The Escalator

Larry was amazed how quickly and efficiently everybody was moving. There was no sense of panic, but looking at the faces of his co-workers in that cramped stairwell as they methodically descended floor after floor he could sense the urgency. He began playing a little game in his mind to take his focus off the severity of the situation. He thought of his four year old daughter, and the way she greeted him every day when he got home from work...Daaaddy! You're hooome...I missed yooouu...she would say in her sweet little sing-song voice. So...with every turn of the stairwell he looked for the number on the wall, and counted them down in a little sing-song voice of his own...fifty-niiine, fifty-eiiight. He had to remain positive. He was going to see his family again.

After counting down forty floors or more, Larry began to grow anxious. The line of bodies in front of him began to slow causing a human pile up of sorts. What had been an orderly egress had suddenly turned into a traffic jam. A moment ago, the only audible noises were the hushed voices echoing throughout the concrete hallows of the stairwell, the shuffling of hundreds of feet making their way to safety, and his own mental game of sing-song. He could hear voices from below rising to crescendo with every passing second...people from behind began to push...bodies were pressed together like sardines...it was hot...and it was about to reach panic mode he feared. Things only got worse when firefighters began racing past with all of their gear in hand. The line would slow or stop so heroes could ascend...start again when the wave of men had raced past...stop...start. It was necessary he knew, but time seemed to be running out. He wouldn't feel safe until he was on his way down the escalator. Once he reached the bottom of it...he was home free.

Larry had lost track of what floor he was on, and suddenly he did panic. He yelled out...what floor is this? Unseen faces from the stairs beneath him shouted back...eleven! Larry shifted his feet nervously, and craned his neck around the woman in front of him...why weren't they moving...he wondered....we're so close to being out of here. Just then, fear gripped Larry's heart. A gut wrenching, sickening, pounding was coming from above...bam...bam...bam...bam. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed. In the midst of utter, unimaginable hell, Larry held a vision in his mind's eye. He saw himself riding down that escalator, walking across the pristine white marble lobby, out the door into the arms of his beloved, and being greeted by an angel with a sing-song voice.