The First Day Of Kindergarten
The big red doors opened as I looked around big eyed, staring at kids playing with their toys in their rooms.
“He’ll be going to room 328. That’s where the kids ages 5 to 6 go.” The overly cheery lady told my mother. The lady was dressed in an over sized red t-shirt that looked as if some of the kids have gotten a hold of it already. Her jeans were faded and looked like they’ve been worn a few times in her days. She looked old enough to be in college. Her hair was honey blonde and it fell right around her shoulders in a disheveled way. She had big green eyes that were so inviting like she was genuinely happy to have her job. We were walking to the room when my nerves kicked in. My mom was about to set me down on the green out dated carpet when I grabbed a hold of her hoodie and barried my face in her neck.
“I don’t want to go!” I desperately said hoping she clung on to my words and decided to not let me stay.
“Now Tommy, I will be back in a couple of hours. Meet new friends, play with toys. Have fun!” She tried to convince me. But I was far smarter to realize that this was not a fun place to be.
“Okay, just go to the front desk and pay and we’ll take care of Tommy for you” The employee chimed in.
My mom must have taken advantage of my distraction and pulled me away from her and sat me on the ground.
“I’ll be back Tommy! Now have fun.” She walked out of the room and I sat there staring at the door waiting for her to walk back in and scoop me up to leave. But instead I was faced to force the fact that she was not coming back for a long time.
“Tommy, Come here and play with the toys” The employee said trying to persuade me to leave my spot.
I looked around taking in the new place that I didn’t realize she was speaking to me. I looked at her and she gestured me to come play with this bright red fire truck placed in her hand. I slowly walked over cautiously, placing one foot in front of the other as if I was trying to walk on a straight line. I toppled to the ground when a red head kid crashed into me. I fell to the floor in shock not even aware of what happened. I laid there with my eyes squinted open trying to get my head back on straight.
“Hey, Im chuck” The red head kid said hovering over my breathless body. He held out and outstretched hand. I went to grab it when a blonde haired girl ran up to chuck and said, “Tag your it!”
Oh, that’s what happened. My head started to clear and I started making sense of this. The red head kid didn’t attack me. They were playing tag and I was so startled of the new surroundings I must have got in the way.
“Stop. I hit the new kid.” He informed the blonde haired girl. She fixed her pink bow in her hair.
“Hi. My names Mary. Do you need help up?” She said looking into my now wide eyes.
“Sure.” I agreed.
She pulled me up and I looked around threw my disoriented eyes. I spotted a cupboard wide open. It held a stash of graham crackers and fruit snacks. I shifted my weight on my feet and headed straight for the snacks. I looked back to see if Chuck and Mary had picked up on my plans. I finally got to the shelf. My eyes shuffled around the room desperately looking for a way to maneuver my way over this counter. A big purple ladder caught my eye. The light gleaming off the side of it let me to its path. I crawled over there trying to be stealthy so nobody would catch on. The ladder was longer than a tree branch that held a million voluptuous, green leaves decorating the plain brown branch extending far enough to touch someone’s heart. There was a latch at the bottom. Assuming it was to drag this purple ladder around I grasped on to it. I crawled back, surprised the ladder was as heavy as a bag of feathers. I reached the counter once again placing the ladder at the brim of the immaculate, smooth counter hidden with the snacks that would satisfy my stomach. I laid the ladder against the counter and slowly crawled up to my destination. I took one more step and peered over the barrier. I was just about to grab the crackers when I tall man busted through the door. He had a black trench coat on. His hair was slicked back with too much gel. His left hand was in his coat. He was screaming something. I couldn’t hear him because I was too busy thinking about the crackers. I glanced over in the direction of the daycare lady. She was standing in the middle of the room with her hands in the air. The man reached back in his coat and pulls it back out with something in his hand. I could see the light reflecting off the metallic looking object.
“I will shoot!” the creepy man warned. I jumped up to get the crackers but instead fell off of the ladder. I landed on the ground with a huge bang. The man pointed the gun in my direction and fired off a round. I sat there astonished wondering what just happened. He ran over to me and picked me up. I sat there and let him take me out of the building. “This could be a way out!” I thought. He stumbled to the doorway when the girl spoke again. “Wait! You can’t take one of the kids!” she barely yelled but it was heard because he turned around. “You cant tell me what I can or cannot do! Remember I have a gun!” He warned. “A gun! That’s what that was!” I thought. He ran out of the door and we were outside in a matter of seconds. He ran to his car, clumsy to open the door. His hands fumbled the door handle. Finally he got it open and I crawled out of his arms into the seat. “He must be one of my moms friends finally bailing me out of here!” I thought as he jumped in the drivers seat and drove off. He took a sharp turn and I ended up on the other side of the car. He drove erratically and finally we were on the street far away from the prison daycare. We were on McArther street until I saw lights flashing behind the car. It was flashing red and blue lights. They were right behind the car bumping the bumper. I couldn’t speak because I was too young but I remember seeing this once on TV. The car behind us wouldn’t stop bumping our bumper. The man driving the car I was in tried to make conversation pretending nothing was happening.
“ So kid, what do you like doing on your free time?” He asked attempting to talk to a five year old. I didn’t say anything because I was focused on the car behind us with their intriguing lights.
“ Oh, you’re a shy kid, huh? “ He said still trying to make small talk. I still sat there trying to figure out what was going on.
“Why are there cars behind us?” I whispered hoping he wouldn’t actually hear me.
Too late. He heard me.
“ Well you see, I’m not really supposed to be in the daycare you were at. I was hanging out with friends and they sort of told me to go and take one of the kids from the daycare if I wanted to fit in.” He replied.
I got what he was saying because I once got dared to jump off a swing once. But not kidnap other children.
“So you picked me?” I asked dumbfounded.
“Well I don’t have a reason I picked you. You just made the most noise so I decided I better get out of there fast and you seemed like a cool kid to take.” He yelled, almost too loud. I looked back and there were more cars now. I attempted to count but there were to many.
“Pull over, or we will put spikes on the road!!” The radio of the cars finally responded to the guys sporadic driving. I flew to the other side of the car again when he turned a sharp right into a parking lot. I sat there silent, hoping I would see my mom soon again. We pulled into a parking space and he put his hands up.
“Umm sir, what’s your name?” I said wondering who’s car I was being thrown in.
“My name is Travis. I cant tell you my last name though. It’s a secret.” He responded with a soft, almost scared voice. The cars behind us surrounded us. The lights were flashing and there were sirens going off dramatically. People in uniforms fled out of the cars. My hands felt the seat and ended up resting on the cold door handle. The man had his hands up and was frantically yelling out some words I got in trouble for saying at home. Sweat dripped down his head and his palms were reflecting the sun with his sweat. I finally opened the door and fell out of the chased car. One officer pulled his taser out and pointed in my direction. I put my head in my hands and laid down on the ground waiting for this to all be over. The officer ran up to me and pulled me into his arms. I looked over his shoulder while in his arms and realized we were in a grocery store parking lot. My eyes shifted to the left and I saw a blue Subaru sitting there with the same license plate as my mom. Before I could make any assumptions I heard screaming coming from below me. I hopped out of the officers arms and saw it was Travis.
“Stop!!!! Why are you guys doing that?! He’s my friend.” I shouted trying to get the officers attentions. “He is going to jail. He kidnapped you. He isn’t your friend, he’s a criminal.” The officer went on explaining. “See kid, you aren’t supposed to kidnap people. Do you know what kidnapping is?” He stopped and asked looking into my eyes.
“No sir, But he didn’t hurt me! He took me for a ride to go see my mom.” I explained trying to tell them Travis’s purpose or taking me.
“You are one funny kid! What’s your name? Where were you when you were taken?”
“My names Tommy. I was at a daycare, I don’t know the name. My mom dropped me off and I was trying to get crackers and then Travis came in and grabbed me and here I am.” I belted out trying to get my point across.
“ And who is Travis, Tommy?” He asked raising one eyebrow.
“Travis is him.” I said pointing. “Travis is my friend. Please don’t take him to jail! He’s really nice!” I now yelled at the police officers.
I almost started crying when I turned and heard yelling. It was a lady. She was wearing the same thing my mom once was when she dropped me off at the daycare. The closer she came the more I realized it was my mom!
“Tommy!! What is going on here?! Who is this man!?” She boasted while pointing to Travis.
“Mom!!” I screamed running into her arms.
The officers pulled my mom aside and told her everything that happened. Travis was in handcuffed leaning against the car.
“You’re a good kid. You were raised right. I’m sorry all this happened, Tommy. You’re a good friend.” Travis whispered through his teeth with tears forming in his eyes.
“ So you weren’t taking me to my mom?” I asked a little louder than his whisper.
“No Tommy, I wasn’t. My friends told me to take one of the kids from the daycare you were at. I had to do it or they wouldn’t be my friends anymore.” He tried explaining but was cut off by a tear forming in his eye.
“ They don’t sound like very good friends.” I answered trying not to sound harsh.
“Okay Mrs. Donovan, we have everything figured out. Travis wont be going to jail today because you didn’t put any charges on him but don’t do it again!” The officer said pointing to Travis.
I ran into Travis’s arms and stayed there.
“That means we can still be friends!?” I mumbled through his brown jacket.
He didn’t have time to answer because my mom pulled me off of him.
“Thanks for not hurting him.” She said through gritted teeth and we walked away.
*Two years later*
My mom ended up marrying Travis. They met once again at the same grocery store and my mom saw how much I liked him. She never understood why I would like someone that kidnapped me but nobody saw him through my eyes. He had something about him that seemed sincere. The way he was so honest and sincere about his feelings. Or how he cried at the time of the scene. He had a kid with my mom a year after the accident. His name was Micah. We all live together now and have a perfect life. Now im 12 and I can honestly say the first day of kindergarten was the best thing to happen to me.