Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-25891880-20150620041443

Andrew was my only son, and he was about four years old. He has always been my treasure, and my everything. I loved him and having a kid, but being a new father was difficult for me. He had to come with me everywhere I went if my wife wasn’t home. I couldn’t forget about Andrew. It was my job to protect him and make sure I don’t lose him. First day of Pre-School was going to make it a lot harder.

I got Andrew up, ready, and dressed up for school. I put him in his booster seat when we got to the car. Driving starts. “Doing good back there kid?”, I said. He just smiled back at me. When we got there, the parking lot was almost full. It was a huge pain in the ass because there were literally kids running around and playing in the parking lot. This was such a bad school to take him in. Where are the teachers yelling at them for being in front of cars? I’m just going to have to see how this plays out.

Finally, a parking spot. “Alright Andrew, here we are! First day of school”, I said to him again. I took him to his line and kissed him goodbye. I knew Andrew. As he loved to talk to me, he had just as fun meeting the new kids in his class. Okay, maybe this wasn’t going to be bad, I thought. That was until I got in my car. As I sipped my coffee, a vehicle caught my eye. It was a van. It was a plain old white van with ripped up sides, with no windows on it except for the driver seat and the passenger seat. In the van sat an old fat guy drinking from a soda cup. This didn’t look good to me. What if he was a pedophile? I’m being paranoid. I need to calm down and get another cup of coffee. When all the kids left with their teachers and went inside, I left.

The next day came quickly. Same new routine, same place to drive to. I still carried my suspicions about that man from the other day, but I had to get over it. After I dropped off Andrew, I saw that man again. He just drove in and parked right next to me. He didn’t get out or drop off his kid or anything. In fact, I don’t think he did have a kid. He just watched them.

After feeling suspicious enough, I decided to drive out and drive back in through the back to watch him, as to pretend I was leaving. All of the other cars left as soon as the kids went inside. He was still one of the few cars left.

Instead of Andrew going on the bus, I picked him up that day. I didn’t want him near that guy, or near anyone he didn’t know. I followed my fatherly instincts and told him: “Andrew, I don’t want you to go anywhere near strangers. Don’t go to or talk to someone you don’t know, and if they ask you, tell me.” He nodded in agreement. Saying this to him just made my job as a father a little easier.

Going on to the next few days, the man came to the school parking lot less and less. I was relieved and I could finally get through the day without worrying much about Andrew. In fact, my routine with taking him to school has been easier to get through.

A few weeks later, Andrew was invited to his friend's fifth birthday party. When we got there, we saw almost thirty kids there! Andrew was more excited than I, most likely because he had never been to a birthday party before. I thought it was time to relax, so I sat down and grabbed a beer and talk with the other parents. "Let's get the piñata kids!" Some guy yelled. I chuckled. Then I saw a familiar figure. It was the guy from that torn up van!

He came out of his van and walked over to the kids as they were walking to get the piñata from one of the cars. He started talking to the other children, then pointed to his van. I was enraged that he came uninvited to the party and just spoke to the children. Enough is enough, I thought. I went up to him and grabbed his arm, demanding him to leave. "Sir, you aren't invited here. Get away from those children, too", I said, almost yelling. "What? No-“, He said. At this point I pushed him to the ground to stop him.  Suddenly, there were tire squeak sounds, following the sound of a car driving off. Where did all the kids go? Where did Andrew go? “You idiot! I’ve been watching them to make sure they are safe!” He screamed at me. The birthday kid’s mother came out, probably wondering about the commotion going on. “Miss, where did that piñata guy go?” I asked her. “Piñata guy? We aren’t having a piñata at this party.”  