Walking through the streets of Disney, a pink balloon caught my wandering eye.

“Mommy, Mommy, please? Can I please have it?” I pleaded.

“No. We have to catch a bus to our hotel, let’s go!”

My mom was stubborn and I knew that there was only one way that I was getting my hands on that balloon.

Dad.

I turned around to look for him. But he was not there. I spun back around to look for Mom, but she had disappeared, too.

The only thing I saw was people running to catch the buses, just like Mommy was trying to do before I turned around.

Standing there, all alone, I spun in circles. The street was packed and I did not know what to do.

And then came a woman. “Do you need help, sweetie? Did you lose your parents?”

I nodded sheepishly. I wasn’t supposed to talk to strangers, I knew that, but she looked oddly familiar, and in that moment all I needed was to trust someone.

“Come with me, we’ll find them.”

She led me towards the park. I knew it was the wrong way, but I was too scared to say anything. I wanted to find my parents.

The woman was wearing a blue shirt, the same blue shirt that all of the other nice people that helped us all day wore. She had brown eyes that reminded me of my mom, and curly hair like my older sister.

When we got into the office, the lady who had introduced herself to me as Nikki, called in another man who immediately started asking me questions.

“What is your name?”

I said nothing.

“What is your mom’s name? Dad’s name? Do you have any siblings?”

I stared at him.

His large shoulders, nothing like my dad’s, and bald head, one just like Uncle Rick, who always yelled at people and stumbled around at family parties, scared me. I knew that this was not going to turn out okay. It didn't matter if he turned out to be Jesus, I was not going to talk to him, no matter what.

“Okay, do you know what hotel you are staying at?” He kept trying to talk to me, but he made me too nervous.

I continued to stare at him.

“Honey, if you want to find your mom and dad you are going to have to help me out and answer some of my questions.”

I couldn’t hold it back anymore. The sea of tears started to stream down my face. I just wanted to go back outside and find my mom. I knew she was somewhere out there, all I needed was to go look.

Nikki gave him one look and he left us there by ourselves. She told me to lay down and relax, she was going to find my mom and I was safe.

A few minutes after Nikki left me to take a nap, a lady burst into the room in tears, with Nikki following closely behind. “Chelsey, my God Chelsey, where did you go? I told you to stay by my side, we had to go to the bus.”

Who was this lady and why was she calling me Chelsey? My name is Amanda.

She grabbed my hand, picked me up, thanked Nikki, and told her we had to get on the last bus back to the hotel. Well, I thought to myself, that was the same thing my actual mom told me, so this lady must be right. I went along with it, remaining silent the whole time.

“So are you her mom?” Nikki asked stepping in front of her pathway to the door.

“Of course I am her mother. Why would you think anything different?”

The lady was screaming at Nikki and it was making me nervous.

“I’m sorry ma’am I believe that you’re her mom, it’s just protocol, I have no choice but to ask you these questions. I also have to ask Chelsey some questions. Is that okay?”

“Umm sure, I guess you can ask her some questions.” The lady was clearly nervous, and so was I.

“Honey, is this your mom?” Nikki asked kindly.

“Excuse me! Would you stop trying to harass my child! I am not going to stand here and let you try to confuse her. She is my daughter, and we are leaving.”

“Is this your mom, Chelsey?” Nikki asked again.

I looked from the lady, to Nikki and back again. The lady smiled at me and nodded her head. “Yeah, this is my mommy,” I choked out. The lady’s smile had me convinced. She was just trying to help me find my real mom.

“Okay. I’m sorry I caused you so much trouble, ma’am, but I was just going through protocol. Everyone has to go through this when they lose a child. If you could go out to the desk we will just fill out some paper work and you will be on your way.”

“Thank you,” the woman said curtly.

She filled out the paperwork and then we left the building.

She walked slowly until we were immersed in the crowd of people and took off running. But she didn’t stop at any of the bus stations. What was going on?

When we got to a big white car the lady stopped running and opened the door.

“Now, little girl, I have no idea who you used to be but you’re mine now.” she puffed through tired breaths, “I have a room ready for you, I have clothes. I have everything your little heart desires. But, you can not tell anyone about this or everything you have goes away.”

“But when am I going to be able to go back to Mommy and Daddy?” I asked.

“We are playing a game to try to see how long it takes for your parents to find you. Kind of like hide and go seek. But for now I am Mommy. Do you understand? I am Mommy.”

Her story was convincing enough for me to believe her, she seemed to have all of the answers to what people wanted to know, so I crawled into the car and buckled my seat belt. I was ready for a nap.

When I woke up I saw the one thing that had gotten me in this situation.

A pink balloon was tied onto the TV and Barney was on, my favorite show. Instead of getting up, I stayed right where I was, with Mommy in the other room, until the news came on.

“Tonight at 10, Little Girl Taken From her Mother’s Side,” the television said. And then a picture of my face popped up.

Why was I on the news? We were just playing a little game. Why did Mom put me on the news? She knew what was going on. I guess it was just like all of the other times she forgot to come find me when we were playing hide and go seek and I sat in my hiding spot for what felt like years.

Only this time, she didn't forget. She didn't know. And it wasn't only going to feel like years, it was actually going to be years.