At his granddaughter’s funeral, suspecting something was wrong, the old man approached the coffin and opened the lid. What he saw made his blood ran cold…
In the small village where everyone knew each other, the funeral of little Alina, the beloved granddaughter of Stefan, had brought all the villagers together. But amidst this sorrow, the old grandfather and his faithful dog Milo felt something strange—something unexplainable.
Milo suddenly began barking and lunging toward the coffin. Stefan didn’t pay much attention at first, but the dog’s distress soon transferred to him.
He slowly approached the coffin, his heart pounding. But Milo wouldn’t calm down—his barking grew louder, his eyes burning with determination. Stefan placed his hand on the coffin lid, he heard a faint sound coming from inside.
What he saw made his hair stand on end. His eyes widened in horror…
Alina, his seven-year-old granddaughter, was breathing. Her eyelids fluttered, and tiny beads of sweat appeared on her cold forehead. She wasn’t dead.
“She’s alive!” shouted Stefan, his voice hoarse with emotion. “Alina is alive!”
The village doctor, Matei, pushed his way through and bent down over the little girl. With trembling hands, he checked her pulse.
“Catalepsy,” he whispered, pale. “A state of apparent death. God help me, I signed the death certificate myself…”
Chaos broke out. Someone called an ambulance, others brought water, while old Stefan held Alina tightly, as if she might vanish again.
At the county hospital, the doctors confirmed the diagnosis: a rare form of catalepsy, triggered by a viral infection that had slowed all vital functions to an almost undetectable level.
In the days that followed, the village was shaken by the revelation. Old Stefan became a local hero, and Milo was given meat treats from every household.
