Pictures in Flash Drive are gone

After I inserted my 2GB flash drive into the laptop, the flash drive was scanned for errors. After the scan was done, I found that one of the folders (called M&M with about 40 pictures) was changed from a folder to a file of just 32kb. I couldn't find the pictures in Recycle Bin or anywhere else. I didn't get any hardware error message or scan error message. Right now, I cannot open M&M and its properties show it's a file, not a folder.

I am attaching images of the flash drive directory and the properties of M&M. Would you please take a look and let me know what poosibly has gone wrong? Is there any way that I can get the pictures back? Please help! I'd greatly appreciate your help.