After my best friend passed away, I took in her son and raised him as my own, pouring into him all the love I’d gone without as a child. For twelve years, we were a complete family. Then one night, my wife shook me awake in a panic, saying she’d discovered something our son had been hiding. When I saw it, I stood there frozen, tears filling my eyes.
My name is Oliver. I’m 38 now, and my childhood was far from the warm, picture-perfect stories people see on screen. I grew up in a group home—cold, isolating, a place where it was easy to feel invisible.
But there was one person who made it bearable: my best friend, Nora.
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