#stoneguardians

Tucked inside that small, cast-iron enclosure—the grave set apart from the rest—stood a single statue. Why a fence within the cemetery? Why this statue, and not another?

The stone figure was weathered, its surface mottled with age, but still it stood guard. A spider had claimed the front, spinning threads across the chest like a new set of regalia. And then I noticed the hand—broken off, but still cradled within the curve of the statue itself, as though the grave refused to part with it.