Photo: VRConsultantSultans / TikTok
The incident made her appreciate her community.
By Annabelle Miller — Written on Oct 23, 2022
A mother posted an emotional storytime video to TikTok recalling a traumatic experience she suffered.
She recounted the event of losing her daughter in the mall and revealed how she was able to find her again.
The woman used the ‘Twilight Bark’ from 101 Dalmations to find her missing daughter.
If you haven't seen 101 Dalmatians, the "Twilight Bark" is when the dogs bark together to find their lost pups or figure out what is going on.
Jenny, also known as TheVRConsultantSultans on TikTok, shared that she had to initiate this call while at the mall with her two daughters.
It was her daughter, Maggie’s, birthday which she wanted to spend at the park — it was dreary out so Jenny suggested the mall.
“We get there, she’s playing, she's super thirsty ‘I want some water,’ vending machine’s right there. I turn around, grab her some water, turn back around and she's gone,” the mother explained.
Jenny then told her other daughter, Maggie's older sister to go look for her.
She returns empty-handed. Jenny then does a loop to search.
“Luckily Maggie is the wrong kid to steal. She will NOT make anything easy,” Jenny captioned the frame of the TikTok.
After searching the area, Maggie is still nowhere to be found.
Jenny recalled that she started doing the first thing she could think of, yell.
She shouted “Maggie! Four years old! Yellow dress! White kid, brown hair, where are you!”
Terrified, Jenny continued to yell for her daughter and for anyone to help.
“For the first fifteen seconds, everyone's just looking at me because it's echoing, right?”
Nobody in the mall was helping until a man chimed in.
The man “Yelled out very loudly and in a stern New York accent, ‘Hey! We're looking for a missing kid. Y’all understand that? Four years old, white kid, brown hair, yellow dress. Maggie, where are you?!”
Jenny stated it was at that moment, everything changed.
“Every single person was yelling out and yelling for her. ‘Maggie where are you?’”
She explained that Maggie is not a hider so she knew she wasn't hiding.
“She's a mission kind of a girl,” Jenny says.
With Maggie still missing, the mall went into lockdown.
“I'm yelling and yelling and everyone else is yelling and people are coming out of stores. And shopkeepers are coming out and stylists are coming out and ladies in the foil (hair) are coming out.”
A woman called security to lock all the doors so nobody could get in or out.
Jenny explained emotionally, “It sucked so bad. But then everybody just acted like a community. And it was incredible because it happened in a split second.”
The entire mall was shouting and searching for Maggie.
Eventually, someone found Maggie.
“There was a woman on the second story who shouted ‘There! She's over there! I see her over there!’”
The woman pointed to Maggie and other mall goers chimed in saying “We’ll circle her!”
They formed a circle around the found little girl “Like elephants, like primal,” Jenny described.
“I got to her, and everyone worked together and there was a very small round of applause.”
Jenny continued “I was so thankful that the world isn't the bad place that the media portrays.”
“Yeah, I’m in the Northeast and the Northeast is filled with some pretty grumpy people, BUT in that moment of desperation… everyone, every single person was there for me.”
Viewers of the emotional TikTok commented in support of Jenny and her use of the ‘Twilight Bark.’
“Every parent take note. TWILIGHT BARK!” one viewer commented.
Another wrote, “I'm so sorry you went through that. It's scary to not be able to find your kid. So thankful everyone helped though. this made me cry.”
“Wow! I’m in tears.. that’s beautiful... Thanks for sharing. I hope I never have to go through that but if I ever do, I hope I get a response like this,” a user said.
Annabelle Miller is a writer based in Connecticut. She covers news, celebrity gossip, and pop culture topics.