At 14, I was abandoned at the Dubai airport because of a joke from my envious brother.

My father didn’t stop.

My brother glanced back only once — smiling.

The gate closed.

And suddenly, I was alone in one of the biggest airports in the world, with no passport, no money, no phone plan that worked overseas, and a growing terror that I didn’t know how to name.

I sat on the cold floor near a charging station, trying not to cry.