I volunteered to help.
At first, everything was normal.
There were old shampoos.
Unused face masks.
A curling iron she forgot she owned.
Several bottles of nail polish in shades that had probably been trendy five years ago.
Then we found it.
A small object buried behind a stack of towels.
Neither of us had any idea what it was.
And that was the beginning of a surprisingly entertaining mystery.
The Object
The item itself wasn't particularly dramatic.
It wasn't glowing.
It wasn't making strange noises.
It didn't look expensive or dangerous.
In fact, it looked almost disappointingly ordinary.
It was made of plastic and metal, roughly the size of a computer mouse, with a design that suggested it served some specific purpose.
The problem was that neither of us could determine what that purpose was.
My girlfriend picked it up.
"What is this?"
I shrugged.
"No idea."
She turned it over.
