Missing Children

My sister-in-law recently had a terrifying experience with her two-year-old twins escaping from her backyard. Before long, the whole neighborhood was looking for them and eventually they were found looking at a neighbor's dog four houses down and across the street! Oh, that horrible feeling.

So, she asked people to share some stories to make her feel better. I thought I'd share mine here so that I can have these lovely experiences documented.

I have two stories and unfortunately they are both about the same child...Miss Kamae.
When she about 2, I took her and Paige to the mall. I was pregnant with Spencer and I decided to let them play at the treehouse. We had never played there before and since I was pregnant, I was anxious to get off of my feet. I strategically placed myself on a bench where I could see them go in the one side and up the stairs and out the other and down the slide. Little did I know that there was a second staircase going out the backside. So, I see her go in and I'm waiting for her to come back out. She doesn't come. I ask Paige if she can see her and she says no. I go to look for myself and sure enough, she's not there. It's then that I realize that there's a back staircase and I was so mad at myself for not completely scoping out the scene before I sat down. I quickly went to the store that was directly behind the play area because we were just in there chatting with someone that I knew that worked there. I was hoping that that's where she was. I asked my friend if she'd seen Kamae and she hadn't. At that point I realized how potentially serious this situation could be. I think she saw the panic in my face, so she called mall security and holy moly, was I impressed. They were there in no time, all in plain clothes with ear pieces. They found me and asked for a description. Before long, they got word that she was down at Claire's, probably 3 or 4 stores down the hallway. One of the workers had spotted her and realized that she wasn't with an adult, so she picked her up and sat her on the counter and was looking at earrings with her. Bless her for stopping Kamae! Who knows how far she would've gone if she hadn't. Unless you have experienced that yourself, that feeling is indescribable.

The second time was just a couple of months ago. I was at one of the girls' dance competitions at UVSC. They were performing their last dance and Paige was in the second row of the formation. There's a part where they squat and then kick their feet out behind them (kind of like a push up). Well, their spacing was a little off and the girl in front of Paige kicked her right in the face. Paige, knowing that you're not supposed to stop dancing for anything, cried through the entire dance, but kept right on dancing. I was so proud and so heartbroken at the same time. It was one of the saddest things I've ever watched.

So right after that dance I immediately followed them off of the dance floor to console her and make sure she was alright. I realized once we got into the locker room that I had forgotten all of their sweats on the bench that I was sitting on. So, I asked another mother if she'd keep an eye on my girls while I went back to get them (the locker rooms are so crowded that I didn't dare just leave). When I came back, a look of panic was on this mother's face. I asked what was wrong and she said, "I don't see Kamae. She was just here two seconds ago and when I saw you walk in, I looked for both of your girls and now I don't see Kamae." I told her that she was probably around here somewhere and then I started to look for her.

I went over to the bathrooms. No luck. I came back into the locker room and yelled her name. Then the other mom's started looking around and we couldn't find her. I started pretty non-chalant, then as more time goes on, I start calling her name, then I start walking faster, I start asking strangers, I start yelling her name, etc. I go to the people at the entrance and ask them if they've seen her leave. Still no luck.

Fortunately, she was still in her costume, so it was pretty easy to describe her. As I am asking the ladies at the entrance table, another worker walks up and asks what was going on. I think she could hear the panic in my voice. It just so happened that she was the director of the whole competition. I can hear other mom's calling Kamae's name and the director called in security. By this time, I think we've been looking for at least 10 minutes. I am fighting back the tears, because I know that once I start crying, I'm no help. I need to stay calm so that I can be useful.

I start describing her to security. Paige is by my side and I say, "She looks just like this (pointing to Paige) but she's in pink (Paige was in blue). The director overhears that and says, "We need to make an announcement." We wait until the current performers end their dance and then she interrupts the competition. Over the microphone they inform people that there is a missing little girl who looks like this (they have Paige walk out onto the floor) but in pink. They give out her name and age and say "If you see her, please bring her to this table." People are so nice...as soon as that announcement is made, I see strangers leave their seats.

I go back to looking for her. Mind you, we are in one of the gyms at UVSC and there are several locker rooms that all connect to each other and it feels kind of like a maze. I could easily get lost in there myself (well, that doesn't take much).

At this point, true true fear is setting in. It's probably been 15 minutes. I can't help but think that this is the perfect place for a nasty man to come snatch a little girl. There are so many people there, so many girls to choose from...with each passing second, that possibility is becoming more and more of a reality. It's a sickening feeling.

Two men run up to me (literally running) and say, "Have you found her yet?" "No." And they took off running again. I had probably been asked that question 100 times at this point and each time I have to say "no", that feeling gets worse and worse.

Finally, I hear the words I have been waiting for. "We found her!" Relief. I can breathe again. I run over and ask where. Can you guess where? In the locker room. Which one? The one that we were all in originally.

Apparently, she had put herself inside of a locker, had shut the door and was hiding. Seriously? You have got to be kidding me! Now I have a flood of emotions. I am so happy/relieved that she is safe and I can hold her. I am still so freaked out that I am shaking. I am so incredibly angry that she deliberately made it so that we couldn't find her. I am without a doubt extremely humiliated that I have the entire place looking for her and she was in a locker and she had put herself there.

I take her by the hand into a corner away from everyone and just start sobbing. She is completely clueless as to what has all transpired. She has the most confused look on her face. She can't figure out why I'm crying and so upset. I explain it all to her and once she realized the severity of it she started crying...a lot. Then I have to calm her down as well as myself.

We had a good long talk about it all and made her promise to never do anything like that ever again. Her explanation was that she just wanted to hide and she was waiting for us to find her. But, that would explain why that mother that I had asked to watch my girls saw her one second and then didn't the next. That poor mom...to this day she feels responsible. I keep trying to tell her that I don't hold her responsible even in the slightest, but I think she'll feel guilty about it till the day she dies. She was in tears that day before I was. When we started up classes again after the 2 week summer break, she came up to me and apologized again and wanted to make sure I didn't hate her. Seriously? It's not her fault in any way, shape or form. Who would've known to make sure they don't crawl inside of a locker?

So, those are my scariest experiences. Like I said, the internal horror is not something I can even put into words. But, being reunited after thinking that you could maybe never see them again is one of the best feelings in the world. Do you guys have any experiences? Please share them in the comments!