It had been almost a full day since I’d slept. 23 hours to be exact.

Waiting in the airport to board the plane to Atlanta, I felt more like I was waiting to check into a hotel. The plane would be my room, and my seat would be my bed for the night. I couldn’t wait to close my eyes and to get a little sleep.

But then I saw her. As I walked down the aisle of the plane to my seat, there she was in the aisle seat.

She wasn’t the cutest girl I’d ever seen, but there was something about her. She had big eyes and fluffy green hair and a very unusual outfit comprised of a tank top over a blouse and a skirt over a pair of jeans. She was wearing two very different earrings, a large blue hoop that almost reached her shoulder in her left ear and a single pearl stud in her right ear.

“I’m right there,” I said, pointing at the window seat next to her.

She looked me up and down. “Okay,” she said but did not move.

“Would you mind?” I asked, gesturing at the seat. I couldn’t wait to sit down and felt that I would immediately fall asleep.

“Mind?” she asked.

“I need to get to my seat,” I said.

“I am not stopping you,” she said.

“Well,” I said, “I can’t just climb over you.”

“You’ll have to if you want to sit there,” she said. “I’m not moving.”

Already, a long line had formed behind me and people were becoming anxious and impatient to get to their seats.

I did my best to squeeze past the girl which was incredibly impossible and very awkward and uncomfortable. I won’t get into the details but I did make it to my seat eventually.

Normally having gone through such a trial would have kept me awake, but I was too tired for that. I closed my eyes.

An elbow collided with my arm.

“Ouch!” I screamed.

The girl was looking at me.

“What did you do that for?” I asked.

“I didn’t want you to fall asleep,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to spend an entire plane flight with someone snoring next to me.”

“Please respect my personal space,” I said. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep again.

I was woken by loud coughing.

The girl smiled at me. “I’m respecting your personal space,” she said.

The entire flight proceeded this way. The girl did not let me get more than a few minutes of sleep.

When we arrived in Atlanta, I postponed my next connecting flight. I checked into a hotel and went to sleep. I would figure out my travel schedule again when I’d woken up. I didn’t want to risk being next to another green-haired girl on my next flight and getting even more sleep deprived.