# I Found a Strange Gadget in My Girlfriend’s Room—And Suddenly Had More Questions Than Answers

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Sometimes the strangest mysteries begin with the most innocent situations.

You aren’t searching for anything suspicious.

You aren’t snooping.

You’re simply trying to find something you need, and then you notice an object that looks so unfamiliar that your brain immediately starts creating theories.

That is exactly what happened to me.

And, honestly, I probably should have just asked my girlfriend what it was.

But there was something about the object that made me hesitate.

It was the kind of thing that looked perfectly ordinary to whoever owned it, yet completely mysterious to someone seeing it for the first time.

I had been at my girlfriend’s apartment for most of the afternoon.

We had spent the day doing absolutely nothing extraordinary.

We visited a farmers’ market, bought far too many pastries, stopped for  coffee, wandered through a bookstore, and eventually returned home to make dinner.

It was one of those comfortable weekends where there was no schedule.

No rushing.

No appointments.

No reason to check the clock every twenty minutes.

At some point during the afternoon, my phone battery dropped to four percent.

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I pulled my charger from my backpack.

Nothing.

I checked the side pocket.

Nothing.

Then I remembered that I had apparently left the charging cable in my car.

My girlfriend was downstairs preparing dinner.

I called out to her.

“Do you have a spare charger?”

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“There’s one upstairs,” she answered. “In my bedroom.”

“Where?”

“On the little table near the dresser.”