One night in France, it's pouring rain, and a delivery driver picks up a guy walking on the side of the road. He offers him a ride, so they get to talking, and the guy tells him his name is Alex. He was kidnapped over six years ago, and he's ready to return to the real world.
So let's start this story from the beginning: when Alex is 8. He's from England, and he lives with his mom, whose name is Melanie. Melanie is a little nutty; she's kind of a hippie and a conspiracy theorist.
She lives a chaotic nomad life, traveling around a lot, and she's involved in some kind of piracy cult. Here's the problem with that: she often drags 8-year-old Alex around with her. But luckily for Alex, he has this woman looking out for him—his grandma.
Grandma worries about Alex; she's always sending Melanie money to take care of him. Just to make this story even more complicated, there's also Grandma's ex-husband, who we'll just call Pops. Pops is often with Melanie because he's kind of into this whole conspiracy cult stuff too.
But one day, it all changes when Melanie and Pops drag 8-year-old Alex to live with them in some kind of commune in Morocco. Grandma, back in England, gets super worried. To make it worse, Alex's mom starts posting pictures on Facebook of their new life in this commune.
Grandma sees the conditions Alex is living in, and they are terrible. Plus, Melanie and Pops don't really believe in formal education, so she knows Alex isn't going to school. Then, one day, Melanie gets a new boyfriend, and she and this boyfriend suddenly take off to go live in Bali, leaving Alex there in Morocco to fend for himself.
I have no idea where Pops is at this point. Grandma finds out that they left Alex there, and she's like, "Oh hell no! " She buys Alex a flight home to England, saying, "You're living with me now.
" She starts to take care of him, and she gets full custody. Melanie is super pissed about this; she really wants Alex back, but court says Alex stays with Grandma. So, Alex is there living with Grandma, going to school like a normal kid, living life like a normal kid, until three years go by, and Alex is now 11.
One day, Melanie and Pops call and ask if they can take Alex on a little vacation to the beach in Marbella, Spain. Grandma's like, "I don't think this is a good idea," but to be fair, Alex hasn't seen his mom or grandpa in a while, and he'd like to spend some time with them. Plus, it's the beach, so Grandma's like, "Fine, you can go.
" So, Alex goes to Spain, and he's having a good time. But then, about halfway through the trip, Grandma suddenly gets a video message from Melanie and Pops, and it basically says, "Alex is with us now, and he is never coming back. " Now, Alex, he's 11, and I have no idea what he's thinking, but he just sort of goes along with all this.
I mean, he's constantly seeing new places because they live like nomads, and he's bouncing back and forth between France and Spain. He doesn't have to go to school, so he gets to read, draw, or go to the beach all day. I mean, it sounds like, for an 11-year-old, this is a pretty sweet deal.
But then years go by, and Grandma, she's still worried sick. She gets the police involved, and now Melanie and Pops are wanted by the police. But no one has heard anything from any of them; they are completely off the grid, living in temporary places, and they kind of just work random gigs for money.
They eventually end up living in a rundown cottage in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains in a small spiritual community that has very little connection to the outside world—sounds like a cult to me. Time goes by, and Alex turns 14, and suddenly the fun is over because his mom and grandpa are like, "Okay, kid, you got to go out and get a job and help pay for the food and the rent. " So, 14-year-old Alex has to go out and start working gigs to pay rent.
He's working in construction and demolition, and he's painting houses. At 14, that's got to suck. To make it worse, he's super lonely; he doesn't go to school, so he's never with any of his peers—he's always the only kid around.
This goes on for about three more years until Alex is 17. By this time, he's lived in 15 different places in the six years since he was taken from his grandma. Then, at one point, Melanie comes to him and she's like, "Now we're moving to Finland.
" That is when Alex decides he's had enough; he can't do this anymore. He wants a normal life. So one night, he secretly packs a bag with some clothes, supplies, and his skateboard.
He waits until midnight, when he knows his mom is asleep, and he writes her a very nice goodbye note. Then, he escapes the spiritual community, walking and walking and walking. When he's tired, he just sleeps on the ground.
He has no idea where he's going; he's just walking. Over the course of a couple of days, he walks around 22 miles, but then it's super late one night, around 3:00 a. m.
, and it's pouring rain. Alex is still walking, and that's when a delivery driver sees him. Feels bad for him, so he offers him a ride.
On that ride, Alex tells the driver his whole story: how he was taken by his mom and how he's been missing for six years—the whole thing. The driver is blown away, so he lets Alex borrow his cell phone and use his Facebook account to reach out to Alex's grandma. After six years of being missing, he finally sends a message to his grandmother saying that he wants to come home.
Then the driver takes Alex to the police station and drops him off, and there they help him get back to England. Now Alex is back living with his grandma, and he's super happy to be home. He's going to school like a normal kid and living his life like a normal kid.
Meanwhile, Mom and Pops are facing charges for child abduction, but predictably, they are nowhere to be found. So shout out to England, France, Spain, Morocco, and Bali!
