When this local woman got home from work, she unexpectedly got the fright of a lifetime. Strange noises came from her shed, indicating something was moving around inside. And when she opened the wooden doors, she stood face to face with an unknown elderly man.
When she found out who he really was, the woman turned pale instantly.
Naomi approached the abandoned shed quietly so she wouldn’t spook what was inside. What if it was something dangerous? When Naomi reached the old wooden structure, she put her ear to the door. It was initially quiet, and Naomi almost thought she had imagined everything. But then she heard the sound of things falling over. It only held a large dumpster Naomi used for cleaning the garden, but this large metal container had a secret hiding behind it, and it was ready to reveal itself.
A frail old man rose from behind it and looked back at Naomi, causing her to scream. When the old man tried to form words, Naomi took a few steps back and quickly closed the shed’s door before sprinting away.
Naomi did her best to explain what she had witnessed. Her pleading words caused the police operator to send over a unit. “They’ll be there in 10.”
While the cops were on their way, Naomi waited nervously, peeking through the blinds constantly to see if the man tried to escape. And ten minutes later, the police arrived. Naomi watched as the cop car pulled up on her driveway with flickering lights. Unfortunately for Naomi, the old man noticed this as well. So, as the officers walked up to her front door, Naomi saw how the old man slipped out of the wooden structure in her garden.
The now frustrated and scared Naomi opened the front door and gestured to the police officers that the suspect was escaping. Naomi was disappointed that the police’s carelessness caused the escape. She still guided them to her shed though. “Maybe if he left evidence behind, it could help too,” she said reassuringly.
The two cops strolled around the garden. Naomi opened her shed. The place was stuffed with tools, so it was logical that the man knocked over some things in the room while navigating in darkness. When the police looked around, they found no trace of the man ever being there.
However, with the lack of interest these police officers showed, Naomi felt that their watchkeeping wouldn’t be thorough. They were in and out in a hurry and couldn’t have looked at everything. That’s why she took it upon herself to look again.
Naomi searched every corner. The first five minutes were fruitless with no result. After inspecting the strange box and with no update from the police, Naomi tried to put the day’s events behind her. Naomi poured herself a cup of tea and put on her movie. She hoped that it would take her mind off of things. But during the movie, she found that her head often lingered toward the garden window. And even far after the movie ended, the old man dominated her day.
Naomi then tried to sleep and end this horrible day. After a night where Naomi was almost completely deprived of sleep, the alarm on her nightstand went off. Reality kicked in, and Naomi had to get dressed and go to work. The young woman dreaded this ever since the realization kicked in that she had to leave her house unattended to do so.
She called in a favor with her mother to give herself peace of mind. So she had enough time to check in. Naomi pressed her mother’s name on her phone, which was on speed dial since they spoke daily, and asked her desperately for help. And of course, Sarah, Naomi’s mother, agreed.
The help from her mother calmed Naomi down a bit. But she still checked her phone while working. But after eight hours, not a single update arrived. The worried woman called her mother and demanded an explanation. But what she got from her mother was very unexpected.
The demeanor in her mother’s voice was off. Sarah grunted and puffed a lot when Naomi asked about the house and if the old man had found his way back there. Sarah simply replied, “No,” before falling silent again. Sarah was normally very chatty, so this kind of curt behavior was very out of character.
After hearing her mother’s unreasonable arguments, Naomi got angry too. And for the first time in almost two years, the family duo argued. Naomi called out her mother’s nonsense and said that she would come over to settle this debate. But Sarah didn’t want this. She sounded panicky and asked her daughter to stay away. She did, however, hear something. “There were two empty coffee cups in the sink. Was there someone in here before?” Naomi obliged, not knowing that a huge surprise awaited her when she arrived home.
Her sanctuary was compromised, and when Naomi reached the back of her home, she saw that the door was open. “Is there someone here?” Naomi searched her entire house but found no one. They were her paranoid thoughts playing games with her. But when Naomi reached her living room, they were all dismissed because she found the music box from the day before.
Naomi remembered putting the box in her hallway cabinet. She did this on purpose because the cabinet had always been her own personal lost and found. Nervously, Naomi picked up the note and read it. “Play me fully to get the answers you seek,” it said. She was still afraid that someone was in her house, and she wasn’t 100% convinced that this person had left. But at least this was progress toward answers.
The box played its horrible music again. Naomi listened intently, hoping the crackly song could give her a clue. The song, however, did not present Naomi with these answers. But they did show themselves immediately afterward. Because when the song ended, the bottom of the box popped open, revealing a hidden compartment.
Something was nudged in there. With trembling hands, Naomi pulled out two items. One was an old, wrinkly picture. The other was a large document that was folded several times. This can’t be. In the picture was a small girl, and Naomi instantly recognized her because she was this little girl. Next to Naomi stood a man she did not recognize.
She then unfolded the document, seeing a birth certificate with her name on it. The final clue was found on the back of the photo. Naomi was crying when she read the message on the back of the photo. “If you want answers, come to this address.” Below it stood the address. Naomi didn’t recognize it, but she knew the neighborhood.
When Naomi arrived at the address, she knocked on the door twice and waited nervously for the resident to open. And when he did, Naomi let out a high-pitched scream. It was the old man from her shed. Naomi was kind of expecting him, but still, his face frightened her.
“I will explain everything if you just let me,” Naomi nodded while the elderly man invited her inside. Naomi took a seat in the man’s living room. After this, the old man introduced himself as Carl. “I opted for a special gift in your shed, the music box,” Naomi said. Carl nodded, saying the puzzle pieces inside should have led Naomi straight to his house.
“Do you have the contents with you?” Carl asked. Naomi grabbed the picture and
the document from her coat and placed them on the table. “What does it mean? Please explain. I’m so confused,” Naomi said.
“I… I’m your father, Naomi,” Naomi’s eyes teared up. She had a father, a man whom she loved very much and who passed away a few years back. So Carl’s statement didn’t make sense. “It entailed an affair while she was already married to Naomi’s father. We weren’t planning on falling in love. Things just happened. One thing led to another, and you were born.”
Carl wanted to love and raise Naomi. However, with Sarah’s marriage still stable and intact, they both agreed it could not happen. So the affair ended. “You grew up with your mother and I. I promised to stay away so you could live a normal life. Naomi’s father never knew. As far as he was concerned, he was the father.”
Naomi saw the old man crying during his explanation, and the sight broke her heart a little. “The picture is my only souvenir, but I’m hoping for more.” Carl tried to start a new family, and they were happy for many years but never had children. “Once my wife died a few years ago, my perspective on life changed. I spent many sleepless nights thinking about lost opportunities and regrets. And my biggest regret was not reestablishing contact with my only child, you.”
Carl explained that before the shed incident, he visited Naomi’s mother multiple times, trying to persuade her to reunite him with his daughter. But Sarah thought that it wasn’t a good idea. Even after Naomi’s father died, she refused him. “I went against her wishes to apologize and rekindle something, but instead, I ran into your mother.”
The two former lovers had a heated argument that eventually took them to Sarah’s house. “The two cups of coffee,” Naomi said. She looked at the birth certificate with her name and Carl’s signature on it. It looked legit, making it hard to dispute the evidence.
Naomi started to cry, and Carl looked on, wondering what his daughter was thinking. But then she did something unexpected. Naomi launched herself forward, hugging Carl intensely. It was all Carl could hope for, but it was the last thing he expected.
Naomi understood his actions and couldn’t imagine the pain he went through all those years. Now, two months passed, and the bond between all three individuals is incredibly strong.
