I saw a homeless man wearing my missing son’s jacket — and I decided to follow him. Almost a year ago, on a Monday morning, my 17-year-old son, Daniel, left for school and never came back. My son was always the one who could make everyone laugh. He was kind and sensitive. He would never even leave the house without telling me. That just wasn’t like Daniel. That same evening, I called the police. The officers said teenagers will be teenagers — that he would come back in a couple of days.

“Daniel’s not like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sometimes teenagers leave for a couple of days.”

“Daniel is kind and sensitive. He’s the kind of kid who apologizes when someone bumps into him.”

The officer gave me a sympathetic smile. “We’ll file a report, ma’am.”

But I could tell he thought I was another panicked parent who didn’t know her own kid.

I never could’ve imagined how right he was.

***

The next morning, I went to Daniel’s school.

The principal was kind. She let me watch the security footage from the cameras that covered the main gate.

He thought I was another panicked parent who didn’t know her own kid.

I sat in a small office and watched the video from the previous afternoon.

Groups of teenagers poured out of the building in clusters, laughing, pushing each other, checking their phones.

Then I saw Daniel walking beside a girl. For a moment, I didn’t recognize her. Then she glanced over her shoulder, and I got a clearer look at her face.