At my age, most people were thinking about retirement, buying a little house in Florida, or taking long vacations. But not me.

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I was focused on how to make my store better. When you owned a business, especially a small grocery store like mine, there was no such thing as rest. I had run this store for many years.

Over time, new shops had opened nearby, and competition had grown, but I never gave up.

I worked hard to make my store more than just a place to buy food. I wanted people to feel welcome, like they were visiting an old friend.

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Some of my customers had been coming for twenty or even thirty years. I watched them grow up, fall in love, and start families.

Then their kids started coming in—and that meant the world to me. It meant I had done something right.

But recently, something felt off. I started noticing little things missing from the shelves.

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Not just one or two items, but enough to make me wonder. I stocked everything myself, so I knew what was there. Something was definitely wrong.

Mr. Harris came up to the register with a small basket in his hand. He gave me a friendly smile. “How are you doing today, Clara?” he asked.

“I’m doing fine, thank you. How about you?” I said with a smile.

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“I’m good,” he said. “But I noticed something. There’s not much dairy on the shelves. You usually have the best selection in town.”

I looked at him, surprised. “That can’t be right. I filled the whole section just yesterday. Every last shelf.”

He raised his eyebrows and shrugged. “Maybe you missed something. Or maybe it’s time to slow down. You ever think about handing the store over to someone else? Do you have kids?”

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His words hit me hard. I froze for a moment, then looked straight at him. I didn’t smile this time. “Goodbye, Mr. Harris,” I said firmly. I bagged his items and handed them to him without another word.

As if! I still had plenty of strength. Mr. Harris acted like I was ready for a rocking chair and soft food. I wasn’t even sixty yet!

I worked hard every day, lifting boxes, sweeping floors, and dealing with customers. But his words touched a spot deep inside me. A place I tried to keep buried.

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Children.

I had a daughter once. Just one. She ran away from home fifteen years ago. No phone call. No goodbye. Just a note.

She said she was leaving to start a new life. I searched for her everywhere. I called the police, but they said she left on her own, so it was not their job.

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That made me so angry. She was my child. She was still so young. How could they not help?

I shook my head and forced myself back to the present. I walked to the dairy fridge. It was still early, and hardly anyone had come in yet.

But I saw the truth with my own eyes—many items were missing. Yogurt, milk, cheese—whole rows gone.

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It was not just forgetfulness or bad math. Someone was stealing from me.

I always trusted people. That was why I never installed cameras. I believed people were good. I believed they would do the right thing. But now, I had no choice.

The next day, I had cameras installed. It cost me a good bit, but I had to protect my store. The day after that, I sat at the back counter and watched the footage.

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At first, it looked normal. The store was dark and still. But then, a figure appeared. They moved quickly and quietly, taking things off the shelves.

They wore a hood pulled low over their face. I clicked through the video, hoping to see a face, but I never did. Somehow, they stayed hidden.

Still, I knew I had to do something. I put the footage on a flash drive and drove to the police station.

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I walked up to the front desk and told the officer on duty what had happened.

He led me to a small room and plugged in the footage. He watched the screen with a bored look on his face.

“So,” he said, leaning back in his chair, “what do you want from us?”

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I stared at him. “What do I want? I want you to do your job. Someone is breaking into my store and stealing my products. I want you to find out who it is.”

He pointed at the screen. “You can’t even see their face. They’re wearing a hood the whole time. We don’t have anything to go on.”

I felt my hands tighten. “But that’s your job!”

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“My advice? Get an alarm system,” the officer said.

I scoffed, grabbed the footage, and walked out of the station. As if! Giving me advice like I was some lost old lady.

But still, I went ahead and had the alarm system installed. I did not want to take any more chances.

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For a few days, things seemed better. Nothing went missing. The shelves stayed full. I started to breathe easier.

Then, one morning, I walked in and froze. Again, shelves were empty. Not everything, but enough to notice. Yet the alarm had not gone off. My stomach turned.

As I stood by the fridge, Mr. Harris walked by with a little shake of his head. “Your selection keeps getting smaller and smaller,” he said. “Maybe my wife and I should start going to another store.”

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Those words stung. My heart pounded. I could not lose customers. This store was my life. It paid my bills and kept a roof over my head.

If I could not stop this thief, I could lose everything. If no one would help me, then I would help myself.

That night, I closed the shop like always, turned off the lights, and walked out the front door.

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But I did not go home. I circled around to the back, unlocked the rear door, and slipped inside. I crouched behind the counter and waited.

It was quiet. Too quiet. I almost dozed off, but then I heard it—the door creaked, and the alarm beeped off.

My heart jumped. I peeked up and saw the same figure moving around the aisles.

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Small, quick, quiet. I crept forward. Step by step. Then I lunged and grabbed the hoodie.

“Got you!” I yelled.

The person dropped everything and struggled. I pulled back the hood. He was just a boy. Fourteen, maybe. Thin. Scared. His eyes locked with mine.

He had her eyes.

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“Who are you? Why are you stealing from me?” I asked.

He did not answer. He pulled down the zipper, slipped out of the hoodie, and ran. I tried to follow but could not. I stood there, breathing hard, holding the hoodie in my hands.

Those eyes. I knew them. They belonged to my daughter. How was that possible? Could he be…?

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After I caught the boy red-handed, the thefts stopped completely, but I could not stop thinking about him.

Every time I looked at the shelves or walked through the store, my mind went back to that night. I kept seeing his face, those eyes that reminded me so much of my daughter.

I felt torn. He was just a child, and part of me wanted to go to the police, but the other part needed to know who he was and why he looked so familiar.

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One evening, as I was driving home from work, I saw a figure in a hoodie coming out of a closed store.

My heart skipped a beat. Was it him? I watched as he walked over to a bicycle, took some groceries out of his hoodie, and put them into a backpack.

He kept his hood up the whole time. I stayed in my car and decided to follow him. I knew if I tried to talk to him, he would run again.

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I kept a safe distance as he rode through the streets. After a while, he stopped near a small but tidy house.

He parked his bicycle behind it and went inside. I sat for a moment, holding the same hoodie he had left behind in my store.

My hands were shaking as I got out of the car and walked to the front door. I knocked softly. No one came. I waited. I was about to leave when I heard footsteps approaching.

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Then the door opened.

And there she was—my daughter. I froze. She looked older, tired maybe, but it was her. My heart almost stopped.

She was no longer the girl who had run away from me. She was a grown woman now, standing in the doorway, staring at me in shock.

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“Alice…” I whispered, my voice barely coming out. My hands were still shaking.

She blinked like she was seeing a ghost. “Mom? What are you doing here?”

I looked into her eyes. They were the same, even after all these years. “So you were nearby all this time, and I couldn’t find you.”

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She looked down. “Not the whole time. I moved around a lot. That’s not important now. Why are you here? How did you find me?”

I didn’t answer right away. I reached into my bag and held up the boy’s hoodie.

Her eyes widened. “Where did you get Travis’s hoodie?”

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Before I could speak, the boy—the same one who stole from my store—appeared in the hallway.

“Mom! Close the door!” he shouted, his voice full of fear.

Alice turned to him. “What? What’s going on?”

I stepped forward. “Travis was stealing from my store.”

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“WHAT?!” she shouted. Her face turned red with shock.

“Please don’t call the police,” Travis said, his voice shaking. “I promise I won’t steal from your store again.”

“I know,” I said softly. “But I saw you today. You were stealing from another store.”

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Alice turned to him, her voice sharp. “Travis, what is this? Why would you steal?”

He looked down at the floor. “Because you work so much. We never have enough money. I wanted to help.”

“So you thought stealing was the answer?” she shouted.

“I sold the stuff. I gave you the money in secret. I thought I was helping,” he said.

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Alice covered her