The driver of the school bus noticed that one of the students wasn’t going to school but was heading toward the forest; he decided to follow the boy and was shocked by what he saw.
The morning bus stopped in front of the school, and the doors opened with a soft hiss. The children got out one after another. Some laughed, others argued, several boys pushed each other and ran almost all the way to the entrance.
The driver sat at the wheel, watching this familiar morning chaos in the mirror. He always made sure that no one tripped on the steps and that all the children reached the entrance safely. Sometimes he raised his hand and smiled.
“Have a nice day, kids.”
Some waved back, and a girl with a huge backpack almost lost her balance as she jumped onto the asphalt. The driver followed them with his eyes until the children disappeared into the school building.
The last to get off was a boy of about six. Small, wearing a dark jacket and a backpack. His name was Alex.
He slowly walked down the steps and paused for a moment, as if he wasn’t in a hurry. Then he took a few steps, looked toward the school building, and stopped in front of the entrance.
The driver was just about to close the doors when he noticed that Alex didn’t go inside. He frowned.
Over the past week, he had noticed something strange several times. Every morning Alex got off last, paused briefly, and then disappeared somewhere. The driver thought he was just taking a different route.
He told himself more than once that it was none of his business.
But that day, it felt wrong.
Alex walked along the fence and then suddenly turned onto a forest path.
All alone.
After a few seconds, the driver decided to get out and follow him.
He just wanted to see where the boy was going.
After a few minutes, he saw something that made him freeze.
The path led deeper into the forest. Autumn leaves rustled underfoot. Shortly after, he spotted Alex.
The boy was sitting on a fallen tree trunk. His backpack lay beside him, and he was staring at the ground.
When he heard footsteps, he flinched.
“Alex…” the driver said calmly. “Why aren’t you in school?”
The boy remained silent for a long time.
Then he said quietly:
“I come here every day.”
The driver sat down next to him.
“Every day?”
Alex nodded.
He explained that every morning he got off with the others, waited until they went into the school, and then went into the forest. He stayed there until noon or wandered among the trees. When classes ended, he returned and rode home with everyone else.
At home, everyone thought he had been at school.
In class, he was constantly bullied. Some boys laughed at him, pushed him, hid his things, and insulted him. Once it got especially bad, but the teachers only said the children should sort it out themselves.
After that, Alex could no longer bring himself to enter the school.
The next day, everything changed.
When the bus stopped, the driver got out as well and spoke with some boys from Alex’s class.
The conversation was short but very serious.
He explained that he knew everything and that something like that must never happen again.
Then he turned to Alex.
“Come.”
That day, for the first time in a long while, the boy entered the school not alone.
