Everyone in the village believed that after her husband’s death, farmer Nadja had lost her sanity.
People pitied her. For nearly fifty years, she had lived with her husband under the same roof. They were always together. They went shopping side by side, sat on the bench in front of the house, and even worked next to each other in the garden.
And then he died.
Her son had passed away many years earlier. The grandchildren lived in the city and visited less and less. For the first time in a long while, Nadja was completely alone.
One day, the neighbors noticed something unusual.
Nadja stepped into the yard with a shovel and began digging right in the middle of the property.
At first, no one paid much attention.
“She’s probably planting potatoes,” the neighbors said.
BUT DAY AFTER DAY, THE HOLE KEPT GROWING.
At first it was small. Then it became deeper. Eventually, it was deep enough for a person to stand inside.
Nadja was nearly eighty. With age, she had grown weaker, so she worked on the massive pit over several days in a row.
Sometimes, neighbors woke up at night to a strange sound. It was the shovel striking the damp earth again and again.
One day, a neighbor could no longer stay silent and called out over the fence:
“Nadja, why are you digging such a large hole?”
She wiped her forehead with her hand and calmly replied:
“My husband told me before he died to dig right in the middle of the yard. So I dig.”
THE NEIGHBOR FROWNED.
“But why?”
Nadja shrugged.
“If God wills it, I will find out.”
After that conversation, people were convinced the old woman had lost her mind. Some even called the police.
The officers arrived that same day. And on that very day, Nadja finally found what she had been searching for.
The shovel suddenly struck something hard. A dull wooden sound echoed.
The soil was quickly cleared, revealing the lid of a large old chest that looked like a small coffin.
THE POLICE EXCHANGED GLANCES. NEIGHBORS GATHERED AROUND THE PIT. WHEN THE LID WAS FINALLY OPENED, EVERYONE FROZE IN HORROR. 🤔😱
Inside were human remains. On the chest lay an old medallion that Nadja immediately recognized. It was her youngest son.
The boy the entire village had believed missing for years. Long ago, people thought the teenager had drowned in a river. Only the father knew the truth.
He was afraid to tell his wife. Instead, he told everyone he had thrown the boy out of the house and forbidden him to return.
The woman cried for years, hoping her son would come back one day. Only shortly before his death did the man finally confess the truth.
He said just one sentence:
“Dig in the middle of the yard. Our son is there. At least let him be buried with dignity.”
And now, after all these years, Nadja had finally found what she had been searching for.
