When I was 8, I went to a shopping mall near our home with my parents. We ate lunch there.

After we finished eating lunch, I saw a toy I had wanted for a long time. I wanted to buy it, but my parents didn’t agree because I already had so many similar toys at home. Although I had so many similar toys, I still made trouble unreasonably. My parents pretended to leave, thinking I would follow them. Normally, when I made trouble and lay down crying, I would follow them, but this time I did not.

While they were thinking about what to do, I was thinking that when I cried and lay down, they would usually come back and comfort me. This was how I got lost.

When I was lost, a man came up to me and said, “If you can’t find your parents, I can help you.” I half-believed him and half-did not, but I still followed him because I wanted to find my parents. Then I said, “I want to go to the toilet!” He replied, “Don’t take too long.” When I came out, I did not see him. I thought he had left because I had taken too long.

After that, I felt hungry. I hadn’t enjoyed our lunch earlier because I didn’t like the food. I went to a shop, picked an apple, and ate it. Soon after, a staff member saw me and said, “Where are your parents? You haven’t paid for this yet. You need to ask your parents to pay for it.” I said, “I don’t know where they are.” He then took me to a room and told me to wait. He asked for my name. After a few minutes, my parents arrived in a hurry.

I told them what had happened. They said the man I had met might be a bad person. I felt very afraid. I learned that we cannot just want something, ask others to buy it for us, or make unreasonable trouble.