My parents’ best friend raised me after they died — after his funeral, I found a flash drive and a note that read, “If you want to know what happened to your parents, watch this.” When I was three years old, my parents died in a car accident. I remember almost nothing about them. Thomas had been my father’s best friend since they were children. He was close to my parents, so after their death, he adopted me. He raised me as his own daughter. I never felt alone with him. He read me bedtime stories, came to every school performance, and later walked me down the aisle. Thomas would sometimes tell me about my parents when I asked, but he never went into much detail. He said it was too painful to revisit those memories, because my parents had been like family to him. He never married and never had any other children. I was his whole world, just as he was mine. Last month, he died of cancer. It felt like the ground dropped out from under me. A few days after his funeral, I returned to his house to pack up some of his things. Through the window, I saw an unfamiliar woman quickly slipping something into the mailbox. I ran outside and called out to her, but she disappeared down the street. I opened the mailbox and found an envelope. No name. No stamp. Inside was a note and a flash drive. My hands trembled as I read: “You don’t even know what really happened to your biological parents. Thomas wasn’t who he pretended to be. If you want to know the whole truth, watch the flash drive.” My heart pounded. I pulled the flash drive from the envelope. Honestly, I was scared. But my curiosity got the better of me. I ran inside and immediately plugged it into my laptop. I almost fainted when I opened the files.

adminonApril 8, 2026