The Snow Day

Josh and Alice were excited to wake up to such great news… NO SCHOOL. Every kid’s wish come true. What will they do first? They rushed downstairs into the kitchen to grab something to eat before heading out to build a snowman.

Not so fast, slow down before you choke on your bacon, mom says as they scarf down breakfast. Just as Josh stands up and grabs his coat, the phone rings. Mom answers and stops Josh from walking out. It’s your friend Billy’s mom, he wants you to come over and play with him.

Josh all excited starts to run out the door, but mom says take your little sister too. Ahh mom she’s annoying, Josh moans out. Take her or stay here and play. Uggh, fine. Come on Alice get your coat. Alice grabs her coat and favorite teddy bear.

Josh walks out the door as Alice grabs her coat. Josh hurries to the gate and rushes through it. Alice cries out, wait for me. Hurry up dang, you better not slow me down. I'm not she yells out.

Josh runs off assured that his little sister knows the way. Besides, it’s only a block over. As he makes it to Billy’s house and knocks on the door, Alice is still no where to be seen. Stupid girl, she’s so slow, he says to Billy as he comes to the door. The boys go in and grab some hot cocoa Billy's mom had just made.

Several minutes go by while the boys enjoy their hot treat and play with Billys remote controlled car. Billy’s mom comes in and asks where Alice was. Josh, who had totally forgotten about her stood up and said oooh yeah, she was right behind me. She must have stopped to play on the swing. I’ll go get her.

He steps out into the yard and yells out for her. No answer. He walks to the end of the driveway and looks out in the direction they had been walking just moments prior. No sign of her. He goes back in and says she must have changed her mind and went back home. And with that he innocently went back to playing with Billy.

Billys mom picks up the phone and calls Josh’s mom to make sure Alice made it back home safely. Alice had not gone back home. Where was she then?

Billy’s mom tells the boys to walk the trail back to Josh’s house to see if maybe she got lost or had fallen down and was hurt. The boys grabbed their coats a bit upset that they had to go find a silly girl who couldn’t find her way a block up the road.

As they left the house in absolutely no hurry to go retrieve his little sister, Josh grabs a handful of snow and pelts it at Billy’s face. Laughing and running down the street the boys have an impromptu snowball fight as they head back towards Josh’s house.

As they make it to the corner of the intersection of Josh’s street and Billy’s, they see Alice’s teddy bear lying on the sidewalk. Josh yells out, very funny Alice, come out you aren’t going to scare me. No reply. Aaaallliiiccceee.. I’m telling mom you threw your bear on the ground. Nothing. She’s gotta be around here somewhere. Josh yells out one more time. Silence. She was not there.

The boys convinced maybe she got scared and ran home, go back to Josh’s house, and tell his mom what they found still completely oblivious to the apparent situation. Josh’s mom rushes out and down the road to where the footsteps end, and the bear was found. His mom screams out but with no reply. She runs to the houses across the street and bangs on the doors asking if anyone saw anything. Nothing. No one knew anything. She goes back to the street and notices a fresh pair of tire tracks and her heart drops. She falls to her knees and screams out to Josh to go call 911. He laughs and says, why she’s just hiding, trying to get me in trouble because I ran off ahead of her. I’m sorry mom. Go call 911 she calls out again. Josh realizing this was serious, runs to the house and calls.

The police show up a few moments later and examine the scene. They take pictures of the tire tracks and interview all the homeowners. No one saw anything. One of the neighbors a few houses down spoke up and said anyone ask Mrs. Johnson across the street? She has that fancy camera in her door. Maybe it saw something.

The cops rush to the house but she was not home. They would have to wait until she returned. Just then a car pulls into the driveway and a sweet old lady pops out and approaches the cops. They explain the situation and she immediately offers up the camera footage. A mother’s worst nightmare confirmed, Alice was abducted.

The footage was grainy at best and the license plate was not legible, but they could see from the angle the driver and the car make and model. APB was sent out and the clock started ticking. The car was found abandoned a few cities over. No sign of Alice, but no signs of blood or a struggle were present either. What does this mean mom asks the cop in charge of the case? It means we have to wait to see if someone sees something and calls in, or the assailant makes contact for a ransom. We won’t rest until we find her.

Josh stands on the auditorium stage staring out at a room full of kids. He sits there silently for what seems like an eternity as he concludes his story with, that was 20 years ago today. We never heard from or saw my sister again. I strongly urge you all to please be vigilant when away from your homes and family. I struggle with my sister’s disappearance daily and have made it my life’s mission to help keep this from ever happening again to another kid. Be safe out there kids. If you see anyone that looks suspicious, stranger danger is a real thing, do not hesitate to tell an adult. It could save yours or another kids’ life.

Josh finishes his speech and steps back. The principal walks up and says everyone please give Detective Smith a round of applause. Thank you Detective, I know how hard it must be to relive that situation every time you talk to the children, but what you are doing is potentially saving lives.

Thank you ma’am, Josh says. I just don’t want another family to go through what mine did. Have a good day.