“Oh no!” I gasped.  I began to panic as the scary situation became clear to me.
“Calm down, Alice,” I kept whispering to myself, “Everything will be fine.” I knew that nothing was close to being fine. How was I supposed to find little Suzy? I didn’t know what to do. I needed to call Sarah. Tears threatened to spill, but I had to stay strong. Only then I had remembered that Sarah was at the meeting, and her phone was probably off. I had to call the police. I grabbed my phone, and only then I noticed how bad my hands were shaking. I dialed 911.

  5 hours earlier...
It was a very nice sunny morning. I was doing my hair when, Ding! Dong! I ran to the door. It was my next door neighbor, Sarah. She was a young, tall, very nice lady with long brown hair. Very wealthy, too.
“Hello, Sarah,” I greeted her.
“Hello, Alice, would you be kind enough to babysit Susana while I go to the meeting at work? It is very important, and I cannot miss it.”
Suzy was a six-year-old girl that looked a lot like her mother.
“Of course, Sarah. I would be glad to.”
“Thank you, Alice. Could you be at my house by noon?”
“Yes, I can do that.”
“See you then.”            
I always liked babysitting Suzy because she was a quiet kid, unlike all the other kids I babysat. We would bake, and then I would read to her. When I got to the house, Sarah left. I noticed that little Suzy was very quiet. She was always quiet, but today she seemed even more quiet and deep in thought. I was putting the pan of brownies into the oven when Suzy asked, “Alice, is your friend’s dad nice? I remember I met your best friend, and she was nice.”
“Yes, he is very nice. Why do you ask?”
Suzy just turned away. My friend, Jessica, was a very good friend, but her family was in debt after her grandma and brother died in the same month, and they had to pay lots of money to organize the funerals.
“Would you like to read a story?” I asked her.
“Yes,” I barely heard her say.
We sat down on the couch with Suzy’s favorite book, “Charlotte’s Web”.
“I wish I could go to that indoor playground,” I heard Suzy whisper.
“What?” I asked her.
“Nothing. Just read the story,” she said quietly. “Nevermind, can we not read the story? Can I just play with my new doll?”
“Yes, of course,” I said, “go run and get it.”
I decided that I would read my own book that I had brought, while she would be playing with her doll. I had already read two chapters, when I noticed that Suzy had not come back to the living room. I went to her large, pink, girly room and saw a familiar looking doll on the bed.
“I saw that somewhere before,” I told myself. Then I remembered. My friend Jessica used to have one like that. Exactly like that.
“Snap out of it!” I told myself. “What you have to do right now is find Suzy.”
I ran to her little toy room. Then every other room in the house. I couldn’t find her. I began to panic. It was then that I noticed that the back door was open. I ran out.
“Suzy! Suzy where are you?” I called. I was freaking out. I dialled 911...

“Galena Police Department, what is your emergency?” I heard the voice say.
“A little girl is lost! I can’t find her.” I was almost yelling.
“Calm down, everything will be OK. Please tell me the address to the place where the girl was last seen.”
I dictated the woman the address. Her voice calmed me down a little.
“I will send someone there immediately.”
I hung up the phone. I had to reach Suzy’s mom. Her meeting should be over soon anyway. I dialed her number.
“Hello Alice,” Sarah said. “The meeting went very well, so it ended earli--
“You have to come home as soon as possible…”
“What happened?”
“It’s Suzy, I can’t find her. The police are coming.”
“I’ll be there in a couple minutes.” She was crying. That was when I broke down, too.
“Everything will be fine,” I whispered and hung up.
At that time I noticed a police car driving up. Then two more.
I ran towards two officers. They started asking me a lot of questions. Then Sarah came, looking very scared, and they asked her a lot of question, too. Then one of the police officers came up to me again, and asked me, “Did Suzy act different or say anything while you were babysitting her?”
I was about to say no, but then I remembered.
“Yes, she did, actually.” And I told him how she acted.
“Do you think that that has something to do with her kidnapping?”
I thought about it. Then it hit to me…
“Officer, I think I know who might have kidnapped Suzy.”
He looked at me surprised, and I started to tell him about Jessica’s hard life and how Adam, Jessica’s dad could not pay off the debt. He would trick Suzy into thinking he would take her to the indoor playground, and then demand a huge ransom from Sarah so that he could be able to pay off all the debt. The officer listened closely and then they all went looking for Adam. They soon found him, not far from town, with Suzy, and everything that I had told the officer was true.
I knew that Jessica would be heartbroken when she found out what her dad had done. Suzy was confused and scared, and happy to see her mom. I knew that Suzy would never agree to go anywhere with strangers. I was glad that I helped.