A 10-year-old boy sparked a huge police search involving a helicopter before he was found hiding in the garden shed of his home 12 hours later.
Shane Kelly ran away from his mother and their home in Tyseley, Birmingham, after she told him he had to go to school instead of playing computer games.
His disappearance led to panic as 17 officers were deployed to search streets and even began looking in rubbish bins to find the child.
Messages were sent out on Twitter to try and locate the boy while members of the community also helped with the search.
Around 17 police officers were involved and the West Midlands police helicopter - which costs about £700 an hour - was deployed. The child was found around 12 hours later sitting in the garden shed of his home.
The police operation to find him is believed to have cost £8,000.
His mother, Jackie Burke, 36, said: "He was hiding in the shed in the garden. I don't know how he managed to avoid the police, he must have gone from shed to shed.
"I'm just so relieved he was found. A family member found him while I was at Stechford police station worried sick.
"He ran off because he was rebelling about going to school. He wanted to stay at home and play computer games.
"But he is not in any trouble, I love him."
She added: "He had been off for two days as he hadn't been very well, he complained that he had a bad stomach.
"I said he had to go in to school and he was shouting back at me. As we got to the end of the road he ran off.
"His dad lives across the road so I thought he was going there, but he carried on running."
A West Midlands Police spokesman tweeted on Friday: "Shane has just been found. He's home and being checked over. Great news and a huge relief.
"Thank you to absolutely everyone who has helped us in our search for the missing ten-year-old from Tyseley today."