Lost then Found

I was walking to the bus stop this morning to pick up Ella... I saw a little girl her age walking home from the bus... so I ran. Even though I was a little early to pick her up the bus must have come earlier. I got to the bus stop but there were no little kids... so I waited. Maybe the bus really hadn't come yet? Did I just imagine that little girl walking home on my way? I waited longer. There weren't any other parents coming to pick up their kids, so I asked some older boys playing in the park if the bus had come yet. It had. Maybe Ella missed the bus? Tyler, Lily, and I hurried to the school to pick her up. I thought it was odd that they hadn't called us to come get her yet. Lily and I waited in the car for Tyler to get Ella. Tyler called and told me Ella was not at school, and to run home and see if she was there. Ella was not at home. I drove to the bus stop again and started asking kids if they had seen Ella. No one had. Meanwhile, up at the school there was a team of at least 5 people making phone calls. They called the bus driver. The bus driver told them that everyone had gotten off the bus. The principal had her double check the bus. She did. Still no Ella anywhere.
Lily and I headed back up to the school. We weren't much help. People kept asking me who's house she would have gone to. I couldn't imagine her going to anyone's house, unless someone had told her to... but she usually ignores anyone who tries to talk to her, so I just wasn't sure where to start looking.
A lady from our neighborhood happened to be up at the school, and had been calling everyone in our neighborhood with no luck. She offered to give me a ride home, just in case Ella showed up there. She and her husband proceeded to go door to door looking for Ella.
Back at the school the office staff called the police to report Ella missing. Ella's teacher insisted that Ella had gotten on to the school bus. Ella was having trouble, so she had helped her get on. No one that anyone had talked to had ever seen her get off.
An hour had gone by... no Ella. No one knew who to call next. One of the staff members up at the school decided to call the school bus driver back again. She insisted the bus driver check the bus a 3rd time. YAY! Ella was there! The bus driver brought her back to school. Ella was pretty scared. It took quite a while before she would talk to us. When she finally started talking again, she told us that after the bus driver left the bus, she had tried to open the door, but she was locked in. We tried asking her other questions, like where did you go? Why didn't you get off the bus? Did other kids get on the bus later? Why didn't you tell the bus driver you were still on the bus? If you miss our stop again, can you let the bus driver know you're still on the bus? But she ignores us when we ask.

I can't really blame Ella for being too scared to talk to the Bus lady. That lady finds a silly reason to yell at me every morning. For example "Why are the kids lined up here? The bus stop is a yard and a half that way!" Seriously, there's no bus sign, how am I supposed to know exactly where the stop is? and why is it my job to heard all 50+ kids to her fake bus post?
Anyhow, we are very happy that Ella is home safe with us now. We are lucky nothing bad happened to her. We will be going to the bus stop 10 minutes early from now on... just in case.