The kids started getting in line and leaving the school bus. He watched and waved them goodbye as they got out and walked towards the school door.
But all of a sudden, he realized something odd. One of the kids didn’t enter the school building. Instead, he stayed in front of the door for a few minutes and then started walking towards the forest nearby, all by himself. He decided to follow him. He didn’t know what he was about to find out.
Jules Hyde was a 46-year-old man living in Mesa, Arizona. He had been living there with his wife, Angela, for the last seven years, although he wasn’t from there. Actually, he was born and raised somewhere really far from town.
Philadelphia was the city where he had spent most of his life. However, not many people knew about the reason for that big of a change.
Jules was a bus driver for Mesa’s MacArthur Elementary School. He was known and well-liked by all the school staff and some parents who knew him personally.
However, he had the reputation of being a private, discrete man who didn’t often indulge in social occasions and preferred to keep to himself. For this reason, there were many theories and rumors around town about the man’s true story.
Some said Jules used to be involved in Philadelphia’s criminal underworld and either had to escape the city after a police investigation or was under the FBI’s witness protection program.
The truth was that Jules and his wife lived a rather sheltered existence, like they were afraid of who they might run into. And that wasn’t all. On a couple of occasions, police cars could be seen parked in front of his house by one of the teachers, who used to jog around Jules’ neighborhood. But what was Jules’ real story?
The reason why Jules and his wife moved from Philadelphia to Mesa, Arizona, was a lot simpler, but also a lot more tragic, than anyone could have guessed.
The event that changed Jules’ life forever took place just a few months before he moved. His son Martin passed away as a result of a devastating accident. Since that moment, nothing was the same again.
Martin’s tragic decease was the result of an unfortunate chain of events. Unbeknownst to Jules or his wife, the kid was often picked on by other kids in his school.
One time, one of the pranks they used to pull on him went too far. None of the participants intended to seriously harm him, but things got out of hand, and the kid tripped and fell down the stairs while trying to run from them. Jules’ world came crumbling down after that.
The accident showed him a side of humanity he wished he had never seen: it showed him how cruel and soulless children could sometimes be. It also made him unable to stand his job as a bus driver for the same school Martin used to attend.
He resented having to drive the kids who did that to his son to school every day. So he and his wife decided that a change of scenery was the best for their mental health. That’s when they moved to Mesa, unaware of what was waiting for them there.
In Mesa, Jules quickly found a job as a school bus driver again. It took him a while, but eventually, he got over his resentment for children. Soon, he started appreciating the kids he worked with again, and after some months, he was well-liked and admired by them.
But one day, all of a sudden, something happened that changed the way he viewed his life and his job irreversibly.
It seemed like that Wednesday would be like any other day: classes had started after a long, peaceful summer. Some kids were more eager than others to return to school, but overall, the atmosphere on the school bus was peaceful and nice.
Jules waved the kids goodbye as they headed to the school building until the last of them came out of the bus. But suddenly, he noticed something. One of the kids stayed in front of the door for a few minutes and then headed to the forest nearby, unaware he was being observed.
Jules observed him, puzzled. The kid couldn’t be any older than six years old. Why was he doing that? It could be dangerous for him to venture into the forest all by himself.
He decided to get out of the bus and follow him from a closer distance. As minutes passed, Jules felt more and more concerned. He could tell that there was something very wrong.
The child kept walking and walking for around 30 minutes. He made his way through the most inhospitable paths, bushes, trees, and ravines. Sometimes, he seemed to have a specific direction; sometimes, he seemed to be just wandering.
After a while, Jules decided to approach him. It wasn’t safe for a kid his age to be all alone in the middle of the forest. So he walked towards him and hollered. The child turned around. When he saw his face, Jules couldn’t contain a gasp.
The kid’s expression was the saddest Jules had seen in years. He seemed devastated. But why? Was it because of the same reason that made him venture into the woods by himself?
“What’s going on, big guy? It’s dangerous to be here by yourself. Hush, don’t be scared. I’m Jules, the bus driver. Don’t you recognize me?” said Jules. After a few seconds of silence, the kid talked back to him.
“Yes, I recognize you. Please, don’t tell anyone I’m here,” the kid said with tears coming to his eyes. “I’m just trying to make my dad proud.” “Making your dad proud? What do you mean?” asked Jules.
“He passed away a year ago, but I know he’s still watching me from heaven,” the kid said. “He used to be a scout. He used to go to the forest together to clean up and pick up trash people leave behind them,” the kid said. “But there’s another problem.”
“I just started coming to this school. In my other school, there was a scouting team, and I could go do that with other kids. But here, the other kids laugh at me. They call me dirty and say my dad was dirty too. I hate this school, and I’ve been skipping class.”
Jules was heartbroken when he heard this. He thought of his own child and what he had gone through. “Come here, buddy. We’ll fix that, I promise,” he said, taking the kid’s hand and walking back to school.
Jules went straight to the principal’s office and told her everything that had happened. Immediately, the kid told her the names of the kids that picked on him, and the principal promised to take measures right away.
She also said that she would set up a scouting program in school. Jules promised to help her with anything he could and swore to himself to take care of the kid and make sure his time in school was happy from then on. In order to protect the privacy of those depicted, some names, locations, and identifying characteristics have been changed and are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.
