The weight of grief is immeasurable. It comes in waves, unexpected and uncontrollable. Some days, it lets you breathe; other days, it drowns you. For a young girl, the pain of losing her father became an ever-present ache, one that time refused to heal. But in the midst of her sorrow, she found solace in art, in the delicate strokes of a pencil, in the memory of the man she loved most. Sitting in a quiet corner of the house they once shared, she held the pencil tightly in her trembling fingers. Her eyes, red and swollen from endless nights of crying, focused on the blank canvas in front of her. It was empty, just as her heart felt. But she was determined to fill it—not with mere sketches, but with love, longing, and a deep desire to bring him back, if only for a moment. As the portrait took shape, so did the memories. His strong yet kind eyes, the faint lines on his face that told stories of laughter and sacrifice, the military uniform he wore with honor—all of it came alive on the page. Every pencil stroke felt like a whisper from the past, a desperate attempt to bridge the unbearable distance between them. She remembered the way he used to hold her hand when she was little, his firm grip making her feel invincible. He was her hero, her protector, her guiding light. Even after long deployments, he would return home and lift her into his arms as if time had stood still. His love was constant, unwavering, and unconditional. And now, all she had left were the echoes of his voice and the fading scent of his uniform tucked away in her closet. The world had moved on without him, but she hadn’t. The people around her offered condolences, empty words that failed to touch the depths of her pain. They said time would heal, but how could time possibly erase the hollow space he had left? How could she learn to live in a world where he no longer existed? Finishing the portrait was like reliving the final goodbye. As she added the last details—the gentle curve of his lips, the warmth in his gaze—tears streamed down her face. She wanted to believe that if she just stared long enough, he would blink back at her. That somehow, he would step out of the canvas, wrap her in his arms, and tell her that everything would be okay. But he didn’t. He never would. She set the pencil down and looked at what she had created. It wasn’t just a drawing. It was him. Her father. The man who had given her everything and asked for nothing in return. The man who had fought battles she would never understand, not just in war, but in life. The man whose absence left a void no words could ever fill. With a deep breath, she wiped her tears and whispered, “You’re still here.” Because in truth, he was. Not in the way she wanted, not in the way she yearned for, but in every lesson he had taught her, in every moment of courage he had inspired, in every heartbeat that still carried his love. No one else may have cared about her portrait. The world may have scrolled past it, too busy to notice the raw pain etched into every line. But that didn’t matter. Because she hadn’t drawn it for them. She had drawn it for him. And in that, he lived on.