Dad Follows 13-Year-Old Daughter from School after Seeing Her Get Out of Unfamiliar Man's Car — Story of the Day

A man gets suspicious of his 13-year-old daughter when he discovers her getting out of an unknown man's car after school and decides to follow her. What he discovers in the process leaves him astounded.

When Amanda left for her heavenly abode, Matt knew things weren't going to be easy for him. Their daughter Stacey was merely 3 then, and Matt had no other family to rely on to care for her.

The first few years of parenting were a complete rollercoaster for him, and juggling housework and office work was challenging, but things became even more complicated when Stacey grew up and became a teenager.

She suddenly started going through physical changes right before his eyes, and he knew what that meant: the boys were coming for her. How could they not; his daughter had his late wife's brown eyes and a beautiful smile that seemed designed to captivate.

Even Matt was not immune to her eyes and had fallen prey to them multiple times. When she turned 13, she hit puberty and discovered boys.

Matt decided he'll be strict with her daughter, so she wouldn't disobey him and do anything wrong, but because of this decision of his, there were a lot of misunderstandings between them, with him sometimes lashing out at Stacey without waiting for an explanation and Stacey sometimes hiding things from him.

One day, Matt came home from work early because he wasn't feeling well. He decided that since he was home, he'd prepare a snack for them. He waited for Stacey until 3 p.m., the usual time she'd come home from school, but she wasn't there.

Maybe she got busy with something, the man reasoned, looking at his watch. However, by 4 p.m., he started to worry and called her teacher, Mrs. Watson.

"I apologize for bothering you, Mrs. Watson, but were there any extra classes at school today? This is Stacey's father, Matt Burks."

"Not at all, Mr. Burks!" Mrs. Watson replied. "Classes were over by 2 p.m. as usual. Is everything all right?"

"Actually, Stacey isn't home yet, so I was wondering if there were any extra activities that kept her in school. Maybe she went to one of her friends' houses."

"Perhaps you should call the bus driver first, Mrs. Burks. Doesn't Stacey take the school bus every day?"

"Unfortunately, not, Mrs. Watson. I usually drop her off at school in the morning, and she comes home in the afternoon via a local bus or cab. However, I appreciate your assistance. I'll get to the bottom of this," Matt said and hung up.

That afternoon, he called all of Stacey's friends and inquired if she was at their house. But much to his dismay, most of them hadn't even seen Stacey leave the school, except for one who had she'd left early. When Matt heard that, his heart started racing fast.

I just hope she's alright! Where did she even go?! The man was close to tears and decided to call the cops and inform them about the situation. But then he noticed a black car approaching their house, and shortly after, Stacey stepped out from it. He saw the driver's face roughly, and he seemed like he must have been in his 50s.

Matt had expected Stacey to have a lot of male friends, but a 60-something man was far beyond his wildest dreams! "Stacey, where the hell were you? And why did you leave the school early?" he lashed out at her as she entered their home.

"Oh, dad, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at work?" Stacey came to a halt at the door, speechless.

"Don't change the topic, Stacey! Where have you been, and who is the man who just dropped you off in the black car?" Matt exploded.

"Calm down, Dad! You don't need to lash out like that when you have no idea what's going on, okay?"

"So why don't you tell me? That's what I'm trying to ask you!"

"Look, Dad, I'm tired, okay? We can talk about it later," Stacey said and walked away to her bedroom, unbothered by the stern expression on her father's face.

This wasn't the first time she'd done something like this. As she'd gotten older, she'd had several such encounters with Matt that had ended in nothing. Matt initially ignored it, believing it was due to his daughter's adolescent phase. But after today's incident, he just couldn't get it out of his head. So the next day, when he went to drop Stacey off at school, he decided to stay until her classes were finished.

Around 2:15 p.m., a swarm of students exited the school's main gate, and Matt noticed Stacey among them. However, instead of leaving the school with her friends, she jumped into the same black car he had seen the day before, as evidenced by the license plate. Suspecting his daughter was up to something wrong, he decided to follow the car.

Suddenly, it stopped in front of an old, broken-down cottage. He looked out the window and realized he'd been so focused on the car that he hadn't realized he'd driven so far and was almost out of town and on the outskirts. Then he saw Stacey and the unknown man get out of the car and enter the cottage.

Matt ran out of the car and grabbed Stacey's hand. "What the hell, Stacey?! I didn't expect you'd be up to something like this! What are you even thinking?"

"Dad?! Did you just follow me? What's wrong with you?"

"What's the matter with me?! What are you doing here with this man?" he snapped as he grabbed the man's collar. "Did you really believe you'd get away with it? I swear I'll kill you if you touch my daughter!"

"Dad, calm down," Stacey pleaded, yanking her father away, but Matt refused to budge. He clenched his fists and was about to punch the man when a frail woman appeared from within. "Carla, are you here, honey? You're not going to leave me today, are you?"

Matt moved a step back when he saw the elderly lady. "Who is she? What's going on?" he mumbled as he slowly removed his hand from the man's collar.

"That's my mother, Mr. Burks," said the man. "It seems like Stacey didn't tell you anything. Please come with me."

When they were settled inside, the man introduced himself as Stacey's music teacher, Mr. Collins. His mother had a terminal illness, and doctors told him she didn't have much time. When Mr. Collins showed her his school's annual day pictures one day, the old lady noticed Stacey in them.

Stacey reminded the older woman of her granddaughter, who had died tragically in a car accident months before. The woman had not recovered from the trauma, and as her sickness progressed, her desire to see her granddaughter grew stronger.

Seeing how his mother's face brightened when she saw Stacey in the photo, Mr. Collins thought of an idea: to introduce Stacey to her. And that's when he asked Stacey for the favor of visiting his mother and spending time with her after school.

Matt was ashamed of himself when he learned the whole story. "Why didn't you tell me this, Stacey?" he asked, embarrassed.

"Well, dad. I told you that I would talk about it later, but someone doesn't listen to me!"

"I'm sorry, honey," Matt apologized to his daughter, then to the teacher, for assuming the worst. And every weekend after that, he took Stacey to the older lady's house, where the three of them – him, Stacey, and Mr. Collins – spent time with her until she left for her heavenly home.

What can we learn from this story?

• Don't jump to conclusions. Matt assumed Stacey was romantically involved with Mr. Collins and was hiding the truth from him without even waiting for her to clarify.
• Communication is important. Stacey should have told her father about what she was up to after school because he had a right to know.

If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a man who installs a hidden camera in the bedroom to see if his wife was faithful to him during his absence.

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