S'porean girls, 13 & 14, share what they did & how they felt after they ran away from home

Appeals for information about the whereabouts of missing people in Singapore appear now and then.

You would likely have stumbled across such appeals.

Sometimes those who were reported missing are young people.

Two teenage girls, Bella, 13, and Nicole, 14, (not their real names), found themselves the subject of a missing persons appeal some time in 2026.

Speaking to Mothership, on hindsight, they admitted that their experience was the result of an act of “haste” and “rebellion”.

They are aware that some missing cases do actually end up in tragedy.

“It’s stupid,” one of them said when she recalled their experiences that happened not long ago.

According to a parliamentary reply by Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs, K Shanmugam, there were around 1,300 missing persons reported annually from 2021 to 2025.

Catalyst

So, why did they even choose to run away?

According to the duo, their decision was not a premeditated one, but more spur of the moment.

It all boiled down to an altercation with a schoolmate they had in school.

The girls, who were friends, were called for a mediation session.

They were apparently asked about how they could have reacted to the incident.

Bella recalled her response.

She said: “We could hypothetically run away.”

Somewhere along the line during mediation, an intended joke became the catalyst for a search for them that would last more than 24 hours.

Runaway

In that moment when they ran away, they felt a sense of euphoria.

But the consequences of their actions also lurked in the pair’s mind.

“We both know that our parents would be so pissed if they found out we escaped from school,” Bella said.

Back home, their families were the complete opposite of euphoric when they wondered why the pair had not come home that day.

“My mother was mostly the more worried one, and she was consistently contacting her friends, my sister's friends, and the school on my sister's whereabouts,” Nicole’s brother said about his younger siter's sudden absence.

Nicole’s parents, who were present when the pair spoke to Mothership, declined to comment on the incident.

However, one could immediately tell that Nicole’s mother truly cared for her children through her demeanour.

Experiences

Regarding their experience of being on the run, the pair had differing perspectives.

Bella described disappearing as “interesting” and “adventurous”, while Nicole's experience was the antithesis of that.

“It was mostly quite boring, cause like we had nothing to do,” Nicole said.

During their disappearance, they apparently walked and cycled all around Singapore, exploring different places.

However, as time went on, they started to experience the downsides of being on the run.

“We had limited money. We couldn't contact anyone, cause her (Nicole) phone died also during the runaway,” Bella recalled.

She also shared a story about wanting to buy some ice, but Nicole stopped her as they wanted to conserve funds.

Nicole asked: “With what money?”

They added that they smelled and were slowly getting tired as time progressed.

Unexpected

When asked about their reactions towards the media covering the police’s appeal for information on their whereabouts, they recalled being shocked.

While Nicole did expect it to eventually happen, the pair did not expect the word to travel that fast.

“I only expected a few close people to know about it,” Nicole admitted.

The girls also joked about how they were surprised that they were not found when they were still on the run.

Found

At some point, the pair decided that it was enough.

They wanted to return home.

However, they did not dare to show up back home out of fear of being reprimanded.

Instead, they wanted to be found.

The pair decided to loiter at a park.

They apparently knew that police officers would patrol that area from about 12am to 1am.

Bella and Nicole were eventually recognised by the members of the public, and the pair were rounded up by police officers.

Nicole’s brother was also present at the time.

“There were already quite a lot of police over there, so all I could do was just wave to her while she was talking to the police,” he said. “I was quite thankful that she was found.”

Bella and Nicole also described what happened when the police officers found them.

They were apparently patted down and searched.

They claimed the officers were purportedly "very calm" and patient when they interacted with them.

Reunited

Some two to three hours after they were found, the girls were eventually reunited with their family.

“I can finally shower, not worry about money too much, I can eat whatever I want to eat, I can drink water, I can sleep,” Bella said when listing the small perks of not being on the run.

While both of them were reprimanded by their parents and received a bit of unwanted attention, they did agree that it was a relief to be under their families’ care.

Stupid

When reflecting on their decision to run, they simply put it down to being “stupid”.

Both girls answered with a resounding “no’ when asked if they would run away again.

“You're just wasting your parents' time. Eventually you get found anyway,” Bella said.

While they came to a consensus that their decision to run away was not the wisest, they did admit that it deepened their friendship.

After all, they both endured the circumstances of being out and about together.

But the cons outweighed the pros for them.

“Do stupid things, get stupid consequences,” they concluded.