I THOUGHT THEY WERE JUST CURIOUS DEER—UNTIL I SAW WHAT THE LITTLE ONE WAS CARRYING They came out of nowhere—just wandered up from the treeline while I was tossing hay near the fence. No fear, no hesitation. Like they’d been here before. The bigger one had a calmness to him, like he was guarding. But the small one? The little one kept tilting its head at me, blinking slow, like it was trying to tell me something. I laughed and pulled out my phone to snap this photo—“today I got some guests,” I joked, even posted it with that caption. But the moment after I took it, something strange happened. The little one stepped forward. Right up to the fence. And dropped something. At first I thought it was a rock or a clump of mud. But when ⤵️

I THOUGHT THEY WERE JUST CURIOUS DEER—UNTIL I SAW WHAT THE LITTLE ONE WAS CARRYING

They came out of nowhere — just wandered up from the treeline while I was tossing hay near the fence. No fear, no hesitation. Like they’d been here before.

The bigger one had a calmness to him, like he was guarding. But the small one? The little one kept tilting its head at me, blinking slowly, like it was trying to tell me something.

I laughed and pulled out my phone to snap a photo —
“Today I got some guests,” I joked, even posted it with that caption.

But the moment after I took it, something strange happened.

The little one stepped forward. Right up to the fence. And dropped something.

At first, I thought it was a rock or a clump of mud.

But when I bent down to look closer, I froze.

It was a key.

Old, rusted, with a strip of red cloth tied to the top. The kind of thing you’d find in an antique store—or a mystery novel.

I glanced up, startled, but the deer were already gone.