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I Tried to Save a Boy Locked in a Car — What Happened Next Still Haunts Me

It was nearly ninety degrees when I spotted a young boy locked inside a white sedan, fists pounding on the glass. No adults in sight. I called 911, but the dispatcher insisted he’d already been rescued and was home with his mother. Yet he was right there—crying—until he suddenly stopped, lifted a phone, and showed me a photo of myself taken minutes earlier. By the time police arrived, he was gone. They said I was mistaken. But I knew what I’d seen…

The first thing I noticed was the heat shimmering off the pavement. The second was the boy — small, red-faced, fists pounding against the inside of a white sedan.

Windows sealed tight. No adults in sight.

I dropped my grocery bags right there, ran to the door, tugged the handle. Locked. His eyes brimmed with tears when he saw me, his pounding turning frantic.

My hands shook as I dialed 911.
“There’s a little boy locked in a car. About five years old, brown hair, white T-shirt—he looks like he’s—”