About an hour after takeoff, I pulled my hoodie over my head, leaned against the window, and fell asleep.
The next thing I remember was someone saying...
"Ma'am... we need you to wake up."
I opened my eyes to see two flight attendants and a man I didn't recognise standing in the aisle.
My heart immediately started racing.
For a second, I genuinely thought something had happened to the plane.
Instead, one of the flight attendants quietly asked,
"Is this gentleman travelling with you?"
She stood outside the office door while he played games.
She knocked.
She cried.
She eventually sat on the floor waiting.
He never opened the door.
Not once.
When I asked why, his answer stunned me.
"I needed a break."
A break...
From the child he'd been alone with for less than half a day.
Meanwhile, she spent hours wondering why her dad wouldn't come out.
The part that keeps replaying in my mind isn't even the gaming.
It's watching my little girl stop asking for him.