Page 1 of For my daughter, I kidnapped the entire kindergarten

On the seventh day after my daughter Anna Lawson went missing, I, Elise Lawson, took the entire kindergarten hostage.

All twenty-seven children and two teachers were locked in the classroom with me.

I told the police: "If you can't find my daughter, I'll kill one child every thirty minutes."

The kindergarten principal, Isabella Reed, knelt on the ground crying: "Your daughter's disappearance has nothing to do with me! Why should other children pay with their lives?"

I glanced at my watch and said calmly: "Twenty-nine minutes left. Please hurry and find my daughter."

I knew she was somewhere in this kindergarten.

Five minutes earlier, Isabella had been arrogant outside the door.

I leaned against the door as the children in the classroom continued playing, oblivious to what was happening. Only the two female teachers stared at me with terror in their eyes.

Outside, Isabella pounded on the iron door, her voice shrill: "What the hell do you want? What does your missing daughter have to do with me? Open this door! Parents are coming to pick up their kids!"

I said nothing, pulled an assembled gun from my pocket, turned toward the ceiling, and pulled the trigger.

Isabella staggered back two steps, her lips trembling: "Are you insane? This is illegal! I'm calling the police! Don't you know kidnapping children is punishable by death?"

I sneered, running my fingers along the barrel: "Go ahead and call them, but you're in no position to negotiate with me."

Five minutes later, sirens wailed in the distance, growing closer.

A gentle male voice came from outside. I recognized himOfficer Eric Owens from the police station: "Elise, just calm down. We're doing everything we can to investigate your daughter's disappearance. Please let the children go first, and we can talk this through, okay?"

I gripped the gun handle tighter, almost laughing out loud.

My daughter had been missing for seven whole days. The police had no leads, no answers, and now they wanted to "talk this through" with me?

Talk about how many years I'd spend in prison?

I shouted toward the door: "I just want to see my daughter! If I don't see her within half an hour, you'll see the first child's corpse!"

Police tape had already been set up outside. Parents rushed to the scene, their cries rising and falling. Some beat the ground in anguish, others cursed and raged.

The police tried to contain me while holding back the frantic crowd.

Eric was sweating profusely. He knew this was way beyond his jurisdiction.

SWAT and detectives were already on their way, but he still needed to keep me stable: "Mrs. Lawson, these children are innocent. You used to be a teacher herecan you really bear to hurt them?"

I closed my eyes. The biggest regret of my life was coming to work at this kindergarten.

If I hadn't come here, Anna wouldn't have disappeared.

I checked my watch, my voice ice-cold: "Twenty-eight minutes left. You don't want any casualties either, do you?"

Eric said urgently: "We're already searching with everything we've got, but how can we find someone in such a short time?"

I kicked over a chair violently and screamed: "I've told you countless timesshe never left this place! She's in this building! Search it like your lives depend on it!"

Rainbow Kindergarten wasn't largethree two-story buildings with activity yards in front and back.

The day Anna disappeared, I searched every corner of this place and couldn't find her.

I demanded to see the surveillance footage, but Isabella claimed the system had malfunctioned and all recordings were lost.

I didn't believe such a coincidence existed. I suspected Anna's disappearance was connected to Isabella.

Later, I snuck into the surveillance room at night and went through the backup footage frame by frame.

The footage clearly showed Anna entering the kindergarten but never leaving. She was still here.

But where exactly was she hiding? I couldn't figure it out.

Eric continued trying to persuade me from outside: "The police have conducted a new search. You have to trust us."

But I knew he didn't believe me.

The police had searched three times initially and hadn't found so much as a strand of Anna's hair. They'd long since concluded Anna wasn't here.

The parents outside completely lost control: "Your daughter's missingwhat does that have to do with our kids? If you've got guts, go kidnap Isabella!"

"Please, I'm begging you, let my daughter go. She has asthmaif she gets too scared, she could die." A mother knelt outside the police tape, tears streaming down her face.

The crowd roared: "Shoot her! Take her down!"

I raised the megaphone, my voice cutting through the chaos: "I don't want to kill anyone. I just want to know where my daughter is."

I raised my hand to check the timetwenty-five minutes left.

SWAT must have arrived by now. A sniper was probably already aiming at my forehead.

"Isabella," I said slowly, "you know, don't you? Where is Anna?"

Everyone's eyes turned to her in unison.

Her face went pale, but she forced herself to stay composed: "How would I possibly know? Mrs. Lawson, stop making wild accusations like a madwoman!"

"Your daughter might have run away from homemaybe she went to find her father." She paused, then suddenly added, "Oh right, her father, that convict, isn't he getting out of prison soon? Maybe he secretly took her away!"