With a jerk and tinny screeching noise the elevator came to rest at some point between floors 13 and 16. I hadn’t been paying attention, not that it matters. Something like a hum, not at all melodious, preceded by seconds of complete darkness.

Breathe. Breathe. Think.

I wanted to stay rational, had to.

A voice, presumably belonging to the droopy eyed fellow I barely noticed when we both got on the elevator, came out of the pitch, “What happened?”

“Dunno. Power outage maybe? Blown fuse?”

He sort of grunted then went back to breathing, mouth breathing at that. On the off times I’d imagined being stuck in an elevator it was always with a lovely woman, not a super model, mind you. I wasn’t unrealistic, I don’t think.

Again the voice, “What happened?”

“Huh? Still don’t know.”

“Okay.”

Lack of sound accompanied the lack of light for a moment until, “What happened?”

“You’ve asked that already.”

“Oh. Maybe I should tell you, I had a bike accident. Was in a coma for thirty days. I, uh, forget stuff.”