Teacher Notices a Change in Little Boy's Behavior and Soon Finds a Note Asking for Help – Story of the Day

Rachel was a teacher for special needs children, and she noticed one of her students acting strange one day. A big man started dropping and picking him up every day for school, and Rachel got even more suspicious. Finally, Robert left a letter on her desk one day, and the message made her run for help.

“Good morning, everyone,” Rachel Chambers said as she began her class. She also used her hands to sign the message because some of her students were deaf. She loved her job, but today, her antenna was up. One of her students, Robert, was acting strange, and a big burly man had dropped him off. That was even odder.

Since all her kids had special needs, she knew all their mothers and some of the fathers, and as far as she knew, Robert’s mother was single. This man had to be a new boyfriend, and she had to see if he was good to Robert. However, she noticed that Robert didn’t respond to her good morning and remained quiet during the rest of the day.

The man picked him up after school. He was wearing a pulled-up hoodie and a sour expression that raised all of Rachel’s alarms. She tried to talk to him before he left with the child.

“Sir! I’m sorry we haven’t met before. Are you Robert’s dad?” she said in the most cheerful tone possible.

The man looked up for a second and grumbled, “Yeah, I am. Sorry, I have to go.” And he dragged Robert away quickly.

Rachel couldn’t follow them for now, but she was going to get to the bottom of it. She tried calling Robert’s mom, Sarah, that afternoon, but she didn’t answer her phone or her home landline. That was odd.

Following your instincts can save someone’s life.

She was an involved mom and never missed a chance to talk to Rachel about Robert’s progress. He had some learning disabilities that landed him in her class, but he wasn’t stupid. He was pretty smart, and Rachel knew he would tell her if something was wrong at home. But she had to wait.

The same man dropped Robert at school the following day and didn’t look at Rachel when she tried to smile at him. But she decided to approach the kid before starting her lesson while the rest of the children were still arriving. She leaned down on his desk and made sure he was looking straight at her.

“Hey, Robert. You know you can tell me anything, right? Anything about your day, anything about school or your friends, and even stuff about home. I’m here to listen, ok?” Rachel assured the boy with a big, comforting smile.

Robert only nodded slightly, and Rachel couldn’t do anything else. He had to reach out on his own. It was time to start her class.

When the big burly man appeared once again, Robert approached her desk to give her the last assignment of the day. They were supposed to draw anything they wanted, but Robert didn’t draw anything. She stared straight at the message he had written in his awkward scrawl.

“The man is my father. But he is bad. Help us!”

Rachel’s eyes widened, and when she looked up, Robert and the man were already gone. She knew she had to take action immediately, so she decided she would go to their house and see what was going on.

But suddenly, Andrew Reeves, a fellow teacher, stopped her. “Hey, Rachel. Where are you going? You look worried,” he asked her.

“Andrew, something is going on at one of my student’s houses. I have to find out what it is,” Rachel answered and tried to leave, but Andrew continued.

“Are you talking about Robert and that big man? The other teachers noticed him yesterday and were talking about his weird attitude.”

“Yes! That’s exactly it! I have to go!”

“Are you crazy? That man looks dangerous. At the very least, I’m going with you,” Andrew insisted and ushered her to his car.

“Alright. But what are you going to do?” Rachel asked from the passenger seat.

“I don’t know. We have to play it by ear, but I hope Robert’s mother is there too. Do you know her?”

“Yes. She’s lovely, and I actually tried calling her all afternoon yesterday. She never answered. I’m so worried now,” she stated, wetting her lips with her tongue.

“Don’t worry. Just follow my lead,” Andrew replied confidently, his hand moving the wheel.

They reached Robert’s home in a lower-income area of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Their apartment was on the third floor, and luckily, anyone could come and go as they pleased. So they both went directly to the door, but Andrew spoke up before knocking.

“Stay off to the side so no one sees you.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to say I’m a neighbor. Let’s just see what happens. Trust me,” Andrew added, and Rachel nodded. She moved off to the side, and Andrew breathed deeply before knocking. Luckily, the door opened in such a way that Rachel was covered entirely. The big burly man grunted at Andrew as a greeting, and her fellow teacher started talking.

“Hi, I’m your downstairs neighbor. There’s a big leak coming from my bathroom ceiling, and there’s nothing wrong on my side. Can we check yours, please?”

“There’s nothing wrong here,” the man grumbled once more and tried to close the door, but Andrew insisted.

“Please, sir. If it’s on your side, and we don’t catch it soon, it could damage both our apartments. Plumbing would cost thousands of dollars,” the teacher continued, and the man finally agreed.

“Ok, but let’s check it quickly. I haven’t noticed anything,” he said and gestured for Andrew to follow him quickly. That’s when Rachel peeked her head slowly inside the apartment but stayed outside.

Andrew followed the man, looking around furtively. Then he saw Sarah cowering with Robert in one of the bedrooms. He turned around and signaled for Rachel to call the police. Fortunately, the man didn’t see him, and Rachel quickly dialed 911.

He pretended to look around the bathroom and spoke up. “I guess it is on my side. I’m sorry to have bothered you with your wife and child,” Andrew voiced, fishing for some information.

“That’s my girlfriend, but yeah, whatever, don’t let it happen again,” the man grunted once more.

“Oh, wait. I think I’ve met her before. Hello, miss. I’m your neighbor,” Andrew waved from the hallway, and it seemed like Sarah recognized him from Robert’s school. He tried to mouth something, but she didn’t get it.

Suddenly, they heard the sirens outside, and Andrew breathed a sigh of relief.

The man looked around and finally noticed Rachel outside. “What’s happening? WHAT DID YOU DO?!” he grunted and almost launched at Rachel, but Andrew was right there to block her from him.

“Please, calm down. If there’s nothing wrong, you won’t mind a police search of the house,” Andrew uttered placatingly.

“YOU!” he yelled and looked back towards the bedroom, seemingly thinking of what to do. But he pushed the teachers aside and started running away in the end. The cops finally reached the third floor, and Andrew pointed towards where the man had run off. Another officer went into the house and talked to Robert and his mother. Sarah exited the room with her kid and looked right at Rachel.

“Miss Chambers! Thank you! Thank you so much!” the woman said and hugged the teacher tightly. When they pulled away, Rachel leaned down and looked at Robert.

“You did the right thing, kid. You’re very smart, and you protected your mom,” she complimented the fearful boy, who finally smiled and uttered a small thank you to the teacher.

Sarah told them that the man was her ex-boyfriend. They broke up, and she never told him about the pregnancy. She even moved far away from him to avoid any encounters. But he found her, learned about Robert, and began living with them. But he was a terrible man and had some extended warrants against him.

When the cops finally caught him, he was charged for several robberies, running away from police, and harassing Sarah and Robert. She was even able to get a restraining order against him.

Andrew helped her to get new housing so they wouldn’t be in danger, and Rachel was glad that Robert was safe once again.

What can we learn from this story?

• Following your instincts can save someone’s life. Rachel knew something was wrong when Robert started acting weird and the big man started dropping him off. She followed her instincts and rescued them.
• Get help before doing something drastic. Luckily, Andrew stopped Rachel from going to Robert’s house alone, but she should’ve asked for help herself.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about an older man who visited his daughter in another state only to be turned away at the door.

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