For as long as I can remember, I have been an orphan. Almost 20 years ago, I was found at the door of a church; a little girl in a yellow dress, crying and clutching a photo tightly in my hands. Since then, that photo has been my only connection to my “unseen” past. I can’t express in words how much I longed for a real mother’s embrace, but it was never meant to be.

Now I am 24, and I have Thomas. He is the person I am always looking for, my best friend. It often felt like we had known each other our entire lives, but I never knew just how close we really were.

One sunny Saturday, we wandered through a flea market, our favorite weekend adventure. Amidst the treasures and trinkets, we found an old camera. Its vintage charm caught our eye, and imagine our surprise when we discovered it even had film inside! Excitedly, we brought it home, eager to see what stories it might reveal.
Since Thomas had developed film before, he set up a small darkroom in the bathroom. Within an hour, we had the photos in our hands. As we flipped through them, it felt like we were traveling back in time… The images captured moments from years gone by, each one telling a story of its own. Then, Thomas leaned closer, squinting at one of the photos.
“Wait, isn’t that you? With the wide smile and pigtails?” he asked, astonished.

I gasped for breath and moved closer. It truly was me! Thomas was holding a duplicate of that very photograph, my only “memory” of the past. How could this be possible? But before I could process it, my thoughts were interrupted by a shout from nearby.

“This is incredible, Sylvia! Here you are in a yellow dress, and next to you, it’s me…”

I looked closer, my heart pounding. There I was, a little girl in a yellow dress, and beside me stood a boy with the same mischievous grin I had come to know so well. It was Thomas.

“Thomas, how…?” I started, but my voice trailed off, lost in the swirl of emotions.

Thomas’ eyes were wide with disbelief. “Sylvia, this means we’ve known each other since we were kids. Somehow, we were separated and found each other again.”

Tears welled up in my eyes as memories began to resurface. Flashes of laughter, playing in a garden, holding hands… My chest tightened with the realization that Thomas had always been a part of my life, even before I became an orphan.

We spent the next few days piecing together the puzzle of our past. We visited the church where I was found, spoke to the priest who remembered the day vividly, and delved into old records. Slowly, a picture began to emerge.

Thomas and I were childhood friends, inseparable since birth. Our parents were close, but a tragic accident had torn our families apart. I was left at the church for reasons we could only speculate about, and Thomas’ family moved away, assuming I had been lost forever.

Now, reunited by fate and a flea market find, we knew we had to seek out the remaining pieces of our story. Together, we embarked on a journey to find our families, to uncover the reasons behind our separation, and to reclaim the years we had lost

As we stood together, holding the photograph that had once been my only connection to the past, I realized something profound. The longing for a mother’s embrace, the ache of being an orphan—all of it had led me to this moment. To Thomas. To the realization that sometimes, the family we long for is right beside us all along.

My name is Sylvia, and this is my story—a story of lost memories, found family, and the enduring bond of a friendship that transcends time.