Ten Years Without Parole

My beloved stayed behind in the coldest part of that winter. Ten years later, another bitter winter came, just as cold as before, with the same icy wind and heavy snow. As if driven by fate, I returned to the place where we had parted. There, I found him. He looked just as he did in my memories, as though time had stopped for him. But I had weathered so much that time had long since left its mark on me. (This story is entirely fictional and has no connection to history. Any resemblance is coincidental.)