Stopped Time

I’ve been feeling weak for a few days. My head hurts and I feel like throwing up. But when I try, nothing comes out. I feel like I’m going to die. How can I see the whole wide world before I die? Let’s go. To Paris, France.

I found my ticket to Paris and took the elevator from the 15th floor. But when I got to the 13th floor, the elevator made a loud sound and dropped a little. Then it stopped between the 12th and 13th floors. The door opened and closed again and again. I looked out, but there was only a gray wall. I was trapped alone.

“What should I do now? I must stay calm, like an educated person,” 

I told myself. But I started to get scared. 

“How long will I be stuck here? One hour? Two hours? Or more?”

I remembered when I had an MRI after a car accident. I felt like I couldn’t breathe inside the machine. It felt like a coffin. Someone once said in crowded Hong Kong, they bury people standing up because there’s no space. Now the elevator felt like a coffin too. I pushed the buttons. Nothing happened. I pressed every button.

Then a voice from the speaker said, “Come out of the elevator.”

I thought, “If I could get out, I wouldn’t be stuck like this!”

At first, I calmly said,

“I can not get out of here. I am in the middle of the floor.”

But nothing happened.

So I shouted,

“Let me get out of here! Is there anybody out there?”

The elevator door closed. I thought, maybe now it will go down to the first floor. But it didn’t move. There was no sound. Only silence. I felt really scared. I shouted,

“What are you doing? Open the door! Open it now!”

My throat felt tight. I screamed like a crazy person. Then slowly, the elevator moved. It stopped at the 11th floor and the door opened quietly, like nothing happened. Before it closed again, I ran out fast—like jumping out of a coffin before it’s buried.

It was strange. No one was around. It was silent. Only a long hallway, big and empty like the inside of a giant elevator. Was I the only one making a fuss? Everything else was the same. I felt disappointed. I wanted to yell at someone to let out my feelings. But there was no one. I remembered how crazy I must have looked while shouting. The only thing to do now was to get out of the building. I quickly ran outside.

Outside, it was bright and sunny. The world kept moving, like nothing happened to me. My throat was dry. I looked at myself in a store window. My hair was messy. I looked like a crazy woman. Was anyone watching me? I looked around nervously and walked quickly. It felt like I had wings on my feet. My body felt light, like I could fly. Even the headache was gone.

I was walking down 5th Avenue in Manhattan with strong steps.

And I was smiling.