About a month ago my five year old daughter, who I’ll call Dee, got a sudden interest in photography. She probably saw someone with a camera on TV and decided that she wanted one. For two weeks she begged us for a camera, and me and my husband decided that we wanted to support her and her interests. We bought her a simple and cheap digital camera and gifted it to her. We taught her how to use it, which wasn’t much more than pointing and clicking, and told her that we would get her favorite photos printed.
Dee took her camera everywhere with her, and took pictures of everything. We often had to delete a lot of blurry photos to make room for more. She was very good at following rules too, such as don’t take other people’s pictures without their permission, don’t point the camera at the sun, and always wear the wrist strap. Me and my husband were very proud, and hoped that we were raising a future photographer.
Last week I had a day off, so I decided to go run some errands. I brought Dee along since my husband was at work and there was no one to watch her. She didn’t mind though, as long as she could bring her camera, she was happy. We ran by the post office, the bank, and lastly a large clothing store, as I needed a new blouse for a party that was coming up. Dee and I walked inside and she instantly started to snap pictures of some sparkly dresses. I mostly ignored her as I looked around, keeping her in the corner of my eye.
I looked through some shirts on one of those round racks, and Dee decided to push through them and duck inside. She did this often, as many kids do. She giggled away and I let her be and looked around at some other racks. After a few minutes I called her, wanting to move on to a different section. She didn’t answer me.
“Come on Dee, you can’t stay in there.” I said. I couldn’t hear any giggling, and she wasn’t responding. I walked over to the rack and spread the shirts to look inside. Dee wasn’t there. I called out to her, telling her to come to me. I looked around, but couldn’t see her anywhere. This is when I started to panic a little. I had been keeping my eyes on that rack, and knew that I didn’t see her come out, but she had to be close by. I quickly walked around the area, looking inside other racks and calling out to her more.
She was nowhere, and I started to really panic. I rushed to the checkout counter nearby and asked the cashier if she had seen her. “Is your child missing?” The cashier asked me. I told her the situation and she spoke into the microphone on her collar. “We have a missing child, most recently seen in women’s formal.”
My heart was beating so fast, and I could feel that my face was red. I was embarrassed, worried that I looked like a terrible mom, but as long as Dee was found, it would all be okay. “The other employees are searching the store for her now. Can you tell me what she looks like?” The cashier asked me. I told her, and she repeated it into her microphone. “Okay ma’am, thank you. We have security by the front door to make sure she doesn’t leave the store.” She said. I didn’t even want to think about the possibility that someone could take her.
I went to look some more, calling out Dee’s name, telling her that she wasn’t in trouble and to just come out. Dee was always so well behaved, she never ran off like this. Twenty minutes went by, and I was in full panic mode with tears forming in my eyes. Suddenly, I heard crying. I recognized it as Dee instantly. I followed it, running across the store.
I came to the same round rack that Dee had hid inside initially. I looked inside, and sure enough, there she was. I pulled her out as she sobbed and picked her up. I assumed that she had gone back inside the rack when I wasn’t looking. I asked her if she was alright, and why she was crying. “There was nobody!” She said. I was confused, and asked her what she meant. “Nobody anywhere!” I didn’t know what she was talking about, so I asked her again. “All alone!” She was in hysterics.
I pet her head and went back to the checkout and told the cashier that I had found her. She told her microphone that Dee had been found and called off the search. I was relieved, but worried. Did a stranger try to take her, or did she just get lost for a bit? I took her home and put her in bed for a nap, and told my husband what had happened when he got home.
Later that night, Dee was doing better. I asked her if I could see her photos from that day, as it always cheered her up when me and my husband looked at them. She gave me her camera and I scrolled through the photos. There were some of the post office, some of the bank, and lots of photos of clothes.
I cannot explain the last few photos. It was the clothing store, except there were no people. That didn’t make sense, as there were lots of people in the store when we were there. There were lots of photos of the empty store, even one of the checkout counter without the cashier there. She had taken a photo of the front door, and several of the parking lot. The parking lot was empty. There were no cars, no people, nothing. You could see the street, and there was no traffic in sight.
No wonder Dee had cried so hard, she was all by herself, someplace where there were no people. I don’t know where Dee had gone, but I worry every day now, what if somehow, she gets taken back?