Going down

"It's taking a while, isn't it?" a lady beside me said.

"Yeah, it is," I replied.

"It seems to be stopping at every floor," she observed.

"Yeah, I just hope it's not full. I need to get to work; I have so much to do," I said.

"Here's to hoping," she replied. I smiled and nodded back at her.

I considered whether I should take the stairs. It was 12 flights down to the basement where my car was parked. I could do it. I was tired, but I could manage, I thought.

"I'm going to take the stairs," I announced.

"Haha, I might follow you if this doesn't arrive soon. It's ridiculous that we only have one lift in this building, isn't it?" she replied.

"Isn't it just?" I agreed.

As I made my way to the stairs, I heard the lift ding. I quickly ran back, and the lady I had spoken to earlier held the door for me.

"Thank you," I said breathlessly as I stepped inside. There were three other people in the lift. I shot a small, quick smile at them. One person spoke up from the back, "The lift is shockingly slow today."

"Yeah, it really is," I replied.

At every floor we stopped at, another person got on, and the air conditioning was terrible. It also doesn't help that it's so hot outside. The air con everywhere will struggle today. I could feel a drip of sweat running down my back. By floor five, two more people boarded. The lift was full, and I hoped to God that no one else would get on at the next floors. We passed floor four, then three, and one more person got on at level two.

A man in the middle said, "Okay, I think that's all we can take on this lift," haha. We all laughed in agreement.

The elevator moved from the first floor to the ground level, passing by without anyone getting on. It continued down to the basement, still without any new passengers. As we slowly descended to the basement, a raspy noise broke the silence. Suddenly, the elevator came to a stop between basement level one and ground level. I thought to myself, "Just what I needed."

"Oh wow, that's the last thing we all need," said the man in the left corner. "That's exactly what I was thinking," I replied.

The young man who got on at the second floor was closest to the floor buttons. He pressed the call button and requested assistance. The elevator attendant reassured us not to worry and said that help was on the way.

As we waited in the cramped elevator, the heat began to rise. Just when you think you can escape the heat outside by being in a building with air conditioning, the elevator decides to stop, leaving you with none. The older lady who had boarded at the eleventh floor felt it first. She immediately vocalised her discomfort due to the heat and took off her jacket. I offered her a bottle of water, and she graciously accepted. "Don't worry, I have another one if anyone else needs it," I mentioned. The rest of the group declined, with several saying they had their own water. With the way the heat was going outside, everyone was making sure they had water for the day.

Nobody was panicked yet, but with each minute that went by, the heat dialled up a notch. Another man to the left of me had just enough room to lean against the elevator wall. It was starting to become tiresome on our legs.

I grabbed my phone out of my bag to see if I could call or text work. No reception, of course. A man in a suit behind me said, "Yeah, no reception". "I already tried," he then said. "At this rate, I will be late for work, and I just needed to let them know", I said solemnly. "Same here", he replied.

He was a tall man with pleasant, soft features. I had to tilt my head at an angle to see him due to the cramped space. "Where do you work?" he asked. "I work as a nurse at the hospital down the road," I replied.

"Oh, really?" he said. "I work just around the corner from that hospital. St. Mary's, is it?" he inquired. "Yeah, that's the one," I confirmed. "Well, it's good to have a nurse on board with us," he said charmingly. "Haha, and with the way things are going, we're probably going to need you," another guy in the back chimed in.

"Well, I don't have as exciting a job as you," the solicitor said. "Oh really, what do you do?" I asked. "I'm a solicitor," he replied. "I'm sure that's not boring at all," I said. In some ways, I couldn't help but think that this guy might be flirting with me, and it wasn't helping with the heat situation. I was trying to stay cool, but he was heating things.

"A lovely woman like you must be a pretty strong person to deal with some of the things you encounter in your day-to-day work. What's your name?" he said softly. Seriously, he was definitely flirting at the worst possible time; the heat was really getting to everyone. Before I could respond, the man in front of me let out a loud sigh, and suddenly the elderly lady behind us slumped onto the woman beside her.

The woman called out, "Hey! Hey! She has fainted!" We barely had enough room to help her to the floor, but we managed to spread out as much as possible. She didn't stay out for long. I got her to drink some water; she was drenched in sweat, the poor dear. We kept her lying down.

It had been half an hour. "Where is the tech to get us out?" the other man yelled. "Wow, yeah, it really has been that long!" the solicitor said. The young man at the front called out again, "Hey, just wondering how much longer we are going to have to wait. It's getting very hot here, and an old lady has just collapsed," he said in distress.

"Yeah, look, I'm on the line with the guy now, and he's stuck in a bit of traffic. He should be here in the next 15 minutes, according to his maps," the attendant said. "Help is coming, okay?" he reiterated.

The group responded with sighs and huffs of frustration. I stayed with the elderly lady, whom I now knew as Annette. She seemed to be doing okay, but she told me she thought that if we stayed in there any longer, we would all go mad. "I agree, Annette," I said. "Anyway, I'm feeling a bit better now. Thank you for looking after me," she said. "No problem", I replied.

It had been about an hour when we heard someone announce through the intercom that they had arrived and were sorting out a technical issue.

“Thank goodness,” I said. “I need to use the bathroom.”

An hour without air conditioning and with so many bodies cramped together felt like a long time.

Once the technicians resolved the problem, we all got out at ground level. After a brief chat, we eventually went our separate ways, taking a moment to cool down.

Chris, the solicitor, stopped me and said, “Hey, this is a bit crazy and out of the blue, but would you like to meet for lunch today—whenever you get on your lunch break?” I replied, “Sure, haha, why not? Just as long as it’s somewhere indoors and there are no elevators, haha!” He asked me out on a lunch date, and I thought, well, it looks like things are about to heat up again.