Chapter 1: The Man Across the Hall
A terminally ill man asked me to pretend to be his daughter because he didn't want to die alone — after he passed away, a nurse came up to me and asked, "Do you really have no idea why he chose you?"
I met Thomas while I was visiting my mom in the hospital.
He was around 60 and staying in the room across the hall.
I noticed him because he was always alone.
No flowers.
No visitors.
Just the TV playing softly beside his bed.
Then one day, as I was walking past his room again, I saw him drop a cup and struggle to reach it from his bed.
I hurried in and helped him.
After that, he started waving at me every time I walked by, and I'd wave back.
That's how we started talking.
I'd bring him something sweet or some fruit, stop by his room, and ask how he was doing.
Then one day, he smiled through his tears, took my hand, and asked:
"Sweetheart, I know how strange this sounds.
But would you pretend to be my daughter?"
I thought he was joking.
But he wasn't.
Thomas explained that his real daughter hadn't spoken to him in almost ten years.
"I'm not asking you to call me Dad or lie to anyone," he said.
"It's just...
you look so much like my daughter.
Please, just sit with me sometimes.
Let me pretend, even for a little while, that she came back.
I don't want to spend whatever time I have left staring at an empty chair."
My heart broke for him.
Honestly, the request seemed very strange to me, but I couldn't say no.
I don't know how to explain it, but Thomas and I had somehow formed a connection.
Thomas had stage 4 cancer and was very weak.
I didn't want to leave him alone.
So every time I visited my mom, I'd spend another twenty or thirty minutes with Thomas.
We talked about ordinary things.
Food.
Movies.
Travel.
Nothing serious, just easy conversations to keep each other company.
Sometimes I'd bring him his favorite treats, and we'd have tea together.
A few weeks later, Thomas passed away.
I cried more than I expected to.
I genuinely missed him.
As I was leaving the hospital that day, one of the nurses hurried over to me.
She looked confused and said:
"Sarah, please wait.
Thomas left this envelope for you.
I found it in his bedside table today."
I asked:
"An envelope?
For me?
Are you sure there hasn't been some mistake?"
Then the nurse looked at me and said:
"So you really don't know why he chose you?
Sweetheart, open the envelope and you'll understand everything."
When I opened it, I couldn't believe my eyes.
I found out that Thomas had left me something in his will.
And when I finished reading the letter and learned why, I nearly fainted.
---
What was in that envelope — and why did Thomas really choose Sarah?
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