Yesterday I had to call my daughter, and one of Isabella's friends mother who was spending the night with Isabella, and inform them that Isabella (9 years old) and Sheridan (10 years old) were missing.
They were last seen in front of the house one on a bike, the other on a scooter. They both knew that going off the block was off limits, it was snowy and cold, how far could they go? They also knew I ordered a pizza for them, and they should have been back. Isabella would not pass up the chance for pizza or be late if she thought the pizza was here. I called a friend's house, Ken & Regina's, as Isabella goes there to visit, as they are like her second grandparents, and they said Isabella stopped in and introduced her friend to them. I was told by Ken that they had left, so I assumed they were coming home, but they never showed up. I called Ken a second time asking them if they got delayed leaving their house, and he informed me that they left some time ago.
My heart sank right then, as I frantically put on my coat, went out began to bellow and look down alleyways, combing the surrounding block, but nothing. I called my daughter, Isabella's mother, and also called Sheridan's mother to let them know the girls were missing and I could not locate them. I walked down to Ken and Regina's and told them I would was going to summon 9-1-1. They offered to get in their car and drive and look for them as well.
I remember when I was standing on the porch and I saw this old Chevy station wagon with the windows tinted, where you couldn't see in, that sped past me, and my thoughts were that perhaps the girls were in that car, it was speeding away, and I just broke down for a few minutes. It didn't help when my daughter arrived that she blamed me for not watching them close enough. They were gone maybe 30 minutes as far I could discern. The initial 9-1-1 call for help had a lady on the other end asking me questions, a description of them, what they were wearing, etc., and after some interruption to include the pizza guy showing up, she dispatches an officer. After a search of the neighborhood by my daughter (Isabella's mother) and Sheridan's mother, and with the help of Ken and Regina, all of us fearing for their safety, we turned up nothing.
Policeman asked for me to try to recall a timeline, searched around the house to make sure they weren't hiding, asking us what clothing they had on, etc., and asked us for a picture of both of them. Another report came in, a third girl was missing. We are all trying not to lose composure, and as soon as an officer and I went through all the rooms in my house, another officer says they have been found, and are out front. All 3 of them were headed back to my house. When the girls saw the police officers they broke down, especially this one little girl; she called her mother not able to even talk to her, so I took the phone and consoled her mother and hugged her as well, and told the mother I would have the officers bring her little girl home. Needless to say, Isabella's friend did not spend the night; her mother was not too happy with her behavior as far as disobeying rules here as far as going off the block without permission. I don't know whose idea it was to wander off, and at this point it didn't matter,
I thank God they were all home safe, cold, and wet, but ...
in a short while after returning home, almost immediately in fact, Isabella complained of a severe headache, and developed a raging fever, I gave her an ibuprofen, she laid down, was talking out of her head almost delirious. I worried she perhaps had fallen or hit her head, she said not, but I got her up and took her to Urgent Care. I am not taking chances with a nasty headache to the point of her saying it hurt so bad she said she couldn't stay awake, and was very dizzy. Ater exam, she has a nasty case of strep throat, that came on suddenly. Flu screen was negative.
