Kevin’s truck was speeding down the icy road as snow and wind whipped past. The highway was mostly empty. Kevin smiled as he looked at a picture of his wife, Laura, hanging from the rearview mirror. Christmas was fast approaching, and he was eager to get home. He had been away for nearly two months, traveling across the country, and was now returning with a special present for her. He reached into the glove compartment, peeked inside at the gold necklace nestled within, and smiled. He pressed down on the accelerator even harder.
When Kevin arrived at the truck stop, he parked and walked the rest of the way home. As he walked through the familiar streets, he noticed how things had changed. People were smiling, looking at the store windows adorned with mistletoe. Finally, he reached the door of his apartment and pressed the doorbell a few times before hiding behind the wall, eager to surprise Laura. But as time passed, no one came.
Confused and concerned, Kevin dug through his pockets for his keys and unlocked the door himself. “Hello? Is anyone home?” he called out. “I’m home! Surprise, my love!”
There was only silence. Dust had settled everywhere, indicating that Laura had not been home for a week or more. Kevin grew increasingly worried. He ran to the landline phone on the table, where he found a note. I’m sorry it didn’t work out, he read in his wife’s hand. I realized I deserved more. I met someone else and have found happiness. I wish you the same. Goodbye.
Kevin repeated the last word to himself several times before crumpling up the paper and throwing it against the wall. He spent several days drinking, his mind caught between dreams and reality. He even thought he saw Laura looking in through the window, smiling at him, which caused him to almost fall from the fourth floor as he climbed onto the windowsill.
It’s unclear how long he would have continued if it weren’t for his elderly neighbor, Mr. Feist, who had grown tired of the noise.
“Oh, it’s you, Mr. Feist,” Kevin yawned as he opened the door on Christmas morning.
“Well, I came to wish you a Merry Christmas,” he said, nonchalantly walking into the apartment. “I see you’ve been celebrating for a while now.”
“I’m tired of this,” Kevin said shamefacedly. “My wife left me, and I’ve been drinking. Care to join?”
Over whiskey, Kevin told him the chaotic story. “Was I not making good money?” he asked. “Hell yeah, I was. Did I take her to Spain? I sure did. Gifts? Tons. Maybe I did miss something. Maybe it’s because I’m an orphan. I grew up in an orphanage, but that’s not my fault.”
Mr. Feist took another glass. “That’s not it, Kevin,” he replied softly. “There are fickle women. They swear eternal love to you today, and tomorrow they’ll find someone better. She wasn’t the one for you if she left you. Why grieve for her? You should be glad such a burden has been lifted. God gave you this wonderful gift, life. Enjoy it.”
Kevin admitted the old man was right. “I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble. I won’t be here tonight. I’m leaving town.”
The conversation had a better effect on him than any medicine. On Christmas Eve, when families gathered in their cozy homes, Kevin was driving through the snowy highway in his truck, so eager to get away that he didn’t pay attention to the ice. The road was empty. To distract himself, he turned up the music. To the left, a bright firework shot up from behind the forest. Kevin considered this an answer to his own silent congratulations to the world and smiled.
Kevin returned from his trip two weeks later. On an early January morning, his truck was moving towards the city when he noticed the fuel was running low. Fortunately, a road sign warned of a nearby gas station. After getting out of the truck, Kevin ran to the building to pay for the fuel and warm up. As he reached the door, it swung open abruptly, and an alarmed man in only a T-shirt jumped out. It was the cashier.
“Sir! Glad you came!” the man exclaimed. “I need assistance!”
Kevin, who had been hit by the door, rubbed his forehead. “You nearly knocked my head off, and now you want help?”
As soon as Kevin entered the room, he saw a young woman lying on the floor, holding her stomach and screaming in pain.
“What the heck? Is she having a baby?” Kevin recoiled. “Why haven’t you called an ambulance?”
“I already did! They said they’re on their way, but the highway is blocked. Listen, do you think you can take her to the hospital?”
Kevin quickly nodded. “I’ll take her, but I need at least 20 gallons of diesel. Hurry up now!”
The cashier quickly got to work while Kevin picked up the woman and carried her to his truck. Once refueled, Kevin climbed into the driver’s seat. As soon as he did, the woman in the passenger seat contorted in pain, turned to him, and exclaimed in surprise, “John? You’re alive?”
Kevin shrugged, assuming the woman was confused and delirious. He quickly started the truck and began driving. The truck roared as it rushed forward. After just a few minutes, they entered the city and pulled up to the nearest hospital. Kevin handed the woman over to the doctors and promised to come back and check on her. As he drove home, he couldn’t stop thinking about the way she had looked at him. There was no mistaking the recognition in her eyes.
Kevin couldn’t sleep. He went to visit his neighbor, Mr. Feist. Over a cup of coffee, he told him about the pregnant stranger. “You should definitely go see her,” Mr. Feist said seriously. “You never know, it might be important.”
The next morning, Kevin returned to the hospital. A nurse greeted him with a big smile. “Why didn’t you tell us you were the father right away?” she exclaimed. “Did you think it would be funny to play a prank on us?”
Kevin, confused, asked what she meant. “Your wife said she saw her husband bring her to the hospital. You’re her husband, aren’t you?”
Kevin just shrugged. “Can I see her?”
“Not right now, Christine is resting. She lost a lot of blood. Come back in three days. Don’t worry, you’ll get to see your child. It’s a cute boy, by the way.”
So her name was Christine. Three days later, Kevin was finally allowed to see her. She sat there with her eyes wide open in surprise. After a moment of silence, Christine suddenly exclaimed, “Oh, John!” and hugged him tightly.
Kevin gently patted her on the back. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know who John is. My name is Kevin. I don’t know you, and you don’t know me.” He took out his driver’s license and showed it to her.
Seeing it, Christine shook and burst into tears. “But I had hoped John would still be alive,” she cried. “You resemble him so much… I thought it was a Christmas miracle.”
After Christine had calmed down, she began to share her story. Her husband, John, who bore a resemblance to Kevin, had passed away three months ago. He had been an entrepreneur and ran his own car service business. Everything was fine until John’s army friend, Mark, re-entered their lives. Mark had spent time in prison and faced difficulty finding employment. In an effort to help, John hired him as a mechanic. However, Mark grew resentful and wanted John to make him the manager. John refused.
“One day, he invited John to spend the weekend fishing,” Christine remembered, her face twisted in pain. “I was against it, but John believed Mark wouldn’t harm him. Later, I found out that John had drowned. Mark claimed he fell out of the boat and got tangled in the fishing gear. Everyone believed him. But John was a very good swimmer and always wore a life vest.”
Christine broke down in tears again. “By the way,” Kevin asked gently, “how did you end up at the gas station without your coat?”
Christine wiped away her tears. “After John’s death, Mark often came to visit. He persuaded me to marry him. I refused, but he kept coming back. Then one day, as I was returning from the store, Mark caught me and dragged me into his car. He drove me out of town. In the woods, the car broke down, and I tried to escape. He grabbed my jacket, but I struggled, and it remained in his arms. I don’t remember what happened after that. It seems I ran somewhere and then fell. I only woke up in your truck.”
Kevin nodded, satisfied that everything finally made sense. As he was about to leave, Christine called out, “When I’m discharged, could you take me home? I have no one else to ask.”
“Of course,” he said, quickly writing down his phone number. “Here, call me.”
The next day, Kevin went to the place where he had spent his childhood, the orphanage. He greeted a couple of familiar teachers and went into the office of the head, a woman named Sally Olson. He immediately explained the reason for his visit and mentioned John.
After listening, Mrs. Olson’s expression changed. She walked over to the window. “You did not end up in the orphanage alone,” she confessed. “There were two of you, still tiny babies. It was really cold that day. Those were hard times; we constantly ran out of beds. We made the decision to keep you with us and gave your brother to a childless couple. I remember when they took your brother, you cried a lot. Three years later, we found out the couple who adopted your brother got divorced. They abandoned him, and your brother was sent to another orphanage. By then, we had a lot of orphans and not a single available bed. That’s how fate separated you both. I’m really sorry.”
Kevin grabbed his head, the weight of the revelation hitting him hard. “If only I knew I had a brother. All of this could have been avoided. John would have been alive.” He quickly left her office. It was unbearable.
The long-awaited call from Christine finally came the next morning. Kevin rushed to the hospital. Christine was waiting outside with her son. Kevin looked into the bundle and smiled, tickling the baby’s nose. They went home.
Christine’s apartment was in the city center, next to her husband’s car service. Mark had somehow managed to forge documents and now owned everything John had spent years building. As they approached, Christine whispered, “It’s him,” pointing toward Mark in the distance. Mark was tall and thin, resembling a skeleton in his long black cloak. He saw Christine and waved. Kevin quickly turned away.
Christine unlocked the door to her apartment, and Kevin found himself in a small hallway that resembled his own. His eyes fell on a photograph on the chest of drawers with a black ribbon at the corner. When Kevin saw the face in the picture, he covered his mouth and started sobbing. It was a picture of his twin brother, who looked exactly like him. It felt like he was looking in the mirror.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Christine looked into the peephole and recoiled in fear. “It’s Mark,” she whispered.
Kevin asked her to go to her son’s room, then took out his phone and turned on the recorder. He opened the door and greeted Mark with a smile. Mark turned pale and backed away.
“You’re supposed to be dead!” he screamed. “How did you get out?”
“Out of what? The water you drowned me in?” Kevin finished for him, playing the part of his brother’s ghost.
“I threw you out of the boat!” Mark shook his head, cringing. “I killed you! You’re dead!”
“I came back for you,” Kevin snarled, grabbing him by the collar and hitting him hard across the face. “Do you think I didn’t know what you were doing all this time?” He roughly pushed Mark against the railing. Mark collapsed to the floor, weeping.
“There you go,” Kevin said. “You’ve admitted to everything.” Leaving Mark on the ground, Kevin walked out and called the police. When they arrived, he handed them his phone with the recording.
Mark, now composed, told the police how he believed he had killed John.
“But it’s time you should find out that I’m not really John,” Kevin smiled as the police led Mark away. “I’m actually his twin brother.” Mark’s face turned red with anger. “I didn’t kill anyone!” he shouted. “I was just joking! I’m insane!”
The investigation into Mark’s case took several months. The main issue was the lack of witnesses. Just as Mark was about to be released, Kevin, who had been conducting his own investigation, found two elderly fishermen who happened to be on the river that fateful morning and saw Mark disposing of the body. Thanks to their testimony, the court gave Mark a harsh sentence of 12 years in federal prison.
During the verdict, Christine held Kevin’s hand tightly. “I can’t believe it’s over. Now, we need to figure out what to do with the car service.”
“Sure,” he smiled. “I’ll handle it. I’ve been wanting to change careers for a while.”
Christine smiled and then subtly pulled Kevin close, kissing him deeply. He responded with an even more passionate kiss.
Half a year went by. It was time to get ready for Christmas once again. Kevin and Christine had been married for three months. They decided to spend Christmas at their old neighbor Mr. Feist’s apartment. He was overjoyed as he watched Christine’s young son, Alex, play with tinsel.
Kevin remembered the events of exactly a year ago. He stood up and smiled at his old neighbor. “Without you, none of this would have happened,” he said, looking at his glass of champagne. “I would have become an alcoholic, lost my job, and never met Christine. So I’m incredibly grateful to you. I raise this glass to you, Mr. Feist.” His face broke into a smile. “To happiness,” he said softly. “To our happiness.”
They all lifted their glasses in unison. No one knew what the next Christmas would bring, but everyone, without exception, felt that the coming year would be successful and joyful.