Learning an important lesson

I remember that day as if it were yesterday. It was may 4 th, a sunny day. Birds were
singing and I could hear the tree’s leaves rustling . It was summer vacation and I was
excited because I was going out with my aunt. It was something spontaneous, she
decided to call my mom so I stayed at her house the week after school finished and
we decided to go to the mall. As a child, of course I thought nothing would happen;
that it would be like any normal day. I wish I knew how wrong I was.

We decided to go to the mall in the afternoon, around 5:00 p.m. My aunt told me to
make a list of the things I wanted, and we would stop by the stores and see what
was available. To say that the mall was crowded was an understatement. There
were a lot of people walking around, shuffling their feet, talking with each other. It
was very loud and I couldn’t help but hold my aunt’s hand as we walked by. We
stopped in a toy’s store and she told me to look around and pick what I liked. I
stepped away from her and went to see a toy that caught my attention for a few
minutes, and didn’t realize my aunt wasn’t there anymore. I started to panic, I was
sweating, I kept looking around everywhere and felt sad I couldn’t find her.

I got out of the store and looked around, but there were a lot of people and I couldn’t
see anything. I leaned against the wall and waited as if my aunt was going to
magically appear. I have never been more scared in my life. A police officer saw me
and started walking towards me. He asked what was wrong and why was I alone. I
began to feel relieved as I explained the situation to him since I came here with my
aunt. He told me to stay calm and went inside an office. The only thing I could do
was wait and hope for the best to happen. The police officer said my name in a
speaker for everyone to hear and I watched as people walked calmly.

A few minutes later I couldn’t have been happier in my life as I saw my aunt running
towards me. She asked me if I was okay and thanked the officer for staying with me
while I was alone. I felt myself getting calmer as we got closer to the car and
imagined all the bad things that could have happened if I hadn’t found my aunt. I
couldn’t help but blame myself for what happened. Needless to say, she gave me a
nice speech about why I shouldn’t get distracted in malls.
As her words sinked in, I learned to always be with someone I trust in crowded or
public places and to never leave their side. It’s dangerous and it would make people
close to me worry. From that day on I applied that valuable lesson in my life and
have never left and adult’s side in a public place. Even though it was a bad
experience, it gave me an opportunity to learn about the things that I shouldn’t do
and the reasons why I shouldn’t. Now as a teenager nowadays, I’m more careful with
the different places I go to.