"The Stranger"

My name is Nathan and my best friends name is Sam. We were in the third grade at the time. The year was 2004. I was about 10. We were in the middle of recess one sunny afternoon.

We were playing around on the monkey bars. We warned however the whole school was to stay away from the woods right behind the playground because it was out of bounds for school and we would get in trouble and non of us wanted that. I remember in that day the teachers were worried because a unknown van had pulled up in the schools parking lot.

After a few minutes one of the teachers accompanied the principal and they approached the van. There was no driver however. They walked back to the playground.

I was on the monkey bars at the time and I'm not sure why but I had the urge to look up into the woods and so I did. A man was starring at me in the woods. He was smiling and waving me over to him. I was 10 so of course I was a bit curious. He kept waving to me and he shoved his hands into his pockets and pulled out candy and showed me it.
Before I could do anything a teacher saw this and she ran over to me and told me to get inside the school. I looked over, the principle was making everyone go inside recess was cut short. The man ran away and the teacher ran after him. A few minutes later she came back inside. The man had escaped.
After school was over everyone walked to there busses the van was gone. I got on my bus. Something was wrong. It wasn't our usual driver. It was the man from the woods! He shut the bus doors and drove off.

The atmosphere quickly changed after I realized the sudden danger we were all facing. The same man who was waving to me in the woods was now driving the bus. This was the scariest experience I have ever faced.
The man smiled as the bus in front of us started to move. This school district had a total of Five buses. Some of the kids had special needs.
We all left at the same time. After a few minutes went buy we were taking a different route than we were used too. I looked around no body was concerned except for me. We went down a few back roads. Everyone was too preoccupied with talking to each other.
The man than spoke for the first time and what he said made this situation so much worse for us. He spoke in Spanish. We had no clue what he was saying. What came out of his mouth was " soy Tu Sub Por El Dia Entonces D'onde Vives?" With translates to "I'm your sub for the day,So where do you live?"

For the first time the other kids on the bus looked up with puzzling faces. The man simply smiled and repeated himself. Again everyone stopped talking and just started at the man like he was crazy. This time he shut up and continued driving.
It was getting late I usually was off the bus at 2:55 it was now 3:07. And my mom was probably worried. The man got on the highway witch was very unusual since our route didn't need the highway. "He's just a new driver." I said to myself trying to calm myself down. He pulled out a phone and called someone. He started speaking in Spanish. And from the looks of it whoever he was speaking with he was getting angry. He threw his phone at the window. The phones screen cracked.
He then pulled the bus off the highway and we were on an exit to a rest stop. Once he parked the bus. He got up stared at us. We all stared right back at him as he said " Ya Vuelvo" which translates to "I will be right back." he shut the doors and I looked out the window and saw him on the phone talking again and he walked into the bathroom.
None of us Knew how to drive so we couldn't do anything but sit and wait for his return. A few minutes passed by and he walked to the bus and got inside he turned it on and started to drive back on the highway. It took a few seconds to see what he was doing we were now for whatever reason backtracking.
Back at the school a few parents showed up to the school asking where there kids were? And the principle had a concerned look on his face and said "Your kids never returned?" At that moment everyone's face was the look of terrified parents.
We had gotten of the highway and took the same back roads and we soon turned back to the school. A look of relief hit me. I was never more glad to see my school than I was at that exact moment. The bus pulled up to the main entrance. The driver got off the bus. I saw my parents along with a few others parents.
They saw the driver and approached him yelling! The man had a puzzled face he was trying to explain his actions but none of the parents spoke Spanish. and all the children got off the bus.
At that moment a Hispanic women approached the parents her daughter ran up to her. She was one of the children in the bus. she walked up to the man and the angry parents and said "Give the man a break. He was a Sub for the usual Bus driver. She was sick today and he took over,he said he tried to ask the children where they lived but no one understood him, He didn't know what to do so he called the school and no one picked up. He said he had to pull the bus over to a Rest stop because he didn't feel safe using his phone while driving.
And the principle never answered so he didn't know what to do he came back to the school and he is very sorry.
The parents looked at the man he was waving his head in agreement. The parents then apologized to the man. He said "Gracias" to the women and she replied with "De Nada".
"wait I said walking over to the man and women. Why was he in the woods? The man started to explain. The women translated for him. "He was smoking in the woods and your not allowed to smoke on school property."
"Oh ok why was he waiving to me? "He is a very friendly guy. The women said. He is completely innocent. He would never harm anyone.
The man waved his head in agreement. What was with the van then? "I can answer this one,The principle said "the school had a few kids with special needs so a few vans were unmarked and it was my mistake for not realizing it at the time.
Everyone then agreed with that reason it did after all make sense. The parents apologized again and everyone got there kids in the car and went there separate ways.
The principle had apologized to the Sub for not answering the phone. The man said "Esta Encendido" which translates to "It's ok" and the man went to his van and left for the day.