When one woman asked her friend to babysit for the weekend and then disappeared for months, the internet was left gobsmacked. If you thought your neighbor was flaky, try getting ghosted by a parent with no return ticket. Parenting escapism, redefined.

As the viral parenting drama unfolded, the friend—overwhelmed by both custody battles and a barrage of angry Facebook posts from the child’s grandmother—admitted the hardest part was finding the little girl’s pink sneakers left behind, a gut-punch reminder of love lost.