ITA. I'm such an anxious person that if my husband went missing, I'd likely look like a loon as I tried to find him!!!
When our daughter was younger, we couldn't find her for about 15 minutes and oh my goodness! We were running outside like totally lunatics screaming her name. Thank God she heard us and came running home--safe and sound. Then, we grounded her.
![Wink ;) ;)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
When my daughter was 11 she went missing. Her school was just a block and a half away. She usually got home around 3:30 and had a key to get in. When I got home around 6:00 pm she wasn't home. The cats hadn't been fed and no evidence of her being home after school was evident.
I went 5 houses down the block to her best friend's house to see if she was there. Her friend went to a different school and hadn't seen her all day. I called a girl in her class who said she hadn't see her in school that day. That was when my heart sank and I called 911.
In less than 5 minutes three patrol cars from the Toronto Police Services pulled up. I can't even begin to explain the feelings you have when someone is missing. I felt like I was looking through the wrong end of a telescope. Everything sounded like it was being filtered through a sea shell. Just a rushing of blood in your ears. I remember a tremor in my chin that I couldn't control.
I do remember giving a description of her clothing and yet for the life of me, I wasn't really sure. I didn't lay her clothes out; she was 11 and had her own thing going on. The cops were so calm while they took down all the details. While I recounted when I'd left for work (before her) and when I got home, I was screaming inside: Find her! Why are you still here!
By that time, a crowd had appeared outside; the neighbours and their kids including her friends and the curious. Everyone was interviewed by the police. It was old hat for some of them because in that area years before several murders of young children had occurred, Lizzie Tomlinson and Emmanuel Jacques. I remember opening my door to let LE look in my basement when Lizzie went missing and now they were asking my neighbours to do the same. Just the most terrible feeling you could imagine.
There were still a lot of people outside my house around 7:30 pm when a cab pulled up in front of my house. Everyone stopped to look at the person getting out of the car. It was my daughter! As soon as I saw her, my mind just had this moment of clarity. OMG, what have I done? My daughter had won a prize for collecting the most money in her school for a charity. The prize was dinner at Mr. Greenjean's and a movie.
I think I collapsed on the ground in relief. My daughter burst into tears. Everyone outside started to clap. She ran up to her bedroom and slammed the door. A cop talked to her teacher who had brought her home in a cab and sent her on her way.
We went back inside and I couldn't stop crying. I kept saying, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But every single one of those cops were elated. Because they had been on the other side of those investigations. Not one faulted me for my memory lapse. It was a victory.
Of course, my daughter was mortified and wouldn't speak to me for about 2 days.
And if you're wondering about the girl who said she hadn't seen her that day in school. She didn't because she was home sick. She just didn't explain that to me.