My Child Got Left Behind

My heart plummeted as I yelled out the door "where is Kostas?!" over and over again.

Not a good feeling watching one of your children get off the bus and not seeing the other one. My heart sank. I got scared yet tried not to panic. Not so easy but before the panic starts to set in, I tried to think logically and not think of one of the worst imaginable things: my child being kidnapped. In this day in age, anything is possible.

Let me go back a bit so you can understand what happened. Oh and this all happened in a whirlwind, like everything happened at the same time. As I normally do, every afternoon I wait for my boys to get off the school bus at our front door since the bus stops 3 houses up the street.

This past week, their bus has been later than usual so when 4 pm rolled around, I didn't worry too much. Then 4:15 came and no bus. I called the school but as I'm calling the bus is pulling up so I hang up. I see my oldest get off and start running up the sidewalk with a happy smile on his face cause, after all, it is Friday. Now, it's normal that one of my boys gets off the bus first and the other one gets off the bus last.

In that same moment I see the school is still on the phone. I'm not sure if I hung up or the school called. I say to the receptionist "I was just calling to find out if the buses were delayed because it wasn't here yet but it is now here." That's when I realize the bus starts driving off and my second son is not on the sidewalk. I start yelling "where's Kostas, where's Kostas". The receptionist hears my yelling and asks me my boys' names. When I tell her, she says Kostas is here at the school. I quickly spew out, "I'm coming to get him" and hang up the phone. It seemed rude to do this but in my state of not seeing my child, my brain was not on manners at the moment. My priority was my kid.

So, while Kostas was safe and sound at school, that split second of not seeing him get off the school bus and me not knowing where he was, was enough to cause alarm within my heart and for the worst of things to scroll through my mind.

We did talk to both the boys about doing a checks and balance with each other. If one is not on the bus, the other needs to stand up and say something. This is the first time this happened, so it's a lesson to be learned.

**Day 5 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.**