I didn’t know what I am getting myself into. I had randomly chosen a flight to go to Boston to discover something new. Some situations had happened my second year of college that made me want to start a new life with new people. Some would say I’m finding myself, others would say I’m a no-good drop out. However, I honestly don’t know what I’m doing. I just knew that I didn’t want to stay in a town where your creativity was suppressed into a tiny little box.

“You’ve got a really big bag there,” said the flight attendant.

“You’re telling me,” I replied as I shoved my carryon into the overhead compartment.

As I was getting seated on my flight, I discovered a small child with her bright, radiant blue eyes staring at me with pure joy. How majestic it is that a child so helpless could be so pure and without fault. That’s when I reached up and started talking in my baby voice to try to get a smile.

“How are you missy?” I said. A wonderful, gummy smile came across the small girl’s face.

Her parents turned towards me with confusion, then saw that I wasn’t some crazy person wanting to take their child. Eventually, the flight attendants went up and down the aisle to shut all the overhead compartments, the plane then lifted off. This was when I placed my earbuds in and dozed off.

Ding. Ding. “You may now take your seatbelts off and move safely around the cabin,” said the flight attendant.

As I awoke, with my groggy eyes, I looked over to see where the small child was that I connected with earlier. She was fast asleep in her mother’s arms. However, as I was looking at how perfect their family was, I noticed that something odd. The parents, from my assumption, kept pointing out different individuals on the plane and would shake their head occasionally. It was almost like they were targeting someone for something. I wondered what they were doing. Who knows, maybe they were just trying to keep themselves occupied on the flight.

“Attention passengers, we’re having some mechanical issues and we’ll be making an emergency landing soon.”

Well, hopefully I get to Boston on time. I then looked at the small television screens in front of me to see where we were. Oh, we’re near Chicago, good. That meant that I have about two more hours left on this flight.

“Excuse me, miss?” the mom of the child came up to me, she looked kind of hesitant. “I saw you playing with my daughter earlier. She really likes you. When we land could you play with her more during our layover? We need a bit of a break.” After thinking about it for a bit and how adorable their little girl was, I told her I would.

As every passenger made it off the plane and into the airport, the small, bright eyed girl and I were just hanging out together. I was in awe of how marvelous and pure this small child was. She had no care in the world about what was going on.

“Flight 280 to Boston, you may board the plane once again.”

I looked around to see where this child’s parents were during the hustle of the airport. I couldn’t spot them, and I especially didn’t want to take this child onto the plane with me to risk the thought of me kidnapping a little girl.

About 10 minutes had passed, this little girl and I were waiting right outside of the gate. Somehow, I had gotten left with this child, her diaper bag, and nothing else.

“Flight 280 this is your last call.” Should I get on the plane and leave this child unattended in the airport? Should I take her with me?

I brought this now sleepy little girl with me on the plane. She was just so sweet I didn’t want to put her down. We sat down next to the window, so it would keep her entertained, and hopefully until she fell asleep and her parents arrived. I could tell that she was getting tired because she was getting fussy. I fiddled through her diaper bag to see if there was anything that would soothe her. That’s when I noticed one of the napkins the flight attendants give out with the drinks in one of the side pockets next to her pacifier…

“We didn’t want to leave you without explanation. The little girl in your arms is named Ava. We wanted to keep her, however we have other plans for our lives that can’t include her. Here is some information you might want to know…

Birthdate: November 8, 2016

Full Name: Ava Elizabeth

No allergies.

Take care of her, please.”

Wait, what? I reread the note several times. I had so many questions, but I couldn’t do anything about it now since our plane was thousands of feet up in the air. As for right now, Ava and I were one our way to Boston to figure out a new life. I was way too young to have a child of my own. However, as I looked down at Ava, who was fast asleep in my arms, I knew that I could make it with her. We’ll just take it one day at a time.