The Longest Hours
By: Skyler Peterson
The sun disappeared behind the trees and the wind grew stronger. All I needed now was for lightning to strike. Ring ring ring! Kindergarten is out! We all ran to our cubbies to grab our lunch boxes and jackets. We all rushed out to the playground to wait for our rides. I went up the ladder and down the slide a couple times before making my way to the monkey bars. I reached out to the first one with both my hands and then proceeded to drop down to the ground immediately after my hands started to sting. I ran through the tanbark and back to the side of the playground where I would wait for my ride. My after school program would start soon enough and I’d be picked up by the after school program.
All that running around was getting me a little tired. I decided that I could lie down and take a nap, and when the driver would come he would wake me up. I didn’t actually fall asleep. I curled up into a ball and rocked back and forth. I peeked through my knees and I saw twenty kids turn to eight. Eight to four. Four to one.
The sun disappeared behind the pines. Something definitely wasn’t right. Kindergarten me wasn’t great with time perception (Eighth grade me still isn’t great at time perception). Still, I knew that I definitely should’ve been picked up by now. I should be in the back of a shuttle with several other kids watching Veggie Tales. A sense of dread came onto me. I must’ve missed them. I pleaded with God. “I will pay attention next time I swear!” I cried. God was not feeling forgiving. What do I do? Where do I go? I decided I should do something about it. I stood up and brushed my pants and jacket off and grabbed my ninja lunchbox. I walked through the almost desolate school to the front desk.
I peeked my head over the counter and said, “My ride didn’t pick me up.”
The secretary of the school stood up from behind the desk, “Do you know your parent’s phone number?” she asked.
“Um. Uhhh,” I started to cry.
“Okay. You can take a seat over there,” she said in a kind voice, gesturing to the two seats with a pattern you would find on a bus seat. I sat down and set my lunchbox under the seat, still sniffling. “Alright,” she let out a relieved sigh. “What’s your name?” she continued.
I blew my nose, “Skyler.” She turned around and opened a drawer and looked through the roster.
“Let’s see,” she replied while pulling out my emergency contacts. She scanned through it and called the first phone number.
My dad picked up on the other end, “Hello?”
The secretary replied, “Hi this is Nan, and I’m here with your son at Fox Elementary, and he hasn’t been picked up yet.”
“Oh my, I’m terribly sorry for this. I’ll be there in ten minutes,” he said. I sat and watched the minutes flip away on the clock. After three minutes had passed I started to get antsy. Another two minutes and I’m slightly rocking back and forth in my seat. Four minutes later and I’ve got my face glued to the window. Another minute passed and my dad was nowhere in sight. I was practically jumping up and down waiting for the car to appear in the parking lot. Another minute passed and I had lost all hope. He said ten minutes and it had been eleven!
I sat back down into the chair that I was afraid I would get all too familiar with. My parents had almost definitely gotten in a car accident on the way to pick me up. Then, all of a sudden, a car pulled into the parking lot. This wasn’t just any car, this was my dad's car! The car parked and then my dad proceeded to take longer than the time I was at school to walk to the front desk. I got my stuff together and as soon as he entered I ran to him and then we left to live happily ever after and I would always pay attention for the rest of my life.
