One Surprise Visit, One Trafficking Charge

On my son, William Lewis' birthday, I secretly visit the learning center he studies at in hopes of giving him a surprise.

But when I tell the teacher that I'm Will's father, the latter frowns in response.

"You say you're Will's father?"

I nod, feeling a little displeased.

Although my wife, Amelia Garrett, is the one driving William to and from the learning center, there's absolutely no reason for the teacher to doubt me like this.

But suddenly, the teacher smiles brightly at me and tells me he'll bring William with him soon.

As I watch him walk through the door, I decide to not take this matter to heart.

The next thing I know, the teacher reappears with two burly guys flanking him.

"That's the one! He intends to kidnap children from my class!"

Two security guards clad in dark blue stood behind the teacher.

The teacher's smile melted away as he pointed an accusing finger at me. "Capture him! He's pretending to be a parent to abduct one of our students. How shameless!"

I stood rooted to the spot as my mind went blank.

Abduction? Pretending to be a parent? What on earth was the teacher talking about?

The security guards pounced on me before I snapped back to my senses, flanking me and gripping my arms.

I struggled to break free, my muscles straining from the effort. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to free myself since they outnumbered me.

"What are you doing? Let go of me!" I roared. "I'm not an abductor. There must be a misunderstanding. Let go of me!"

"A misunderstanding?"

The teacher pressed close and spat hatefully, "I can't believe you're still trying to lie despite the situation you're in."

The commotion attracted the attention of the other teachers. They peered at us and whispered among themselves.

"What's going on?"

"Apparently, they caught an abductor."

"Oh, my God. They must have guts of steel to barge into the school like this."

"Thank goodness they caught him. He needs to be taught a lesson he'll never forget."

"I can tell he's a bad man just by looking at him."

Their hostile gazes were like knives that were being stabbed into my heart.

"I'm not an abductor! I'm William Lewis' father! Ask him if you don't believe me. The truth will come to light when he sees me."

"William Lewis?" the teacher asked with a scoff. "I see you came prepared. You even found out the student's name. What a shame that you were foolish enough to think that you could get away with pretending to be his father."

He turned to look at the other teachers and asked, "Did you hear him? He even knows the child's name! He's a perfect example of an abductor."

"No! He's really my son!"

Through the haze of panic, I remembered that I had photos of William and me on my phone.

"I have photos with Will!"

I struggled wildly to grab my phone and unlocked it with my fingerprint. I then scrolled through my album until I found the latest photo.

I had snapped a photo of William and me at the park last weekend.

William was wearing a blue sports jacket. He was hugging my neck tightly while I balanced him on my shoulders.

Both of us were grinning widely.

"Look! I took this photo of Will and me last weekend!"

A brief silence descended upon us.

The teacher moved closer to take a better look at the screen before he scoffed. "You really are well prepared. Unfortunately, you prepared the wrong photo."

The other teachers began snickering.

"What an idiot."

"Are all abductors this incompetent these days?"

"He probably just stole that photo from someone else."

I didn't understand. I lowered my head and stared unblinkingly at the zoomed-in photo on the screen. The boy in the photo was definitely my son, William.

"It's pointless to waste our breath talking to him," the security guard said. "We're going to send him to the police station right now!"

I mustered every bit of strength in my body and broke free from the security guards' hold. Using my shoulder, I shoved my way past them and rushed into the classroom.

The classroom door slammed open, the deafening sound making all the students look up at me in confusion.

"Will!" I shouted, sweeping my gaze across the classroom as I searched for him.

A boy stood up. He tilted his head slightly, looking at me with confused eyes. "Are you looking for me, mister?" he asked.

I stood rooted to the spot as I stared at him.

As William's father, there was no way that I would mistake my own son for someone else.