Found - By Sarah Telford

Written By: Sarah Telford

Category: Short Story

Competition: Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026

Sarah Telford presents "Found," a compelling short story submitted to the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. This poignant narrative invites readers into a world where identity, belonging, and the human spirit are intricately explored. Telford's entry takes us on an emotional journey through a young girl's quest for truth and family, highlighting themes of love and resilience.

About the Work

"Found" delves into the life of Maggie, a young girl whose unexpected discovery leads her on a path to uncover her true identity. Telford masterfully weaves a tale filled with suspense and emotion, effectively capturing the struggles and triumphs of her protagonist. The story is rich with vivid imagery and a narrative style that keeps readers engaged, as it gently unravels the mysteries of Maggie's past and her newfound future.

Found

Original Submission by Sarah Telford

Found

She hadn’t disappeared, yet her photograph was suddenly on missing-person posters everywhere.

Maggie hadn’t had the easiest childhood. She’d been abandoned by her parents at the hospital when she was mere days old. She hadn’t been wanted. Hadn’t been loved. Hadn’t been valued. At least that’s what Connie and Brent had told her. They had taken her in out of the goodness of their hearts, according to them. Boy, that was something they would never let her forget. She was reminded how useless she was daily, constantly told what a burden she was. She wasn’t allowed outside on her own for extended periods of time. Maggie wasn’t ever able to go to school, instead completing what Connie called “homeschool”, which was more like doing the household chores while Connie watched television. Whenever people came to the house, she was always locked in her small basement room. Her turn to eat was always last and even then all she got were the scraps left over once everyone else had finished eating. Every now and then she got the feeling that something wasn’t right. That there was something she wasn’t being told.

It just didn’t make sense to her. Connie and Brent weren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination, but they weren’t poor either. Even if they were, why take in a mouth you can’t afford to feed? And then turn around and treat her so terribly? Things just didn’t add up. Late one night, Maggie overheard her name in a conversation she wasn’t supposed to hear. She also heard the names Gerald and Rebecca, but couldn’t make any sense of the rest of what was said. Still, she had a feeling that those names meant something.

It all came to a head one Friday night. While making supper for her guardians, Maggie burnt her hands. When she began to sob, she was thrown outside in the snow.

“I can’t take this constant complaining!” Connie screamed. “Stay there until you learn to shut up!”

It was then that Maggie made a decision that was going to change her life. She was going to run away from Connie and Brent. Even the streets couldn’t be as horrible as it was in that house.

So Maggie wandered in the dark night. She was small and very underfed, so she didn’t have much energy. She trudged through the deep snow, growing more and more tired with every step. When she finally reached a lamppost, she decided to take a break.

She looked up at the lamppost and couldn’t believe what she saw. A missing persons flyer. It was so familiar. She caressed the worn paper, taking in every feature. Her hands paused as she squinted hard at the photo. She examined every inch, up and down, several times before coming to a realization. A few details were off, but it was unmistakenly her face. Same eyes, same nose, even the dimples on either cheek were in the right spots. Yes, it was a photo of her! Her mind rushed. How long had she been walking? There was no way Connie and Brent could have gotten missing persons papers printed and put up in that short period of time. Maggie didn’t know what to think.

Then she glanced at the telephone number at the bottom of the page. It wasn’t Connie and Brent’s. That was the only phone number she knew and that definitely wasn’t it. How had a stranger gotten her picture? Why did they say she was missing?

She spotted the light of a café a block away. It must be still open. She ripped the poster off of the lamppost and made her way to the café. Luckily, she always kept a few quarters in her pocket. She didn’t know exactly why she did, she had just somehow known someday she would need them. She had scrounged them up while cleaning the house. Whenever Connie wasn’t looking, she would slip them in her pocket if she was lucky enough to find them between couch cushions or in the laundry machine. She had just enough for a small cup of cocoa.

She kept getting glances from the other patrons of the café. Some looked indifferent, some curious. Thankfully, no one approached her, and she sat in silence. After most other patrons had cleared out for the night, the waitress approached her. Little did Maggie know, the waitress had been watching her. She saw the tattered clothing Maggie was dressed in and how underweight she was for a child her age. She noticed how Maggie was all alone, with no grownup in sight. Most of all, she witnessed Maggie stroking the flyer, clinging to it for dear life.

“Can I give you a phone to call someone?” the waitress asked, offering a small smile. She pointed to the landline on the wall at the back of the café. No one will overhear from there,” she promised. Maggie hesitated, then slowly nodded. She stood up and made her way to the phone.

She dialed the first few digits, then stopped. She had no idea who she was calling, or even why. But she knew she was out in the cold alone with nowhere to go. The café was closing soon and she couldn’t stay there, no matter how kind the waitress was. Anything was a better option than the dark night that awaited her. She finished dialing the number.

The phone rang for a few seconds, then a male voice answered. “Hello, do you have any information on the missing girl?” he asked.

“I don’t know where she is,” Maggie started. Then something inside her clicked. A reason. “I think I may be her,” she finished, surprising even herself. The man sounded startled. He asked her a few questions, like where she was and where she had been for the past seven years. After she did her b est to answer, he gave her instructions.

“Don’t go anywhere. I will be there within the hour. Please, stay where you are.” Maggie nodded, then realizing he couldn’t see her, she quietly agreed before hanging up the phone. She slumped down in her chair to wait. She had no idea who was coming for her. At least she could wait inside, out of the wind. In what seemed like a millennium, an expensive black car pulled up and a man stepped out of the backseat. Maggie peered out the door of the café, and then made her way outside to meet him.

He had black hair. It was cut short, but Maggie could tell it was very fine and straight. Just like hers. His face had the same dimples she saw in the mirror. Now things were getting confusing.

He noticed she was shivering, and quickly took off his coat to wrap around her. He knelt down beside her.

“Carrie, is that you?” he asked, peering into her eyes. There was a flash of recognition on his face. Suddenly, he wrapped her in a warm hug and carried her to the car. Maggie was confused and full of questions. “Who are you and how did you get my picture?” she demanded.

“It isn’t really a picture,” the man started to explain. “It is a simulation. My daughter was taken from my wife and I just after she was born. This image was her picture aged to what she would look like today.” He paused, unsure if he should continue. “We have been searching for her a long time. We update the posters every year. It’s been seven so far. You are seven. I think you are my missing daughter.” He put it bluntly.

Maggie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. His daughter? She was stunned. So she hadn’t been abandoned like she was told? She really did have a family who loved her? It was all too much. She began to hyperventilate. He held her and began to coach her to take deep breaths.

“Breate in……. and out,” he instructed. “We need to get you checked out. “Driver, take us to the nearest hospital.” The driver gave a small nod and the car lurched into motion. Maggie was still shaking from the cold. She was tired and wanted to close her eyes, but she was afraid if she did, she would wake up back at Connie and Brent’s house, once again at their will. She thought she saw police lights following them closely, but was too tired to pay too much attention. She spent the rest of the ride in silence, trying to process the night’s turn of events. When they arrived at the hospital, the man started talking to the police man who had just exited his car. After the officer nodded, the man began barking orders.

“I want a private suite, warm blankets and a full exam. I don’t want them to miss anything. Blood pressure, temperature, bloodwork, everything,” he insisted. He carried her to the hospital bed himself. He laid her down with care, very gently tucking her into the soft blankets. A nurse came and examined her, then she motioned to talk to the man alone, well almost alone. The police officer from earlier was also part of the conversation. She later found out he was the lead investigator in the missing persons case surrounding the flyer. Maggie tried to listen, but she couldn’t hear over the humming of machines. They had determined she was borderline hypothermic, so she was getting an infusion of warm saline. She heard the words “DNA test” and “missing daughter,” but that was all.

She was brought some food to eat. The nurse had noted how malnourished she was and so they started with a plain bowl of oatmeal and some crackers. Small steps, the nurse had said. They didn’t want to overwhelm her system.

After eating, Maggie drifted off to sleep. She was so tired she didn’t even dream. When she woke up, the man was hovering over her bed, but this time a woman was with him. She had Maggie’s eyes. They were the same shade of emerald green, but the woman’s were brimming with tears. Maggie quickly shut her eyes so they wouldn’t know she was awake.

“It has to be her,” she heard the woman say. “Just look at her. She’s the exact same as she was when she was a baby! Do you think I wouldn’t recognize my own daughter? She is mine! It is her, I know it. I don’t need any test for what I know in my heart”

“We should wait for the DNA test to come back before we do anything too drastic, Rebecca” the man replied. “I want it to be true too, I really do. But there is a chance it isn’t. This is why I didn’t call you right away. I didn’t want to get your hopes up.”

Maggie gulped. So there was a chance this wasn’t real? The new family she didn’t even know yet might disappear as quickly as it came? Now she dreaded the DNA results. Then she thought things over. At least she got out of the cold for one night and got some more food, she surmised. At worst, it was one less night alone. Either way, she came out ahead.

The clock seemed to tick extra loud as the couple and Maggie waited. And waited. Then there came a knock on the door. A nurse entered slowly, accompanied by the police officer. The nurse was holding a piece of paper in her hands. She cleared her throat and spoke.

“Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs?” she began, almost as if asking a question. “The preliminary DNA results are in. The girl in the hospital bed is 99.9% likely to be your biological daughter.”

The man and woman both let out a squeal of excitement as they collapsed together. By this point Maggie had opened her eyes. They were a family! The woman rushed to Maggie’s side and squeezed her tightly.

“My daughter! We found you! We never gave up looking!” she gushed. “I’m you mother, Rebecca, but please call me Mom. And this is Gerald, call him Dad,” she explained, pointing to the man who had treated her so carefully hours before. Now everyone in the room had tears in their eyes. But calling her Mom? Him Dad? That would take time, despite how wonderful it felt.

Seeing questions in her face, Maggie’s mom started to tell the story. She had been born in a hospital a few towns over. They had named her Carrie. A few hours after her birth, her mom had fallen asleep and her dad had gone to get food. It was then that Carrie (now Maggie) had been stolen from her crib. The police had searched for her, following lead after lead, but in all seven years no one had found a trace of her. Her parents had never stopped looking. They spared no expense. Every year they had a new updated drawing done of what she would look like at that time and plastered it as far and wide as they could. Everywhere possible! They never gave up hope that someday their baby girl would be returned to them.

Maggie digested the story in silence. So much made sense now. Why she wasn’t allowed outside for long periods alone, why she couldn’t go to school. Why she was locked away whenever someone came to visit. They had changed her name too, just for good measure so that their secret wouldn’t be discovered. Those names she had overheard that night…. Rebecca? Gerald? It all fit. She hadn’t been abandoned as she was told, she had been stolen!

Little by little she began to tell her side of the story. All she had been through. How she was told no one wanted her. How she was lead to believe she was useless, a burden. She had never seen the posters before because she was practically held captive. As she spoke, she could see the anger growing on her mother’s face. She also saw the police officer taking notes from the other side of the room out of the corner of her eye.

“How dare someone do that to my baby!” her mom cried out when Maggie was done. “How dare they make you feel that way!” She picked up the phone and began to give strict orders. “I want them picked up now! Add as many charges as you can! Now! I don’t care that it’s three in the morning! I want them in jail by sunrise!” she screamed into her cellphone. She must have power, Maggie thought to herself.

The next few hours were surreal. Maggie listened as her parents gushed about her room at home, her relatives who still loved her, her special place in their world. They had saved it all these years. Maggie’s heart swelled at the thought. She was loved. Being called Carrie would take some getting used to, but she was ready to leave her old life behind. She had found the two people who cared most about her in this world, and that was what mattered. She didn’t even care that they were rich. They could have been dirt poor and she would have loved them just the same. They were kind, and that is what was important.

Those hours also included long interviews with CPS, the police, investigators, and several hospital officials in charge of the welfare of children. She felt like she was reliving the past and the same story over and over again. Finally, all checked out and she was left alone with her parents.

Days went by, and “Carrie” and her parents got to know each other more and more as time passed on. They settled into a bit of a rhythm. Carrie was still in the hospital, but her parents described what awaited her at home. Her dad spent the night researching things that seven-year-old girls liked and filled her hospital room with everything from stuffed animals to books to electronic devices. Slowly she began to eat more and more. She especially enjoyed the sweets her dad snuck her. She even added a few pounds to her bodyweight. Progress, the adults called it. She was put on supplements to help her grow. She felt well rested for the first time she could remember.

One day, Carrie decided to ask a question she was almost afraid to know the answer to.

“What happened to Connie and Brent?” She wondered. Her mother smiled down at her and wrapped her in a soft hug.

“They have been arrested and are awaiting trial in jail. We made sure they couldn’t post bail.” She said, carefully tucking Carrie’s hair behind her ears.

“Why did they take me?” she asked.

“Connie and I went to school together many years ago. She coveted your dad Gerald, and when we got together, she warned me she would get even and take away my “perfect life.” That’s why she took you, to get back at me. Brent was just doing her bidding, the spineless weasel” her mom answered, watching Carrie carefully for signs of fear. “The longer they kept you, the longer I suffered, and you did too. That was her revenge. Every time they mistreated you they were mistreating me too. They even changed their names so we couldn’t find them. They used to be known as Melissa and Danny. That’s why the trail went cold. I’m so sorry sweetheart. Don’t worry, they will never see the light of day again, let alone come near you. It doesn’t matter what they call themselves,” she promised.

“Will I have to testify?” Carrie questioned.

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” her mother reassured her. “You are our baby and we will always protect you. The police have your statement and medical records. Considering the circumstances, that should be enough.” Carrie smiled at that thought. Now that she was reunited with her family, she would never let them go.

The time came for her to leave the hospital and go home for the first time. She was excited, but nervous. Every new thing was magical, as mere weeks ago these things had been only an impossible dream. She felt comfortable for the first time in her life. She was loved. She was protected. She was part of a family. She had finally been found, when she didn’t even know she was missing. And it was all thanks to a poster, a kind waitress, and parents who never gave up on her.

About the Competition

The Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026, hosted by Hashtag Kalakar, is a prestigious event that celebrates the art of written expression. Participants from around the globe submit works in various categories, showcasing their creativity and storytelling prowess. This competition provides a platform for writers to share their voices and connect with audiences worldwide.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Sarah Telford for her inspiring contribution, "Found," to the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. Her captivating short story reminds us of the power of love and perseverance. We are honored to feature her work and look forward to following her literary journey.

About Hashtag Kalakar

Hashtag Kalakar is a creative platform dedicated to providing artists, writers, singers and other creative talents with opportunities to showcase their work and reach wider audiences through competitions, features and creative initiatives.