claustrophobia.

i'll bet not many people living/working on a high floor have ever thought of what they'd do if all the lifts stopped working. it's ok,its never crossed my mind either....till today.i pressed the lift,no light came on.i pressed it again. no change. pressing it again would seem ridiculously redundant to some but when one is slightly frazzled, alternate plans of exit tend to be harder to come by..(keep in mind i was late for work).so press press press press press....nothing.

As the grueling thought of having to walk down 20-something flights of stairs sunk in, something happened. i believe it was something the Christians call "A Miracle". the lift doors opened. so basically out of 3 lifts, only one was working. well, almost.
the damn japanese made contraption stopped at every f*(Y%^%^ floor!!! (it takes about half a minute to stop at each floor, so do the math)

the only thing to do was to check out the cutie who was in the same predicament as i was..he was about 4, clinging on to his guardian's pants for dear life and commenting on everything, as kids do. the older gentleman seemed very nice..like a grandad,y'know?and we got to talknig and he told me that the little man's entire family was deaf and dumb. imagine what it must be like to be the only speaking/hearing one in an entire family who can't...there are no words (no pun intended)..

as more people came into the lift, their attention shifted from me to them...and i started to find difficulty breathing (closet claustrophobic, you see)..which reminded me at that moment that getting stuck in a lift is kinda like getting stuck in a relationship that you know isnt good for you..the same difficulty breathing, the same lack of space, the same feeling of helplessness..one basically has two choices..suffocate and die or get out and go down the fire escape..yeah sure, the fire escape's scary cos you're alone and it gets dark sometimes,but at the end, you see the light..and your freedom..