a great start.

It was a Sunday - the day I needed to retrieve my Bible from my usual green Jansport school bag - when I realized that it wasn't where it was supposed to be. Assuming that it may be somewhere within the house, that my maids must have put them somewhere else during the start of Christmas break, I called them and asked for it. As for the Bible, I borrowed my father's and went off to church.

Arriving back home for lunch, I expected it to already be in my room.
But it wasn't. Still, it's purpose was no longer needed and so I retreated to other activities that may aid in relaxation during the three-week school break.

A few days later, I again searched for the bag to take out my pencil case. Unsurprisingly, it still wasn't where it was supposed to be. So I had to again inquire the help of my maids to help me find the missing bag. However, realizing that the holiday was still far from over, I decided to postpone the need for the pencil case and therefore stopped searching for my bag.

By this time, the slight tinge of worriness has had me asked my maids to search the entire house. They couldn't find it. All this time, my parents had no clue what was going on.

How could a school bag that heavy/large suddenly be missing inside the house? I thought the maids weren't looking hard enough and I decided to search for it myself.

They were right. It wasn't in the house.
So I checked the car we used to get home, the classes, my homeroom, my locker, even under my bed.

I told my father on the 30th of December, who then told my mother. Like me, they found it hard to believe how a bag that large/heavy could have disappeared so easily. They were furios, but not in the way I had expected them to be. Except for a couple of snide remarks and warnings, no punishment has been given yet.

This is the 2nd day of 2008. School's about to start.

I am an 11th-grader striving to recieve an IB Diploma, and I have just lost the entire contents of my school bag - which contains invaluable notes, books, and equipment needed for me to achieve in what is already a grueling and stressfu academic year.

This may be the biggest mistake of my life.

So much for a great start.