When Tom’s parents died, his brother, Dylan, left him at an orphanage with a promise: “I’ll COME BACK FOR YOU.” But Dylan vanished, and for 23 years, Tom waited for answers. A chance meeting brought them face-to-face, uncovering a truth that shook Tom and forced him to make an impossible choice.
There’s a haunting loneliness that comes from being forgotten by the one person who’s supposed to protect you. I know it well. I was four years old when I lost everything. My parents died in a car crash on a chilly autumn morning.
I don’t remember much about that day — the screech of tires, a stranger lifting me out of my parents’ crumpled car, and the way my brother Dylan held me close as I cried into his shirt. He was 18, my protector, and my hero. I thought he’d always be there.
A sad little boy holding a teddy bear | Source: Midjourney
The next few weeks were a blur of adults talking in hushed voices, courtrooms that smelled like old books, and, eventually, the orphanage.
I remember clinging to Dylan’s hand as we walked into the gray, cold building. It smelled like disinfectant and sadness. The director greeted us with a tired smile, but I barely noticed her. My eyes were on Dylan. And my heart was silently pleading: “Please… please don’t leave me here, brother.”
“Everything’s going to be fine, Tommy,” he said, crouching down so we were face-to-face. His voice was steady, but his hands trembled a little. “I just need to sort out the paperwork for guardianship, okay? I promise I’ll take you home as soon as it’s done. You’ll come live with me.”
“You promise?” I asked, my voice small and shaky, my glistening eyes bearing volumes of a grief no child should bear.
A man holding a child’s hand | Source: Pexels
“Hey, look at me,” he whispered, gripping my shoulders. “I’m your big brother. I would never, ever abandon you. Those papers are just a formality. Just hold on tight, Tommy. I’ll move heaven and earth to get you out of here.”
“Promise?” I asked.
The orphanage director watched us quietly, her gaze soft but knowing… as if she’d heard such promises countless times before.
“I swear,” he said, ruffling my hair. “I’ll visit you every single day. Tomorrow, okay? Just wait for me.”
And that was the last time I saw Dylan.
A heartbroken little boy looking up | Source: Midjourney
The first few days, I waited by the window in the orphanage’s playroom, watching every car that pulled up.
I refused to play with the other kids, convinced Dylan would walk through the door any minute.
But he didn’t come.
I asked the director about him every morning. “Has my brother called? Did he leave a message?”
She’d smile sadly and shake her head. “Not yet, Tom. Maybe tomorrow.”
A sad little boy standing by the window | Source: Midjourney
“But he promised,” I’d insist, my voice cracking with desperation. “He looked me in the eye and swore he’d come back! Why would he lie to me?”
“Sometimes grown-ups have complicated lives, Tommy,” she’d respond, her hand trembling slightly as she touched my shoulder. “Sometimes promises get tangled up in grown-up problems.”
“I don’t care about grown-up problems!” I’d shout, tears streaming down my face. “He’s my brother. He’s supposed to protect me! He’s my only family.”
A shattered little boy crying | Source: Pexels
Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Slowly, the hope that burned so brightly in my little chest began to flicker. By the time a year had passed, it had gone out completely.
Eventually, I was adopted by a kind but struggling family. They gave me a roof over my head and taught me to work hard for everything I wanted. But they couldn’t erase the ache of abandonment and memories that refused to fade.
I threw myself into schoolwork, determined to prove I was worth something.
Years drifted by, like leaves on a gentle breeze. I graduated high school with honors, earned a full scholarship to college, and built a life for myself. At 27, I was managing a division of a chemical company, married to a wonderful woman, and living a life I was proud of.
A young man in an elegant suit | Source: Midjourney
But deep in my heart, there was a scar that never healed… a scar from 23 years ago.
It was my wife, Lily, who suggested we take a vacation to Miami. “You’ve been working nonstop,” she said. “Let’s unwind… just the two of us.”
A week later, we were checking into a small beachfront hotel, the salty breeze and sound of waves already working their magic on my frayed nerves.
A couple in a resort | Source: Midjourney
On our second day, we wandered into a tiny convenience store to grab some snacks. I was browsing the shelves when Lily nudged me.
“Tom, look at that cashier’s name badge.”
I turned, and my breath caught in my throat. The badge read “DYLAN.”
My eyes traveled up to the face behind the counter — a face I’d almost forgotten. But there it was. The same piercing blue eyes, and the familiar scar above his left eyebrow.
A man with a name badge pinned to his shirt | Source: Midjourney
“Oh my God,” I whispered, gripping her arm. “Is that really HIM?” I couldn’t speak again. My heart was thundering in my ears, a storm of emotions threatening to overwhelm me.
“Do you want me to go with you?” Lily asked softly, her hand squeezing mine.
“No,” I managed to choke out. “This is something I need to do alone.”
I felt like a child again, frozen in place, torn between disbelief and a desperate, irrational hope. Then, with slow, deliberate steps, I approached the man seemingly in his early forties.
“Hi, BROTHER,” I said, my voice trembling with 23 years of unspoken pain and longing. “Have you forgotten about the little brother you so easily abandoned at the orphanage?”
A man staring at someone | Source: Midjourney
The cashier’s head snapped up. He stared at me, his mouth opening and closing like he couldn’t find the words.
“TOM?” he finally whispered, his face going pale.
“How did you—” he continued, but before he could finish, his eyes rolled back, and he clutched his chest.
“CALL 911!” his coworker screamed.
Chaos erupted around me, but all I could see was my brother collapsing to the floor. I rode with Dylan in the ambulance, my hands gripping the edges of the stretcher as the paramedics worked to stabilize him.
An ambulance speeding across the street | Source: Unsplash
“Hang in there,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “I’m not losing you again.”
Lily followed in our rental car. At the hospital, I paced the hallway outside the emergency room, replaying our brief interaction over and over. How had it come to this?
Finally, a doctor emerged. “He’s stable for now,” he said. “It looks like he had a mild heart attack, but he’s going to be okay.”
Relief flooded through me. When I stepped into Dylan’s room, he looked smaller than I remembered.
A doctor examining a report | Source: Pexels
“You’re alive,” I said, exhaling sharply. “Good. Now explain to me why you abandoned me.”
He flinched. “Tom, I—”
“Don’t,” I snapped, my voice rising with decades of suppressed anger. “You made a ‘promise.’ A promise that meant EVERYTHING to a four-year-old boy who had just lost his entire world!”
Dylan’s hands shook as he tried to speak. “I was young. Scared. I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“The right thing?” I laughed bitterly. “Leaving your baby brother in an orphanage was the right thing? I waited for you, Dylan. EVERY SINGLE DAY. I believed in you. Why did you betray me? WHY?”
A furious man | Source: Midjourney
“I sold the house,” he said quietly, his eyes fixed on the blanket. “I thought I could start over in Miami with my girlfriend. But the money ran out fast, and she left me. I’ve been working dead-end jobs ever since.”
His words hit me like a punch to the gut. “So you left me to rot in that orphanage because you wanted a fresh start?”
“Tom, I was 18,” he said, his voice cracking. “I didn’t know how to take care of myself, let alone you.”
I shook my head, the anger and pain I’d buried for decades bubbling to the surface. “I needed you, Dylan. You were all I had left, and you LEFT ME.”
A distressed man sitting on the bed | Source: Freepik
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, tears streaming down his face. “I’ve regretted it every single day of my life.”
I completely lost it then and there. “Your sorry won’t mend my heart, Dylan. Goodbye.”
I turned and walked out, his broken sobs echoing in my ears.
In the hallway, a doctor stopped me. “Sir, we did a more detailed examination. Your brother has cancer. He needs surgery immediately, but it’s expensive. I thought you should know.”
A man in the hospital | Source: Midjourney
The words were like ice water, jolting me out of my fury. But instead of going back, I walked straight out of the hospital. I didn’t stop until I was back in our hotel room. Lily took one look at me and knew something was wrong.
“What happened?” she asked gently.
“He abandoned me,” I said, my voice flat. “And now he needs me to save him. He’s dying, Lily. He has cancer.”
She placed a hand on mine. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” I said. But even as the words left my mouth, I knew they weren’t true.
A couple holding hands | Source: Unsplash
For days, I wrestled with my conscience. Dylan had betrayed me in the worst way, but could I live with myself if I turned my back on him now?
Finally, I made my decision.
When I walked back into Dylan’s hospital room, he looked up in surprise. “Tom?”
I pulled up a chair and sat down. “I’ll pay for the surgery,” I said. “Because I’m not like you, Dylan. I can’t leave you in trouble, no matter what you did to me.”
His eyes, bloodshot and weary, locked onto mine. “Why?” he whispered, his voice cracking. “After everything I put you through, why would you help me?”
An emotional man’s eyes | Source: Unsplash
“Because abandoning someone isn’t a one-time act,” I said, my voice cold and measured. “It’s a wound that keeps reopening. Every time I thought I’d healed, the memory of being left behind would slice through me again.”
He broke down, tears streaming down his face. “I’m sorry,” he choked out. “For everything. For abandoning you. For failing you.”
“Sorry?” I leaned closer, my anger barely contained. “Sorry doesn’t erase 23 years of loneliness. Sorry doesn’t give me back the childhood I lost. Sorry doesn’t replace the birthdays without a family, the Christmases without a brother.”
An angry young man | Source: Midjourney
I let out a shaky breath as I tossed wads of money onto his bed. “I forgive you, Dylan. But forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting. Take this and save yourself. This is the least I can do for the brother I… never had. We’re done. Our paths diverge here. GOODBYE.”
He nodded, too overcome with emotion to speak, his trembling hands gripping the hospital bed’s railing. I rose and walked out of the room, the weight on my chest feeling a little lighter.
I’d done the right thing. I couldn’t change the past, but I wouldn’t let it define my future.
Dylan and I never saw each other again. But there were no more regrets.
A man walking away | Source: Midjourney
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
Son Who Didn’t Visit His Mother for Years Comes and Sees Her House Destroyed – Story of the Day
Adam didn’t visit his mother for years, neglecting her after he started having a life of his own. One day, he had to pick up some documents from her home, only to find the home destroyed and abandoned.
Diana Evans raised her son Adam alone. Although she struggled, she worked very hard to feed him and pay for his education. After graduating from high school, he decided to attend a university halfway across the country.
Although Diana was sad, she happily sent Adam off to study and live in New York while she remained in California. They would keep in touch during his first few years there, and he would call his mother whenever he had time.
For illustration purposes only. | Source: Pexels
Diana never got to visit Adam in New York throughout his years in college. Their primary mode of communication was through phone calls, and although these started to lessen as time passed, Diana still appreciated them very much.
When Adam was set to graduate from university, he called his mom to invite her over. “Hey, mom!” he said on the phone.
“Hi Adam, it’s so great to hear from you! How have you been?” she said excitedly.
“I’m good, mom! I’m calling because I’m finally graduating in two weeks. Will you be able to come over?” he asked.
Hearing that, Diana was so proud and could feel her tears coming. She’d do anything to see her precious son march to get his diploma. “Of course, Adam. I’ll be there. I wouldn’t miss it! I’m so proud of you!” She smiled.
After ending the call, Diana proceeded to look for flights to New York. She was surprised to see how expensive the flights were, and she immediately realized she didn’t have enough money to purchase a round-trip ticket and a special graduation gift for Adam.
She decided to take in some extra work as a babysitter to earn money. She babysat for long hours to earn her money faster. When she had enough savings, she excitedly purchased her ticket and went to the department store to buy Adam a gift.
Diana circled the store for a couple of minutes before settling with a watch. She realized that any professional needed a nice and decent watch, so she wanted to give one to her son.
“Please wrap it nicely with a ribbon,” she told the saleslady. “It’s a graduation gift for my son. He’s graduating from a top university in New York!” she gushed.
For illustration purposes only. | Source: Pexels
“That’s awesome! You must be so proud. Congratulations!” the saleslady said, packing the watch.
A couple of days later, Diana excitedly made her way to New York. Adam picked her up from the airport, and together they drove to his campus, where the graduation ceremony would start shortly.
Diana excitedly pulled out her cellphone and started to snap pictures. When it was Adam’s turn to receive his diploma, she couldn’t help but stand and cheer her heart out. “That’s my son!” she exclaimed.
After the ceremony, Adam met Diana and enveloped her in a hug. “Oh, son, congratulations!” she said as they embraced.
“Thanks, mom. This is all because of you,” he smiled. “Let’s have a good dinner now,” he said, walking with his mom towards the university exit.
Adam and Diana ate at a fancy New York steak restaurant and had a nice dinner together. At first, Diana was worried about the bill, until Adam told her not to. “I took a part-time job while studying, mom. This is my treat to you. Thank you for taking care of me all these years,” he said, squeezing her hand.
Diana was in tears. She was so grateful that Adam grew up to be such a kind gentleman. “I’m proud of you, son,” she said. “I got you something, too. It’s nothing great, but I hope you like it.”
She took out the gift box and handed it to Adam. “You really didn’t have to get me anything, mom,” he said as he opened it.
When he saw that it was a watch, he was surprised. “This is beautiful, mom. Thank you,” he said with a big smile on his face. “I’m going to wear this to work every day. That way, I’ll always have you with me.”
That night, the mother and son spent the night talking to one another, taking photos, and simply enjoying New York’s sights.
For illustration purposes only. | Source: Pexels
After a couple more days in New York, Diana had to fly back to California. “Will you be visiting home soon, Adam?” she asked, suddenly remembering that she was back to living alone.
“I’ll try, mom. I do have some job interviews lined up, so I’m not sure when I’ll get to. I promise to call, though,” he assured her. With that, Diana nodded contently.
Unfortunately, that promise was short-lived. Adam used to call his mom every other day, but that slowly diminished until the calls just stopped coming.
During one of their final calls, Diana showed signs of depression caused by her loneliness. “I’ve lost a lot of weight, and I don’t really have an appetite,” she would share.
“You should eat, mom. Go out and talk to your neighbors and take walks in the park,” Adam said, shrugging off the signs she’d share.
For years, Adam would check on his mother once in a while but he was busy working in Wall Street and maintaining his relationship with his model girlfriend that these calls became too few.
One day, he decided to put up his own firm in New York. For that, he needed documents from California which he couldn’t ask his mom to simply mail. So at the last minute, he took a flight back home and traveled to their house without telling his mom. But when he got there, he was not expecting what he saw.
Their house was torn down and filled with cobwebs. The fences were on the floor, and the grass lawn looked as if it hadn’t been trimmed in years. He looked inside and saw the house empty save for some ruined furniture.
For illustration purposes only. | Source: Pexels
Adam proceeded to call his mother, but she was not answering, so he walked to the next-door neighbor’s house to ask him what happened.
“Hi, Mr. Green,” he said as soon as their long-time neighbor answered the door.
“Adam? Is that you?” he asked. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s me, Mr. Green. Where’s mom? What happened to our house?” he said, feeling both guilty and scared.
“Oh, well, remember that storm that hit California a couple of months ago? Our homes were severely damaged. Your mom didn’t have enough money to repair it, and she said she didn’t want to burden you, so she moved to a nursing home,” Mr. Green explained.
“What? Why don’t I know any of this?” Adam said, shocked. “Where is her nursing home?” he asked.
After getting the address, he quickly made his way there. When he arrived, he saw Diana, frail and in a wheelchair. “Mom,” he said, in tears, as soon as he saw her.
“Adam? What are you doing here?” Diana asked.
“Mom, I’m so sorry for not paying more attention to you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me the most,” he said, on his knees in front of his mom’s wheelchair. He was sobbing, feeling guilty for having neglected his mother for years.
For illustration purposes only. | Source: Pexels
“Adam, don’t be ridiculous. Get up from there,” she said, trying to raise her son. He shook his head and clung to her knees, and Diana couldn’t help but cry. She thought she would never see Adam again, and seeing him there, in the flesh, asking for forgiveness, made her feel both touched and relieved.
“I’m so sorry, mom. You don’t have to be alone ever again,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m going to live with you, and I’m going to take care of you,” he promised.
This time, Adam really kept his promise. He completely repaired their old home and took his mother out of the nursing home once it was completed. He also decided to start his business in California instead of New York and asked his girlfriend to move in with them.
Since then, the three of them lived together happily. The couple took care of Diana and made sure she was happy again. Meanwhile, Diana helped out at home while both Adam and his girlfriend worked, by cooking them meals and helping out with house chores.
What can we learn from this story?
- We should always make time for our loved ones. No matter how busy life gets, we should always take time to check on our loved ones no matter how far away they may be.
- A mother’s love is forever. Although she felt sad and abandoned, Diana never lost her love for Adam. Instead, she remained hopeful that one day they would reunite and see each other again.
Share this story with your loved ones. It might inspire them and make their day.
If you liked this story, you might like this one about a woman who had to flee her home after it burned down, only to see a brand new structure built on her lot a couple of months after.
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