three days ago, he was laughing, saying everything was fine!
— Maybe he didn’t tell you so you wouldn’t worry?
— No, I feel it — they’re lying. But I don’t know why. I must open the coffin, make sure he is alright.
— Are you out of your mind? You could get infected yourself. Don’t you dare.
— I don’t care, I’d rather leave with my son, but I will learn the truth.
The crowd gasped when the woman resolutely approached the coffin and tore off the lock.
The lid opened slightly — and the hall echoed with her scream.
Because inside… 
Continuation in the first comment 
Inside lay the body of her son, disfigured, covered in bruises and burns.
The face was almost unrecognizable, the lips split, the fingers broken.
Deep rope marks were visible on his chest.
Maria fell to her knees, pressing her son’s hand to her face.
— He didn’t die from an illness… They tortured him… — she whispered, trembling with horror.
The soldiers rushed to the coffin, trying to close the lid, but it was too late — everyone had seen it.
Rumors spread instantly. A week later, the military prosecutor’s office began an investigation.
It turned out that several young fighters brutally beat him for refusing to carry out an illegal order, and the commander ordered everything to be covered up as an “infectious death.”
Maria no longer cried. At her son’s grave she said quietly:
— You died like a hero. But now the truth will live too.
