“Please help! I can’t find my daughter,” Sophia cried. “I was sidetracked for a moment to change my baby’s diaper, and when I returned, she was gone!”

“Please calm down, ma’am,” a flight attendant told her. “If she boarded the flight, she’ll be somewhere around. Can you tell me how she looks?”

“Are you serious?!” A man from the seat next to Sophia’s told the attendant. “We saw this woman only with one child! Don’t waste your time! The woman is lying!”

“No, I’m not lying. There were three of us. The flight attendant saw us!” Sophia cried.

“Well, there are a lot of children onboard, ma’am. So, I don’t remember if I saw your daughter,” the flight attendant said after a pause. “But I will do whatever I can to help you find your daughter.”

The passengers continued insisting that Sophia’s daughter was not on board, but the flight attendant thoroughly examined the entire flight. She looked in the washrooms, her own room, the flight’s upper deck, and even the food truck that served the passengers, believing the child might have hidden there while playing with other kids. But sadly, Sophia’s daughter was nowhere to be seen.

The flight attendant returned to Sophia’s seat, dejected. “Well, ma’am, I checked at every possible place, but I didn’t see your daughter anywhere. Honestly, I feel I also remember only you and the baby.”

At this point, everyone looked askance at Sophia and began ridiculing her. “I knew she was lying! I didn’t see a girl with her either!” A passenger from the front seat yelled.

“I know, right! I even saw her taking some pills,” another woman said.

“Oh god, is she high on something? How can the airport security be so irresponsible and let such people in?” an old lady grumbled.

“There’s nothing like that! Please, help me,” Sophia tried explaining. “I just took a sedative because I have a fear of flying.”

“Oh, come on!” a man yelled from behind. “Can you guys stop shouting? I have an important meeting tomorrow. For God’s sake, let me sleep!”

Poor Sophia broke down. She tried explaining to everyone she wasn’t lying, but it was futile. Sadly, even the flight attendant began doubting her. “Are you sure you only took one pill, ma’am?”

“Yes!” Sophia exclaimed. “I was with my daughter. You can check the boarding pass.” The flight attendant hurried to the computer to verify if Sophia’s daughter had boarded the flight. It turned out she had. “Yes, she was with her daughter. I checked it!” the flight attendant said.

At this point, all the passengers were at a loss. “But then, where is the little girl? Was she kidnapped?” a man spoke up.

“That’s not possible, sir!” the flight attendant said. “We’re in the sky!”

“It’s not really impossible, either,” Sophia interrupted. “We need to search everyone’s carry-on luggage, especially the oversized ones!”

Hearing this, the passengers started grumbling. “I’m not letting you touch my bag. I have antiques in there!” a man, who was an antique dealer, complained.

“Sir, we see that a child will not fit in your bag. We will only check the oversized baggage, so please cooperate with us.”

“Why should we?” the woman who had complained about Sophia taking a pill protested. “She lost her child, and it’s her fault! She’s a terrible mother! Why should we pay for it?”

“I agree. She should be deprived of her parental rights!” a man seated next to her complained.

Despite the objections, the flight attendant insisted on examining the baggage and overhead bins, but sadly, Sophia’s daughter was not found.

By this time, only 10 minutes were left for the flight to land. The pilot had activated the seat belt signals and instructed everyone to return to their seats gently.

Exhausted and desperate, Sophia collapsed on the ground before she could reach her seat. But when she opened her eyes, she saw something that proved her daughter was on board.

Sophia’s baby was playing with something sparkling on the floor near her. It didn’t take long for Sophia to figure out that the beads were from her daughter’s necklace. She sifted through the floor and discovered additional beads leading to a locked luggage compartment. “Open this, right now!” she screamed. “Beth might be there!”

“But I don’t have access to this room. Only the pilot keeps the key to this compartment. You daughter can’t be in there!” the flight attendant said.

“Just open it!” Sophia glared at the attendant. “The flight is about to land in less than 5 minutes. My daughter will be trapped there if we don’t check it, and the criminal will get away!”

“But…” Before the flight attendant could say anything, two passengers jumped up and started shouting. “There’s a lot of valuable stuff in there! We don’t want to cooperate in this search!”

“I agree! It’s a violation of security. Who is she to command us?” the other passenger said.

“Please don’t listen to them,” Sophia begged the flight attendant. “I have a feeling my daughter’s in there!”

The flight attendant felt bad for Sophia and decided to help her. She got the key from the pilot and opened the door. There were a lot of suitcases in the room, but no girl. Dejected, they were about to leave the room when Sophia’s gaze was drawn to a hand emerging from behind a large suitcase.

She dashed over to the bag, only to find her daughter Beth unconscious behind it.

“Beth, wake up. Are you okay?” Sophia couldn’t stop crying. “Can you hear me, sweetie?”

“Yes, mom,” Beth said as she slowly opened her eyes. “They brought me in here, mom. Thank God you came!”

“Who, Beth? What are you trying to say?” Sophia asked.

Beth pointed her fingers at the two passengers who had revolted against the search in every possible way. They tried to exit the compartment as soon as possible after the flight had landed, but two men blocked their way. “She has us confused with someone. It wasn’t us!” the woman said, trying to defend herself.

Sophia took a step forward and slapped the woman. “Stop lying! I know you and your partner did this. How dare you touch my daughter!”

The flight attendant intervened. “Ma’am, calm down. It’s good that your daughter is safe. We’ll make sure they won’t escape easily.”

Upon arrival, the two passengers were interrogated by the police. It turned out they were hunting for an antique necklace. They successfully stole it from the antique dealer’s bag, but Beth accidentally saw them doing that. They decided to hide her so that she wouldn’t tell anyone.

Since it was a connecting flight, the luggage compartment was only opened once when some passengers were getting off. At that time, while Sophia was busy changing her baby’s diaper, they hid Beth in the compartment.

When the truth was revealed, the antique dealer was ashamed. He thanked Sophia for saving the antique necklace and finding the burglars and apologized to Beth. Later, his museum held a large reception in Sophia’s honor as she had saved their cultural artifact.

What can we learn from this story?

• If you do wrong to others, you’ll be punished for it sooner or later. The thieves had thought they could escape easily and nobody would catch them, but then karma hit them hard.
• Don’t jump to conclusions or judge someone just like that. None of the passengers trusted Sophia and claimed she was high on something or had probably gone insane without even making an effort to see whether she was right.

Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.

If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a woman whose husband vanished after 35 years of marriage.

This account is inspired by our reader’s story but written by a professional writer. All names have been changed to protect identities and ensure privacy. Share your story with us, maybe it will change someone’s life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.