Man Approaches Little Boy Crying on the Street, ‘Take Me Away from Them,’ the Boy Begs — Story of the Day

On his way to work, a man runs into a little boy who is crying and pleading to be taken away from someone. When he approaches the boy to find out who he is referring to, the boy flees. The man follows him and realizes the boy needs help urgently.

Lewis Baker was a single man who worked tirelessly, often more than what he was required, just to keep his mind off the things that had happened recently in his life.

A year ago, Lewis wasn't a single man. In fact, he was married to a beautiful woman named Brittany, but things didn't work out between them and they got divorced.

The reason for the split was that Lewis was brought up in a large family, and he was eager to have kids, but Brittany had her priorities straight and didn't want that. She would never become a mom as she wasn't fond of children.

Lewis realized that their relationship wouldn't work due to their differences, so he split up with her without a second thought. And after the separation, he hoped to find someone who would love children as much as he did...

Lewis divorced Brittany a year ago. | Source: Pexels

One day, Lewis was on his way to work when he heard a weeping sound around the corner of the street he was crossing. He came to a halt and concentrated his attention on the noise. He figured it was coming from the neighboring alley.

He was running late for work, but he couldn't leave without finding out who the needy soul was, wailing early in the morning, so he followed the sound. Eventually, he came face to face with a boy sitting at the far end of the alley, his head tucked in his hands and crying.

Lewis felt sorry for the boy and wanted to help him. However, as he was approaching the kid, the boy abruptly raised his head, revealing his deep red eyes from crying, and stood up.

"Who - Who are you?" he asked Lewis in a shaky voice.

"Don't worry," Lewis assured him. "I just want to help. What is a young child like you doing here all by yourself?"

Lewis was on his way to work when he met the young boy. | Source: Unsplash

"Please, take me away from them if you can! Please!" he begged Lewis with hopeful eyes.

"Who is he even talking about?" Lewis asked himself at the sight of the terrified 8-year-old boy. He decided to calm the youngster down and ask him what was wrong, but before that, the boy began to scream.

"Oh no! They're here!" he cried, peering over Lewis' shoulder as if he had noticed someone, then he ran away.

Lewis turned back, but he didn't see anyone approaching them. He was perplexed as to why the boy was acting so strangely and decided to follow him.

"Hey, wait!" he shouted, "I can help you!"

But the youngster wouldn't stop. The boy kept running and finally headed into a church. Lewis followed him inside but couldn't find him. He looked everywhere inside the church, but he wasn't there. It seemed as if the boy had vanished like a ghost.

The boy was crying when Lewis first met him. | Source: Unsplash

But when he stepped outside, Lewis spotted the boy crouched behind the church, bawling his eyes out.

"Hey, hey, everything's fine," he said as he approached him. "I'm here to help you. Are you all right?"

The boy raised his head and wrapped his arms tightly around Lewis. "Please don't leave me! I'm sorry I had to run away. Can you take me with you?" he sobbed.

Lewis felt an odd connection to the small boy and chose not to abandon him. He returned his hug and said, "Of course, I will help you. You don't need to be worried, okay? But first, you must tell me what happened."

The child brushed his tears away slowly. "My name is Henry," he sniffed. "I'm eight years old, and my mommy and daddy died a few months ago, so I have no one to look after me."

"But you must have someone looking after you, right?" Lewis wondered. "Perhaps your neighbors or anyone else?"

Henry shook his head. "Not really … I lived in an orphanage, and some bad people stole me from there one day."

Henry lived in an orphanage. | Source: Pexels

"What?" Lewis's eyes widened in shock. "Do you mean you were kidnapped?"

The boy nodded. "I was walking near the orphanage all alone. I don't have any friends there, so nobody plays with me or spends time with me. I'm always alone. So while I was walking, someone from behind put something on my nose. I smelled something bad and fell asleep. When I woke up, I saw THEM. I thought they were beggars because they were very dirty. And I was right..."

"Jesus!" Lewis couldn't believe what he was hearing. "They didn't do anything bad to you, Henry, did they?" he asked the boy, worried.

Suddenly, Henry's eyes welled up again. "They were very bad people. They didn't give me food, and they forced me to beg on the streets. They would always be around me whenever I begged, making it impossible for me to escape. But I got away from them this morning...But when you came to help me, I saw them from far away. They're looking for me!"

"That's awful," Lewis replied, his heart sinking for the young boy. "But Henry, why didn't you just return to your orphanage? You'd be safer there than out on the streets like this."

Henry claimed some beggars had kidnapped him. | Source: Pexels

"It's in another part of town," he said sadly. "I'm not sure how to get there by myself. I began to cry because I was afraid of being alone. I'm glad I met you! Please don't leave me."

"I won't. I promise," Lewis told the boy and consoled him. "I'm Lewis, by the way. Come on, let's go tell the cops everything so they can punish the wicked guys, okay? And later, we'll go to your orphanage," he added, stretching his hand for Henry to hold, and the boy grabbed it firmly.

When Lewis and Henry arrived at the police station, they learned that the authorities had previously been looking for Henry. They believed he had escaped from the orphanage, but the reality was something else. They felt sorry for the young child after hearing his tragic story.

They decided to escort him safely to the orphanage and thanked Lewis for his help. "You may go, sir. We'll take care of everything from here," the officer on the scene told him. However, Lewis insisted to accompany Henry to the orphanage.

"I sincerely hope you don't mind, officer. He's still terrified, and I don't want to leave him alone," he told the cop, looking over at Henry, who was seated on a bench with another cop.

The officers had brought him a sandwich and chocolate milk, but he refused to eat. He seemed to have lost his appetite.

Henry didn't take a single bite of the food the officers brought him. | Source: Pexels

Considering the boy's dire condition and Lewis's compassion for him, the cops allowed Lewis to be around Henry for a little longer. And before leaving the station that day, they urged Henry to assist the sketch artist in creating sketches of the people he suspected of abducting him.

Henry was afraid, but having Lewis by his side gave him courage, and he did as the cops said.

Later, as Lewis was dropping him off at the orphanage, Henry approached him and asked, "Can you come and meet me sometimes when you're free? I like you, Lewis. You helped me. Thank you for that!"

"I promise I'll come to see you, Henry," Lewis said, smiling. "Never, ever think you're alone, okay?"

"Thank you," the boy whispered and went inside.

After heading home that day, Lewis couldn't get Henry's face out of his mind. He had been such a workaholic but when it came to Henry, he didn't think twice before skipping work.

Lewis couldn't get Henry out of his head. | Source: Pexels

He had gotten multiple calls from his boss on his phone, but he didn't bother to take them because he was just thinking about Henry and his safety.

The next day, he left his home way earlier than he used to just so that he could see Henry before heading to work. The boy was jumping with joy when he saw him. "You kept your promise, Lewis! Thank you!"

"I had to, Henry," Lewis said, smiling as he handed him a box of chocolates and a pair of new shoes -- he'd noticed Henry's shoes were old and worn.

The smile Henry had on his face while Lewis helped him wear the shoes meant the world to Lewis. He couldn't believe that his mind, for the first time, wasn't preoccupied with work but with something else.

Lewis went to see Henry almost every day before work, and spending time with the small child on weekends had become a tradition he would never break.

Soon after, he realized he was so attached to Henry that he didn't want to leave him. He decided to adopt him and asked Henry if he would like to have him as his dad.

Lewis decided to adopt Henry. | Source: Pexels

"Would you like to live with me, Henry?" he asked the boy. "I want to become your dad, but only if you like having me as a dad."

The youngster happily nodded and hugged him. "I'd love to call you dad, Lewis. Oops, DAD!" he giggled. "Thank you so much for everything! I love you, dad!"

All this time, the cops had still been looking for the beggars who abducted Henry. But one day, Lewis got a call and was informed that the beggars had been arrested and they asked him to bring Henry to the police station to verify their identity. Henry confirmed it was them.

"Make sure they pay severe terms for what they did, officer," Lewis told the cop before leaving. "I hope they rot in hell!"

The beggars who kidnapped Henry were ultimately arrested. | Source: Pexels

After leaving the station that day, Henry and Lewis were both relieved that the beggars who had attempted to kidnap Henry had been caught. They had nothing to worry about now, and they were content with each other.

Since living with each other, Lewis was no longer overworked and Henry was no longer lonely, and their weekends were spent watching movies or baseball games together. Henry also enrolled in a new school, and Lewis would take him there and pick him up after every day.

One day, Lewis met a woman at Henry's school. She was Henry's classmate's aunt, Emily, who would pick up her niece every day as the little girl's parents were always busy with work.

Lewis and Emily started spending time together, and before they knew it, they were in love. After dating for a few months, they decided to tie the knot, and when Lewis told Henry that he was going to have a new mother, the young boy was very happy.

Henry and Emily tied the knot six months after dating and welcomed twins a year later. Henry now has the beautiful family he always wanted, and he's living a happy life as a family man.

What can we learn from this story?

• Your alertness can save someone's life. Lewis acted quickly after hearing Henry's cry, and his quick thinking saved the small boy's life.
• Family doesn't always mean blood. Lewis took in Henry and lovingly raised him. He'd always wanted to be a father, and it didn't matter to him that Henry wasn't his biological son.
• Everyone eventually gets what they deserve. Lewis was a good man who wanted to have a lovely family one day. He got what he desired after crossing paths with Henry.

If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a man who notices a blind girl selling flowers on his way to work every day, but she disappears one day, so he searches for her.

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