three

'Come in…' said Mrs. Smith standing at the door of the house

Peter, Adi, and Anne had reached Dan's house. The house was eerily still. The living room was dimly lit, the curtains drawn.

Mrs. Smith's eyes were red and a little swollen, and an album filled with Dan's old photos was lying on the couch, she might have been seeing her dead son's childhood photos.

'Mrs. Smith, are you ok?' asked Adi

'How can I be…ok?' she was controlling not to cry but some tears escaped the cage of her closed eyes

'I am so sorry' said Adi trying to comfort her but it was all in the vein

'Why are you saying sorry?' she took a long breath, getting a hold of herself 'Dan wrote a letter, describing his last wishes to all the people he loved'

Mrs. Smith stood still for a moment, her fingers twitching slightly at her sides as if debating something in her mind. Then, without another word, she turned away and walked toward the staircase. Her footsteps were slow, almost hesitant, as she made her way up. The sound of the wooden stairs creaking under her weight filled the otherwise silent house.

After a few minutes, Mrs. Smith returned, carefully carrying two things—a single folded letter and a sleek black laptop. She clutched them both tightly.

She stepped toward Adi, her movements deliberate, and gently placed the letter in his hands.

"This… this was in his desk,' she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. 'It's the last thing he wrote'

Adi stared down at the letter, Dan's familiar, hurried handwriting. His fingers tingled as he traced over the ink. The paper felt slightly worn as if it had been handled multiple times before finally reaching him. Peter and Anne came closer to Adi to read the letter -

I am Dan, I am writing this because I can see that my end has come. There are things I wanna say before going from this world…first of all my parents - thank you so much for caring for me this whole time. You were the best parents I could ask for, I have so much to say but I am afraid that I don't have the time. I want Anne to take my laptop, Peter please take my games and Pokemon cards, Adi, I know you will investigate my death but there is nothing to find, but still I would be happy if you made a video about my death on your channel.

Sorry I don't have time to thank everyone in my life - everyone who loved me - THANK YOU

'Oh god' sighed Peter going toward Dan's room upstairs

Anne stood still beside him, her lips slightly parted as if she wanted to say something but couldn't find the right words. Instead, she reached out and gently placed her hand on the laptop, running her fingers over the cool surface.

'He wanted me to have this…' she murmured, more to herself than to anyone else. 'Why?'

Mrs. Smith wiped the corner of her eye with trembling fingers. 'I don't know,' she admitted, her voice hoarse. 'Maybe because this was the laptop on which he used to edit for you'

Peter's footsteps could be heard upstairs as he moved around Dan's room. The sound of a drawer opening, a chair scraping against the wooden floor. He was collecting Dan's games and Pokemon cards. Adi turned to Mrs. Smith, who had sat down on the couch, rubbing her temples. The photo album still lay open beside her. A younger Dan smiled up from one of the pictures, frozen in time, unaware of the fate that awaited him.

Anne held the laptop tightly, her fingers resting against the edges as if debating whether to open it right then and there. 'Mrs. Smith,' she spoke softly, 'Do you… do you know if Dan had been acting strange before… before that night?'

Mrs. Smith let out a shaky breath, staring at the photos of Dan in the album. 'He was quiet,' she admitted. "More than usual. He stayed in his room for hours. Barely ate. He wasn't himself, but he wouldn't talk to me about it." Her voice wavered, but she quickly steadied herself. 'I thought maybe it was just stress… or something about work.'

Mr. Smith appeared from the kitchen 'You must be Aditya'

'Yes, sir' answered Adi, he was feeling sick now, all this stress and feeling

'I need to sit somewhere' said Adi and made his way to a chair near the couch

'Let me get you a glass of water' Mr. Smith went inside and came with a glass of water with a small tablet 'Take this tablet, it helps to calm the brain down'

After some time, Peter came down with a bag maybe filled with things Dan wanted him to take.

'Let's go guys' said Peter

'Yeah' said Adi and stood up

'Aditiya, when is your flight back?' asked Mr. Smith standing at the gate

'Hasn't booked yet, my man needs me' said Adi placing his hand on Peter's right shoulder 'And if you guys need help…Peter and I are just like your son, ready to help'

'Yeah' added Peter

Anne was already in the car, waiting for them. As Peter and Adi sat in the car, they saw Anne opening Dan's laptop

'What do you think is in it?' asked Adi to Anne

'I would love to know but it has a password and I don't know it' said Anne straggling with the keyboard

'Try 1029' said Adi

Anne slowly started to type the four numbers - one - zero - two - nice.

'I am in…wow' chuckled Anne giving Adi a quick look.

After some time Anne said with a dense tone 'Peter can you stop the car on side…I found something'

Peter slowed and parked the car on the side of the road. Both Adi and Peter turned back 'What happened?' asked Peter

'Here take a look' said Anne rotating the laptop toward Adi and Peter, there were only 2 files on the whole desktop

'What is it?' asked Adi

'I searched the whole laptop but there is nothing more than these two files' answered Anne 'One is a PDF with weird numbers and the other is a locked file with a password'

'How does he lock a file? I don't know how to do it' asked Peter

'I don't know' answered Anne 'The strange thing is that the PDF is named for Peter'

'Show me' demanded Peter

Anne opened the file named - FOR PETER - while facing the screen toward Adi and Peter. PDF loaded and a single page opened

 It's what you love, Peter

1 2345 678 9101112 1314151617181920212223 2425 2627282930, 313233 3435363738 3940 41424344454647 4849 50515253.

 Anne, I believe in you