I decided to take the elevator to the fourth floor of the local department store that sold many different sweets. As I thought about the sweets that awaited me, the elevator suddenly stopped, and I could tell we did not stop at our destination. Eleven people stuck in an elevator, and only one doesn’t panic. That is me. However, the other ten panic right away. I do not show panic because I do not want the others to see my already growing fear of being in an elevator.

A married couple in the front of the group bickered to one another about whose choice it was to use the elevator, while four teenage girls and two elderly couples panicked in different ways. I reached in my pocket for my cell phone dialed 911 to say “eleven people are stuck in a department store elevator.” Their reply was that it would be twenty minutes until they reached us. I thought, “ Great stuck in here for twenty more minutes with scared people, and cramped in this elevator”.

Once the other ten people heard the reply, a series of shouts echoed in the elevator. One of the four teenage girls started the echo by screaming “ Twenty minutes, are you kidding me!” I shook my head no. Then the couple began yelling at one another, “ I told you we shouldn’t have used the elevator!” yelled the man. Then the woman, replied “ Well, it’s faster than walking up the stairs.” This caused me to sigh as I thought, “ I should have taken the stairs.”

I rubbed my temples due to the throbbing pain from the yelling; thankfully, I soon heard our rescue team above us. I told them to have the loudest person make noise so that they could hear our exact location. The man yelled until we heard the elevator move with a loud squeak. Realizing we had started to move, everyone began to calm down. My heart raced slightly more due to the squeak, then it calmed as I felt the elevator slowing down to its official stop.

Once the elevator reached its destination, the rescue team pried open the elevator doors. I left the elevator quickly, taking several breaths, and decided that was enough for one day and took the stairs all the way down to the first floor. I exited the department store and let out a sigh of relief for being on the ground. My legs shook the whole way down and out of the department store, but now they were stiff.

I walked over to my car, unlocked the doors and drove home. Once reaching home my sister told me that the local department store was on the news, and that she saw me exiting the elevator. I looked at her and said “ Never again.” She laughed and then said, “You should’ve used the stairs,” I groaned and said, “ I know,” causing her to laugh again.

After that incident, I never used an elevator, instead, I used the stairs.