Trapped

The lift jerked twice, then stopped somewhere between Floors 17 and 18.  The interior light flickered, dimmed and went out.  I was alone in the blackness.

I’d often thought about what it might be like to be stuck in a lift, now I was experiencing it.

In the dark, all the buttons on the wall felt the same, so I pressed them all hoping that one of them would ring an alarm somewhere and alert someone to my predicament.

There’s nowhere to go in a dark lift.  Two steps in any direction brings you up against a wall.  It seems pointless calling out, your voice bounces back at you.  And thumping on the metal doors seems only to hurt your fists.

The building’s air conditioning doesn’t extend to the lifts and it gets quite warm in the confined space.  You feel caged in and the darkness seems to compound the problem.

After all my attempts to get help seemed to have failed, I found myself sitting in a corner listening for any sound that might represent rescue. I could only wait and hope someone would come to my aid.

Sometimes in our day to day life we have the same feelings of restriction and aloneness.  We can be involved in situations where mentally, we feel trapped and incapable of movement in any direction.

While it might sometimes be difficult to focus clearly, we must learn not to panic but to have patience. For our life is a bit like a lift, full of ups and downs and the odd occasions where we must wait and hope.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

More stories