Cries of sorrow had filled the air.  After battling cancer for three long years it had come to an end for Anna’s father.  He was a loving and devoted parent who did everything he could for his beloved wife and child.  Without him things would never be the same. 

Two years have now passed.  Anna, a beautiful twelve year old girl and her mother Tiffany have moved on.  They are getting ready for their New York trip, the one that they used to take every year with their father. Anna ties back her long brown hair, and her mom puts on the same scarlet red scarf she always wears, and they scurry out the door to the train station. The train station is bustling, filled with many people because of the Christmas season. Anna and her mom take a seat on a bench as they wait for their train. The clock ticks 10:00 a.m., 10:05, and then finally at 10:15 they make their way on the train headed to New York City.

On the train Anna and her mother take a seat next to an old woman. They talk for most of the ride and in the course of their conversation the woman says to her, “Be careful in the city. It is a crazy place.” Anna just stared at her as she anxiously waited for the train to pull into the station.

At last they arrived in New York City! Anna and her mom got off the train and stared into each other’s bright blue eyes with excitement.  This trip was going to be so much fun.

Making their way through the busy city, Anna thought for a moment what the old lady on the train had told them about the “crazy city”.  People were bumping into them and even separating them at times.  They always managed to find their way back to each other, thanks to Anna’s mother’s bright scarlet scarf.

The hustle and bustle of the city finally separated the two visitors for what seemed like an eternity.  Anna panicked and screamed for her mom.  Her sparkling blue eyes turned misty, filled with tears that rushed down her face.  People walked by looking at her cry, but no one did anything to help her.  She had no luck trying to find the bright scarlet scarf that her mother was wearing.  She felt as if she was invisible and even asked herself, “Why aren’t people helping me?” She questioned the whereabouts of her mom and why she couldn’t find her.

These questions kept running continuously through her head.  In her panic Anna tried to concentrate on what her mother was wearing that day so that she could give a description to anyone who would listen to her.  The first thing that came to mind was the scarlet red scarf that draped so beautifully over her shoulders.  Anna’s great grandmother had knit it for her mom many years ago.  Then Anna remembered that Tiffany was wearing a long black coat with brown boots. 

Anna would run up to people asking, “Have you seen a woman with short blond hair, blue eyes like mine and wearing a scarlet red scarf?”  People responded negatively.  She ran up to a group of people standing at a kiosk, asking the same question.  They also answered no, they hadn’t seen her.  Panicked and shaking with fear, she ran through many other crowds of people screaming for her mom. Finally, she saw something familiar in the distance.  She made her way closer and closer.  It was her mom! It must be! She had short blond hair and was wearing a scarlet red scarf.  Anna screamed, “Mom!”, but the lady didn’t turn around. She repeated the scream, but again the lady didn’t respond.  Anna ran as fast as she could toward the woman, pushing her way through the crowd and screaming.  This time the woman turned around, but sadly, it wasn’t her mother!

Anna couldn’t stand to be alone.  This was an even greater fear of hers since her father passed away.  One time she had gotten lost in Disney World.  She had been found shortly after, but this incident would stay in her mind forever.

It seemed like an eternity.  Her mother was no place to be found.  The temperature was now below freezing, and snow was starting to fall.  As Anna scrambled down a busy sidewalk she thought she heard a faint call for her name.  She wasn’t sure if it was actually her mom, or at this point just a hallucination.  She thought she heard her named repeated, and as she ran towards the sound of her name she stopped dead in her tracks.  She looked to her left, then to her right.  There it was- the bright scarlet red knit scarf she had been looking for.  Anna crossed the street without looking.  A yellow taxi had beeped at her several times, but Anna was so focused on seeing her mom that she blocked out the noise.  The taxi driver tried his best to stop the car, but suddenly- “Bam!”  He hit her!

Anna was scrunched up on the street in New York City in pain and all by herself.  It seemed like everyone on the sidewalks had stopped to stare at the accident.  It was her mom who came screaming and crying out,” Call 911.”

“Call 911.”  Within minutes the ambulance was there.

Immediately the paramedics took Anna’s pulse and told Tiffany to get in the ambulance too.
Anna was alive but unconscious.  The ambulance rushed her to the hospital.  At that point Anna still hadn’t come to.  After several tests were taken, it was decided to do emergency surgery, not knowing if she was going to make it.  The doctors told Anna’s mother that there was a 50/50 chance of survival.  They had to wait and see.

After hours of sitting at Anna’s side and praying, Anna’s mother saw Anna’s finger move.
“Oh my God,” she screamed.  “She’s alive!”  Tiffany’s cries of sorrow had turned to tears of happiness to see her daughter come to. The doctors told Anna and her mother that they would be keeping her for a few days, but would let her out as soon as she was well enough.

Anna and Tiffany took the train back home after a few days.  They were sad that their New York trip didn’t turn out how they wanted, but both were thankful that they could return home together.  They were going to enjoy the rest of the Christmas holiday.  After all, they had a lot to be thankful for.