Nathan noticed that a little boy didn’t get off the last bus stop and asked him where he was going. The boy asked if he could sleep on the bus because he had no idea where his mother was, but Nathan had a better solution. Then he discovered something heartbreaking about the kid.
“Hey, kid. This is the last stop. You have to get out,” Nathan said from his spot on the driver’s seat of the bus. A little boy was his last remaining passenger, but he had yet to exit the bus. He saw the kid standing and approaching him with his hands in his pockets.
“Sir, can I spend the night here?” the boy asked, looking down at his feet.
“On the bus? That’s impossible. My supervisor would kill me,” Nathan answered, shaking his head. “Where do you live? I can walk with you after I leave my bus at the terminal.”
He should’ve asked more questions on the phone because they reached the hospital, asked for Melissa, and discovered something shocking.
The boy shook his head. “I don’t know where I live. We had just moved to this city, and my mommy was supposed to get on one of the stops. She didn’t,” he revealed, his lips quivering in fear.
Nathan had no idea what to do, but he couldn’t leave the kid alone, especially if his mother was missing. He decided to take him home.
“What’s your name, kid?” he asked when they reached Nathan’s studio apartment in Ohio.
“Carlson,” the boy answered, looking around with his hands still in his pockets. Nathan also asked him about his mother; luckily, he knew her full name. They could start there.
“Ok, make yourself at home. I have some sodas in the fridge. You can grab what you like, and I’ll make dinner soon. But I’m going to make some calls first,” Nathan said, pointing him towards the kitchen. He saw Carlson grabbing a Coke and went to his bedroom, pulling out his cellphone.
First, he called the police and asked about any missing person with the name Carlson had told him, Melissa G. Unfortunately, they had no information about her, so he hung up for the moment. Calling CPS was another option, but he didn’t want to involve them for a simple error. He didn’t want the kid sent to the system if it was not necessary.
He went out and started making dinner, which Carlson enjoyed immensely, as he hadn’t eaten all day. Nathan realized the boy was tired because he had been riding the bus the entire day. He prepared the couch with a pillow and some blankets.
“You can sleep here tonight. We’ll find a solution tomorrow,” Nathan assured him, and the kid was out like a light almost immediately. The bus driver went to his room and fell asleep thinking about solutions to the issue.
In the morning, he had an idea. He called the two local hospitals in the area to ask about the woman. “I know this is highly unusual. But I’m looking for this person. Her kid was on my bus all day yesterday, waiting for her to get on. Please, if there’s any Melissa G. interned right now, please, tell me so we can check,” he begged the lady who answered the phone.
“Ok, I’ll help. But don’t tell anyone,” the lady replied, and Nathan could hear the sounds of her clicking a computer keyboard. “There’s someone with that name. But there’s no emergency contact. They must have gotten her details from an I.D. in her pocket or purse.”
“Thank you so much,” Nathan said and went into the living room to give Carlson the news. But he should’ve asked more questions on the phone because they reached the hospital, asked for Melissa, and discovered something shocking.
Carlson’s mother had been in an accident early the previous day. She went through surgery and was now in a medically induced coma. The doctor gave them all the details and said they would have to wait to see if Melissa made it.
“Are you her husband, sir? We need you to complete some information,” a nurse asked after the doctor left them to wait.
Carlson started shaking his head, but Nathan placed his hand on his arm and answered the kind woman. “Yes, I am. What do you need?”
The nurse asked him questions, and Nathan had to lie about a few things to keep up the façade, but he felt justified. He wanted to protect this kid and his mother, who were alone in a new city.
“Thank you,” he told the nurse when she finally left and let them sit with Melissa in her hospital room. He was not afraid of the repercusions of lying. This was a good deed.
Unfortunately, the doctors couldn’t wake Melissa up that day, so Nathan took Carlson back to his house, promising they could come the next day. He kept his promise, although he had to leave for work that day. But at the end of his shift, he returned to pick him up.
They repeated that routine for a few days until, one morning, Melissa was wide awake. The doctors had finally determined she was well enough to wake.
The woman on the bed raised her arms and gestured for Carlson to come for a hug, and Nathan smiled as the boy ran straight to his mother. He started speaking a mile a minute, and it seemed like the woman couldn’t keep up. But she was smiling. Then the kid started telling him about Nathan and what he had done for him.
“Thank you,” the woman breathed sincerely, not letting go of her son.
“You’re welcome. But I did lie to these people, so if anyone asks, I’m your husband,” Nathan joked, lightening the mood, and Melissa laughed despite her painful, healing injuries.
They talked for a while before Nathan had to get to work, and he wished them the best of luck, not planning to see them again. However, he returned to the hospital at the end of the night with a look of chagrin, and Carlson greeted him with a tight hug.
“Why are you back?” Melissa asked him a few hours later when Carlson had fallen asleep on the couch.
“I don’t know,” he sighed. “I kept thinking about you and him the entire day. I can’t explain it. But I guess I wanted to see this through. I’ll help you return home and watch him whenever I can so you can recover.”
“That’s so kind,” Melissa replied, nodding her head slowly and wiping a stray tear that escaped her eye. “Other people would’ve called 911 or CPS, and they could’ve taken my son forever.”
“I almost called them, but then I thought, what if something happened to you? There had to be a reason why you didn’t appear, so I had to try to find you first,” he said, and they gave each other an intense look neither understood yet.
That night, Nathan stayed in her hospital room and they talked for hours until they both got tired. He fell asleep on the chair, which was terrible for his back.
A week later, they let Melissa go, and Nathan helped them get home, which was luckily not far from his house. Soon enough, he started coming to her house every single day. One thing led to another, and they got married two years after Melissa’s accident. He adopted Carlson officially a few years later, proving that some things are meant to be.
