Sad, sad news

On Monday October 13th, a 15 year old boy had a fight with his parents about his excessive playing of video games. The boy became angry with his parents, packed his backpack and left the house. That’s the last time his family saw him.
For almost three weeks, police and volunteers have been searching the areas where a lady had seen him about 2 hours after he left home. About a week after he left, his bicycle was found. Again, no trace of this young man.
Microsoft broke its privacy code to assist the police in finding this young man. They provided the police with details of the other gamers he often connected with and even offered reward money to anyone that could help find him.
His school held prayer vigils, the community held candlelight services to show the family support, more than 20,000 people joined the Facebook group established to help bring this young person back safely to his family. Daily, his mother made pleas on the news; she wanted him to know that he wasn’t in trouble – they just wanted to know he was safe.
Yesterday, hunters made a grisly discovery, and yesterday afternoon it was confirmed that police felt the body that was found was that of this young man. All of this has been happening about 20 minutes from where we live. Foul play is not suspected at this time, but should be known very soon.
My son is 15; he attends Catholic school, and has very similar features to that of this young man. Sadly, I have often had arguments with my son about his time spent on games and/or the Internet. This tragic event could have very well happened to me or to many other parents with children this age. The entire surrounding communities have been shook to the core as this event has been going on.
Last night, the boys and I watched the news to learn more on the discovery. After the story aired, all three of us sat in silence. After a few minutes, the A-man leaned over and gave me a very long, big hug. I kissed his head and told him I loved him. We sat that way for a very long time.

My heart goes out to this family. There is just no way anyone can fully understand what they are going through. I am grateful that they will have an opportunity for closure; I think the “not knowing” would be sheer torture. The end result is so very tragic.