After stepping foot into Woodfield Mall, it was clear that Christmas was quickly approaching. The evergreen wreaths and silver ornaments hung throughout the mall. Everywhere you turned there was another store with a sale going on. It was the perfect time of year for twins Vincent and Sam to buy presents for their friends and family. The only problem was Sarah. They had been stuck babysitting for their neighbor today.

The last thing these teenage twins wanted to be doing on their Saturday was chasing a toddler around the mall. Three year-old Sarah usually listened and acted well behaved, but there was no control in this crowd. With her short brown hair and emerald green eyes there was little separating her from every other kid. It would be no hard task to lose Sarah in the Mediterranean Sea of people surrounding them.

Their first stop was Bath and Body Works for their mom’s present. At least, it was supposed to be. Unfortunately, Sarah needed the self-control they already had to resist Candy Works. She stuck her snot-covered hands in every jar of candy the store holds. Vincent decided it was time to go. “Sarah, we’re not buying you any sweets. We’re leaving now, so don’t make us leave without you.” After making her cry because Vincent and Sam were not about to spend all their money on Sarah’s sugar high, they finally made their way to Bath and Body Works.

Once they were inside, they realized they knew nothing of what assorted soaps their mother would like. Does she like Butterfly Flower? Maybe Black Raspberry Vanilla would be better. Sarah ended up coming in handy here. They had her smell every scent the store contains until she picked her top three. The Honey Autumn Apple smells “like when I get in trouble for touching all the apples at the grocery store.” Apparently the Cucumber Melon is “what I smell like after mommy makes me take a bath.” Vincent and Sam figured she must have at least a half decent idea of what a mother would like.

“Sam, stay with Sarah. I’m going to go pay for all of this.” Vincent said as he approached the registers. Sam decided to step outside in the main part of the mall with Sarah. Maybe there would be room to breathe out there. A teenage girl strutted by with sparkly pink nail polish. The older girl’s nail distracted Sarah and she decided to follow her. After all, Sam nail was dull and blank; this other girl must be more fun.

“Sarah, did you want me to get you a snack?” Sam looked down and the little girl he was responsible for disappeared. “Sarah? Sarah!” He couldn’t believe that he lost her; how could he be so irresponsible. His face turned bright red and his palms started to sweat. His body temperature felt like it spiked up 200 degrees.

Sam was frantically looking for Sarah when Vincent came out with their purchase. “Hey dude, where’s the tot?” He obviously didn’t understand what had happened because he was laughing. It was just a joke to him.

“I lost her! She’s gone!” All the blood drained out of Vincent’s face when Sam said that. Where were they supposed to look? They were in one of the biggest malls in America and they lost a three year old.
The Disney store was their first stop. They looked through the Rapunzel dresses and stuffed Winnie the Pooh characters; but still there was no Sarah to be found. Build-A-Bear was the last store they could think of to look at. This store had to be the most crowded in the whole mall. There were toddlers throwing tantrums in every direction and moms trying to calm them down with a hopeless effort. You could barely take a step nonetheless find a three-year-old girl.
After making their way around the whole store they had given up hope. It was time for them to call her mom “Hello boys, why are you calling? Is everything okay?” Sam couldn’t tell her what had happened, he just stood there speechless until he felt a tap on his back. He turned around to see Sarah’s mom with Sarah! “I came here to check on you and I found her wandering around. I don’t know how you could be so irresponsible. This is my daughter I trusted you with, and apparently it was just a joke to you.” Sam and Vincent knew that they were in trouble, and that they wouldn’t be babysitting again for a long time.