Mystery Key

The stranger at the subway station handed me a key and whispered, "Don't lose it!"

Startled and shocked, a dozen questions fluttered through my mind within split seconds: Who was he? What was the key meant to open? Why me, of all the people here? Who sent him?
Before I could spit out all these questions, the screeching of the train pulling into the station stole my attention.

Turning back to the spot where he'd last stood, he'd vanished into the blur of bodies, his dark coat trailing behind him like a ghost.
With a crumpled look on my face, I stared at the brass key in my palm. It looked old, worn smooth at the edges, with a red ribbon tied to its loop. As I ran my fingers over it, I realized there was a number etched into its side: #17.
Seventeen!

The same age my birth certificate said I was.
The same number on the envelope I'd found hidden deep in my supposed mother's closet.
The same number carved into the side of the frame that held a photograph of two women—one of whom I looked exactly like.

My head spun; I suddenly began to feel lightheaded and dizzy. Just yesterday, I'd received a shocking revelation from Mrs. Shelton that still had me riled up. The last thing I could remember from our conversation yesterday was the question I'd asked: "Which mother? My mom, or the aunt I just found out is my biological mother?"
That question wasn't out of place, was it? My world had been split in two.
And now this. A key. A whisper. A door waiting to be opened.

I shoved the key into my pocket and stepped onto the train, fingers tightly wrapped around a truth I hadn't even begun to understand. Glancing at my reflection in the subway window, I couldn't even recognize the young girl staring back at me.
Something was changing. In me. Around me.
And somehow... it all started with the woman who raised me, the woman I call mother—and the one I might never have known if I hadn't opened that envelope.
Now there's a key, and someone doesn't want me to lose it.
But I don't know where it fits or even the truth that lies hidden there. Perhaps answers to my many questions await to be unlocked...

Image was AI generated
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