During a routine patrol in a local shopping center, Officer Daniels made a heart-wrenching discovery. In the far corner of the parking lot, he found a 3-year-old girl sitting alone, almost invisible amidst all the parked cars.
Concerned, he approached her gently, kneeling down to her level to ask why she was there all alone.
The little girl, with tears welling up in her eyes, looked up at Officer Daniels and uttered a sentence that sent a chill through him.
She whispered, “Mom doesn’t want me home.”
A misunderstanding
Officer Daniels’ eyes widened as he heard what the little girl said. No, this couldn’t be right! She was way too young to have been kicked out of her home.
What kind of parents would do such a thing?! This had to be some kind of misunderstanding – the girl probably had no idea what she was even saying.
Her parents had to be here somewhere!
Wanting to find her parents
Officer Daniels decided to stay with the girl and keep her safe until her parents found her. They were probably worried sick and looking for her all over the place.
“My name is Jason. What is your name?” he asked the girl, hoping that he could get some information out of her if he earned her trust.
Her name was Ella
“Ella,” she replied shyly. “Wow, what a beautiful name!” Jason said, and a smile appeared on the little girl’s face.
“Ella, let’s go look for your parents. Do you know where they are?” he asked, and the smile immediately disappeared from her face again.
“No, Mommy doesn’t want me!” she said again, and Jason raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Getting a little worried
He didn’t want to upset Ella any further, but he was getting slightly worried now. What if she really was out here all by herself?
However, he quickly shook his head and told himself that that couldn’t be what was going on. Her parents were here somewhere, and he was determined to find them.
“Let’s go take a walk, okay?”
To the control room
He reached out his hand for Ella to take it, and together, they walked into the shopping center. He took her to the control room and explained the situation to the information officer who was on duty.
The officer made an announcement about Ella being lost and requested her parents to come to the information center right away.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll be right here!”
An announcement
Upon hearing this, Ella’s face fell, and she repeated again, “No! Mommy doesn’t want me!” Jason and the information officer exchanged worried glances, unsure of what to do.
They decided to wait there a bit longer, and the officer repeated the announcement another time. However, no one showed up… Besides, the security cameras only showed empty corridors – the shopping center was about to close.
Going back outside
“Ella! Should we play a game?” Jason asked her. “The first one to see a yellow car wins!” The little girl’s eyes lit up, and she nodded, letting out a soft giggle.
This was the perfect way to get her back to the parking lot without having to mention her parents again, Jason thought – it seemed to upset her every time they did that…
Nobody came looking for her
Jason thanked the information officer and he and Ella made their way outside again. There were even fewer cars in the parking lot than before, seeing as all the visitors of the mall had gone home, and to Ella’s disappointment, none of them were yellow.
Jason was disappointed as well, but for a different reason. He couldn’t believe that nobody had come looking for this little girl!
He couldn’t just leave her
He glanced at Ella, who was still looking around, trying to spot a yellow car, and he wondered what he should do.
He didn’t want to upset her by asking more questions about her family or her home, but he couldn’t just leave her there.
In the end, he decided to take her to the police station with him. He’d think of a plan there.
To the police station
“It looks like there aren’t any yellow cars here. Do you want to come with me and look somewhere else?” he asked her, and Ella nodded.
Now that Jason took a closer look at her, he noticed some strange things. Her hair was a mess, uncombed and full of knots, and her clothes and hands were dirty as well.
Something was off
He had no idea what was going on, but one thing was clear: there was something strange about this whole situation.
Luckily, he was able to distract Ella and she seemed to actually enjoy counting all the yellow cars that they came across on their way to the station.
Once they arrived there, one of Jason’s colleagues, Michelle, was already waiting for them outside.
His colleague, Officer Michelle
Jason didn’t have any kids, but Michelle did, and he thought Ella might feel more comfortable with a woman, too.
Michelle also happened to keep some of her daughter’s plush toys in her office, and as soon as Ella heard about those, she was really excited to see them.
So, Michelle cared for Ella as Jason tried to track down her parents. He really needed to find them!
Finding nothing useful
He checked every database and looked into all the missing person reports, but he found nothing useful. He realized that this was going to be more difficult than he expected, but he was determined to find this little girl’s parents.
Jason was already thinking of a plan of action when Michelle approached his desk with a worried look on her face.
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