Parents disappear during family trip, leaving their children alone in the woods – Story of the day

“They’re going to have a great time at the lake!” Tim and Sara’s dad said, smiling. “We’ll go fishing, have bonfires, camp. There’s so much to do that it will be a new experience for both of them.”

Tim and Sara exchanged glances. They were looking forward to going to Disney World on their annual vacation or chartering a yacht in Hawaii. Camping by a crappy lake wasn’t even on their list of desirable vacation adventures.

“We can also paddle out to some of the islands,” Mom added. “Your father and I have always wanted to explore the haunted cabin on Moose Island.”

“Haunted cabin?” The boys were now much more interested in this idea of ​​a lake vacation.

“We might see Bigfoot,” Tim said. “Or Gumberoo.”

“Or find evidence of ghosts!” Sara said, turning to her parents. “We’re in. When are we leaving?”

The children’s excitement quickly faded when they reached the lake. There were cabins nestled among the trees lining the shore, all looking like they had been built by pioneers. As their parents carried their luggage inside, Tim and Sara stared at the cabin they would be staying in for the week.

“If we see a weird creature, I’ll jump into its jaws so I don’t have to deal with it anymore,” Tim said.

“We have to do whatever it takes to get out of here.”

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Sara looked at her brother. “Do you understand me?”

Tim and Sara spent the next hour complaining about the smell inside the cabin, the dust, and the various bugs they found. Their parents ignored their complaints, much to their dismay.

“We are now in nature, children. Enjoy the experience! Your dad is lighting a bonfire so we can eat grilled fish and potatoes baked on the embers. Maybe later we can look for edible plants in the forest. Isn’t that great?”

Sara sighed. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m not eating food cooked over charcoal. How disgusting. I want takeout.”

“What kind of hellhole have they brought us to?” Sara screamed once her mother finished explaining that takeout was impossible there. “I insist that we go home tomorrow, otherwise I’ll run away.”

“Me too.” Tim was on the verge of tears. “Vacations are supposed to be fun, Mom, but instead they’re torturing us.”

“Come on, guys,” their mom held out her hand. “I know this is a little harder than you’re used to, but it’s still going to be fun. There’s a lot of joy in living a simple life and spending time together as a family.”

“They couldn’t have gone anywhere without the car, Sara. I think something happened to them.”

“People in the suburbs live a simple life, this is more like being homeless!”

“Yes,” Tim added. “Or living in the last century. How is it possible that there isn’t a single restaurant here that delivers? How do these people survive?”

“They eat charcoal-grilled potatoes!” Sara complained. “And fish that they kill with their own hands!”

Sara ran out of the room and Tim followed her. His mother, Jane, buried her head in her hands.

Meanwhile, the children’s father, Tom, was enjoying himself preparing dinner. He was glad that he had caught some fish for dinner and that he hadn’t lost his ability to make perfect baked potatoes. He looked up with a smile when he noticed Jane approaching, but his smile faded when he saw her sad expression.

“We may have had good intentions when we agreed to give our children the best in life, but we have spoiled them.”

Jane sat next to her husband on a log near the fire. “They don’t value the simple things in life at all.”

“What happened?” Tom asked Jane, putting his arm around his wife’s shoulders.

“They refuse to eat. They are disgusted by the idea of ​​eating fish you caught yourself, and ‘charcoal potatoes’, as Sara used to say,” said the mother, sighing. “They want to go home.”

Tom clenched his jaw. Some of his fondest memories were of family camping trips, and he couldn’t believe his kids wouldn’t even give this vacation a chance.

“Well, you and I are going to have a big dinner, and we’ll think of something to involve the kids in.” Tom squeezed Jane. As he moved to take the food off the stove, heavy footsteps came quickly towards them. The couple turned and stood speechless as they saw what was behind them.

“Today is the day we leave this dump,” Sara declared when she and Tim woke up the next morning.

The brothers went out into the main room to demand that they leave immediately, but neither their mother nor father were there. They then looked outside, but their parents were not by the lake or in the surrounding woods.

“Where are they?” Sara asked, kicking at the dead embers of the fire her father had made the night before. There were still some potatoes among the ashes. “I’m hungry.”

“Turn around slowly and put your hands up. I’m placing you under citizen’s arrest.”

“Me too,” Tim said, waving his phone around, trying to get a signal. “There’s no coverage here, no internet either.”

Sara snorted. “Maybe they went to some seedy diner in town for breakfast.”

Tim shook his head. He pointed at the car parked under the trees. “They couldn’t have gone anywhere without the car, Sara. I think something happened to them.”

In the end, Tim and Sara were so hungry that they pulled the potatoes out of the ashes and ate them. When the sun began to set over the lake and their parents had not yet returned, the boys decided to look for the car.

Dad hadn’t used a map or GPS to get them there, and the only money in the car was a few cents in the glove compartment. There were no snacks or food of any kind except bags of chips.

The children huddled on the couch in the main room of the cabin to talk about their situation, but neither of them knew what to do. Their cell phones weren’t working and they hadn’t seen anyone all day. They couldn’t walk to the village, which was miles away, and they weren’t sure of the route.

“We’re going to die here, aren’t we?” Sara said.

“I won’t give up without a fight,” Tim replied, hugging his sister.

“We’ll find a way to survive tomorrow, and then we’ll try to figure out what happened to Mom and Dad.”

“What if some crazy drifter from the woods killed them?” Sara asked, looking at Tim with fear in her eyes. “Or a gumberoo?”

That scared Tim, but he remained stoic. He was the oldest and knew he would have to take care of his sister. He comforted her and the siblings went to bed, but they didn’t sleep peacefully. The forest made strange sounds and Tim was sure he heard someone walking around the cabin.

The next morning, Tim discovered something he and Sara had overlooked when they first searched the car: fishing rods.

“At least we’ll have something to eat other than potatoes,” he said to Sara as he prepared to make breakfast.

Having seen several movies about ordinary people surviving in the wild, Tim was confident he knew how to proceed. He almost hooked Sara while he was preparing the fishing rods, but it was her fault. Sara was trying to get a signal on her cell phone and got too close to where he was working.

Next, Tim went to light the fire. He had gathered some kindling from the edges of the wood and had carefully arranged it. He struck a match and lit the kindling. When it went out without lighting the wood, he gathered more kindling and tried again.

“Tim!” Sara’s scream distracted Tim from his tenth attempt at starting the fire. She had grabbed one of the fishing rods and was struggling with it. Tim ran to help her and soon they caught a sizable fish.

Sara jumped for joy. Tim managed to get the fire going and the little girl was busy stoking it while her brother prepared the fish for cooking. In the end, they had fish and potatoes cooking on the embers.

The brothers’ next priority was to find their parents. That night they agreed to walk down the road until Tim’s phone could get reception. However, they never followed through on their plan.

Tim woke up to the sound of heavy footsteps. It was pitch black. He lay down on his bed and heard the footsteps go around the cabin and towards the door. He quickly shook Sara awake. He was about to go investigate, but she held him back.

“This must be the person who took Mom and Dad,” she whispered.

“We have to hide so we can follow him when he leaves. He will lead us to our parents.”

Tim agreed. The brothers hid as the mysterious person entered the house and opened doors and drawers. What could they be looking for? As the footsteps retreated toward the front door, Tim left his hiding spot to follow the person.

In the faint light of a sickle-shaped moon, Tim watched as the shadowy figure approached the car. He opened the trunk and pulled out a sack. Fear filled Tim’s heart as he realized the intruder would steal their food.

Tim grabbed a length of fishing rod he had left near the door and ran out into the night. Thinking quickly, he raised the length of rod like a rifle and aimed it at the intruder.

“Stop or I’ll shoot,” Tim shouted. “Turn around slowly and put your hands up. I’m placing you under citizen’s arrest.”

Sara had joined Tim and shined a flashlight into the intruder’s face as he turned away. When Tim saw who it was, he dropped the stick.

“Dad! What are you doing?”

Tom smiled shyly at his children. “Let me go find your mother and we will explain everything to you.”

An hour later, Tim and Sara were sitting in front of their parents. They couldn’t believe what they had just heard.

“So all this time you were staying in the cabin next door with some guy you befriended when you came here years ago?” Tim asked.

“And you just stood there watching us starve and worry about you?” Sara lamented, tears running freely down her cheeks.

“We wanted you both to realize the value of the simple things in life, and that money can’t buy you everything in this world.” Tom looked at Jane with a slight frown. “We may have taken it a little too far, but we didn’t see any other way to reach you.”

Tim sighed. He was furious with his parents, but now he realized that he and Sara had been spoiled brats about the cabin. As much as he hated to admit it, they wouldn’t have listened if their parents had tried to convince them to go fishing or cook potatoes on the fire.

“Fine, but now they owe us a proper vacation,” said the boy, pointing at his parents. “They turned this vacation into a mess, so the least they can do is make up for it.”

Jane nodded. “We’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning. Maybe we can book a few days at a nice resort close to home.”

Tim shook his head.

“No, we will stay here. Tomorrow they will teach Sara and me how to fish and find plants that we can eat.”

“Yes,” Sara said, smiling a little. “That way we won’t have to starve next time you guys decide to disappear.”

Tom and Jane smiled at each other.

“Whatever you guys say,” Tom replied.

A year later, Tom came home one day with a brochure for a luxury resort.

“To make up for last year, I have planned a very special trip,” he announced. “We are going to Mexico!”

Tim and Sara exchanged glances. Once upon a time, they would have loved the chance to travel to another country on vacation. It was still a tempting proposition, but when their dad showed them photos of the resort, they realized it wasn’t the kind of vacation they wanted.

“Actually, can we go back to the cabin on the lake?” Tim asked. “We still have that haunted island to explore.”

“Yes,” said Sara. “Just promise us one thing: we’ll bring something more to eat than a few sacks of potatoes!”

Jane gave her husband a wry smile. “I’m sure we can bring some carrots, too. Maybe some broccoli.”

“I meant snacks, Mom!” Sara added.

What can we learn from this story?

• Some lessons are only learned with tough love: Tom and Jane thought their children would be happy if they lived an easy life, but instead they taught them to value the wrong things. It took a radical lesson to show Tim and Sara a better way.
• The simple things in life can be the most important: When their parents disappeared, Tim and Sara struggled because they didn’t know how to survive without modern conveniences.

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This story is inspired by the everyday lives of our readers and has been written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to real names or locations is purely coincidental. All images shown are for illustrative purposes only. Share your story with us, it could change someone’s life. If you want to share your story, send it to info@amomama.com .