Where is he?  I haven’t been able to find him anywhere.  It is Christmas time and I don’t want to have Christmas without him.  Oh my God, I am such a horrible person for making my son run away.  I didn’t mean to say what I actually said.  “What have I done?” I asked my father.  Jack is eight years old and last night he was misbehaving so I was a mean to him.  Because I was angry, I told him that he is acting like an idiot and that he was an awful son.  On December 22nd around four o’clock in the morning, Jack ran away from home and I will never forgive myself.  He left me a note saying that he ran away because of the way I treated him.  I guess I wasn’t a good mother since my own father told me that I was tough on the poor child, but now I’m scared and I praying that he’s okay.
“Hello, police.  My name is Deborah Phillips and my son ran away from home early this morning.  My father and I have looked everywhere and we can’t find him!  I’m really worried about him.  Can you please send some police out to search for him?  I want him back home so he is safe.”  “Well,” replied the receptionist at the police department.  “What does he look like and what is his age?  We will try our best to find him.  What made him run away?”  I stated, “He has brown hair, hazel colored eyes, and he is eight years old.  He is also pretty thin and his name is Jack Phillips.  Last night, we had an argument and I called him some names and I hit him on his right arm.  I did this because he was very disrespectful to me and he threw something at me.”  The receptionist answered, “Ma’am, I appreciate the things you told me about what your son looks like, but you should never hit anyone unless it is in self-defense.  You are going to have to come to the police station for questions.  Please come in as soon as possible.”  I agreed, “Okay, I will come over right now.”
Oh my goodness, I need to explain to the police about hitting Jack.  I am so stupid for telling her this!  I just want them to help me find him so I know he is safe.  I wish I could have some friends and family help me look for Jack besides my father, but he is the only family member I still have.  I am an only child and my mother left us and moved to Australia when I was sixteen.   We never spoke to each other after she left.  That was fifteen years ago when that happened and she is all the way across the world so I can’t ask her for help.  I live in a small town in New York that most people probably have never heard of.  I am so worried and I need to know that Jack is not in danger and have him come home.  I will be truthful as ever at the police station when they talk to me.   
“Ma’am, may I have a word with you.  I heard about your son and we have men searching for him at this very second.  If we don’t find him within twenty-four hours, then you will need to file a missing-person report.  Hopefully that won’t be necessary because we are going to do whatever’s possible to find your son,” the policeman exclaimed.  “Oh, thank you for helping us search for him.  I am extremely grateful,” I told him.  This made me happy to know that the police are going above and beyond to look for Jack and it makes me hopeful that they will find him.  The policeman then noted, “I know your son is missing, but we need to talk about why he is missing.  What happened last night?  I see a note in your file that you said that you hit him, but is that true?”  I knew that I had to tell him the truth.  Jack is a sweet boy, but sometimes he can be fresh.  “I hit him on his right arm because he threw a plate at me!” I told the policeman. “I very rarely hit him, but his disrespectful behavior upset me.”  “But still, hitting a minor is a federal crime and you are going to go to jail for a few weeks, unless someone wants to bail you out,” ordered the policeman.  “Jail!” I shouted.  “I can’t go to jail for punishing my son for misbehaving, can I?  Besides, it is almost Christmas and I want to spend it with Jack when you bring him home!” 
I sobbed thinking that I have just my father and he doesn’t have the money to bail me out of jail.   I’m also not sure if he would bail me out because the two of us are not very close.   The officer puts handcuffs on me and he takes me to a jail cell, which has two other people in it.  Suddenly, I am as helpless as a puppy around these thugs!  I can’t believe this is happening to me.  My son is still missing and I need to be out there looking for him!  The police officer told me that I could make only one phone call to whoever I wanted and the only person I thought of was my father.  I told him, “Please bail me out so we can look for Jack” and he told me, “No, I will look for him myself while you learn your lesson in jail.  I am so upset with you right now.”  I cried, because I felt like there wasn’t even a glimmer of hope.
About two hours later, I was shocked to see my father walking through the door, with a lot of money in his hand.  Never in the thirty-one years of my life had I felt as close to my father as I did then.  He surprised me and I am grateful to him.  It is nine o’clock at night right now and Jack ran away from home nineteen hours ago.  We searched for him all night and there was no sign of him.  I was starting to think that something bad had happened to him. 
When I went back to the police station to check to see if they had found him, they told me that it was time to file a missing-person report.  I felt heaviness in my chest when I heard this situation.  They said that if they don’t find Jack today, then they were going to put an amber-alert out to the public.  When the policeman walked in, he stated, “Police have been searching all day and night for Jack and there is no sign of him.  I don’t like thinking this, but maybe he’s been kidnapped.”  “Oh my God,” I sobbed.  “Please tell me he will be okay.  I am scared that he is in danger!”  “Well we are trying our best and we will not stop looking until we find him,” confirmed the police.
That day, all we did was search, search, and search for Jack.  I started to wonder if something terrible had happened to him.  I heard the amber-alert and was hopeful that this would help bring Jack home to me.  It was good to hear them notify the public that Jack is missing and that anyone who sees him should call the police, but it was horrible to think that he was still out there all alone.  I confessed to my father, “I am such a horrible person!  If it weren’t for me, then Jack would still be home probably playing with his toys right now.  I ruined everything!  I do deserve to go to jail because I am an awful mother.  Shame on me for being such an idiot and for not treating Jack nicely!”  I really do hate myself for what I’ve done.  Father pointed out, “You’re a parent and parents make mistakes all of the time.  Have some hope that we will find Jack and that he is fine”. 
On December 24th, I was exhausted from not sleeping for two days because I was searching for Jack the whole time.  It was seven o’clock on Christmas Eve and I was with my father.  I saw the presents I bought for Jack scattered under the Christmas tree that we had decorated together.  Then, I heard a knock on the door.  I assumed that it was probably the police again, but it wasn’t. 
It was Jack!  My father and I were so happy to see him!  The clothes he was wearing was dirty, but he had a winter coat on and was all bundled up.  He told me that he was sorry for leaving and I apologized for hurting him.  The situation really changed me to be a better person and I learned from my actions to be nice to everyone no matter what.  Jack was so happy to see my father and me and to be back home. 
  He explained, “I took some money out of my piggy bank and went to the train station.  I bought a ticket and took the train to Maine where I bought you something.  I decided that I wanted to come home so I bought a train ticket back to New York, but I had to sleep in the train station because the train only left in the morning.  I got on the train and got off of it when it stopped.  It was only after the train had left, that I found out that I had gotten off in New Hampshire.  I had to wait overnight in another train station, but this time I got off in New York and made it back home.  I was able to buy these tickets because I had saved up three hundred dollars from all of my birthdays.”
Jack handed me the present and when I opened it, it was a jar of candy.  It was so cute for him to do that and it was so thoughtful of him to think of me even when I had been mean to him.   The police were also relieved to find out that Jack had made it home safely and that made it a great Christmas for everyone.  It was a long two days that actually felt like two years from all of the nervousness that everyone had, but it was an amazing Christmas to see Jack home.  We all got presents and Santa even came that night to bring Jack some special gifts.  Jack running away actually changed all of our lives in many good ways!