It was about 6:00pm, 29th March 2008 when we were done with walking around the new mall in Penang. The evening was nice and it gave us a great light exercise walking and having fun with my family.

My wife, my three kids and I were about to leave. So, we got to the pay station for the parking ticket in the mall and I placed a dollar bill in the machine.

My car was parked on the 3rd floor. We were on the ground floor and had to take the lift. Since the lift was close to the pay machine, my wife and kids were there first. My daughter pressed the button to go up while my wife was busy with my 4-month old (with a stroller).

The lift opened for a while when I was done with the payment and about to join my family.

I guess, Aiman, my 5-year old son was being Aiman and he got inside the lift before anyone else. The lift was empty and but suddenly closed - leaving him inside alone.

We were stunned!

And, I saw the number went up from 1 to 2 and I knew that Aiman was still in the lift - alone.

My daughter, Syafiqah, thought it was fun and giggled for awhile..

“Aiman was inside”, she said with a smile.

Syafiqah did not know but I knew this was no laughing matter.

Immediately, the recent stories of missing and kidnapped children flashed in front of my eyes and that was when I realized how scared I was.

I told my wife to stay and wait for the lift to come down and I ran to the stairs to go up the floor and catch the lift.

I got to the 1st floor and checked the lift. Then, the second… third… forth.

No one.

My worry got even worst.

I called my wife to check if Aiman came down using the same lift… but he did not. I called her again when I reached the next floor and got the same answer. I could sense the worries in my wife’s voice.

Who can imagine being a situation like this?

I was worried like hell and you can’t even imagine how scared I was.

The last floor - the 7th floor.

I got there putting my last hope to see Aiman.

But, I got disappointed and more worried.

He was not there too.

I figured out that I should do another round of checking by going down the stairs and checking the lift floor by floor again.

I did and I called my wife on the 5th floor.

It was a big relief.

My wife said that a good samaritan found Aiman and took him to security. My wife asked help from one of the security guards and they “walkie-talkied” to
each other before she learned that Aiman was found.

I told my wife that I would wait for her and kids on the 3rd floor and we were soon reunited.

Until now we did not know who that good person was. I thank him and God so much that it all turned out to be fine.

I know I love my family so much but I did not know how much is much until I experience something that could change our life to the worse. Being close to losing one of your family members will make you love them more and more, and with that I would like to send these few messages to you.

1. Love your family for who they are and don’t take everything for granted. A few seconds (like my story here) could turn to be something bad.

2. If you can afford, make sure you and your wife have one handphone each and carry them when in public places. Just imagine how bad I would be if I couldn’t keep in close contact with my wife.

3. Inform the security about your missing kids immediately even if your kid is out of sight for quite awhile. Every second counts when in emergency. Don’t wait for half an hour before you talk to someone.

4. Keep your kids close to you. Sometimes, you even have to hold their hands. You can see in a situation like mine, you can still lose them.

5. Help others in need because you might not know when you need one in the future. I belief “Law Of Reciprocal” still exists and I still owe a BIG “Thank You” to the mysterious person who help bring my kid to the security. Although I don’t know who he is, I pray that good things will happen in his life.

I thought the whole drama was only about 20-30 minutes but I could feel that the time flew so slow. That’s what happened when you really want something so bad and are not getting it.

Last but not least… I love my wife and kids so much and I wouldn’t trade for anything else in the world.

ps. Feel free to share this story with others!