Plunged into Darkness

Plunged into Darkness

He looked in the full length mirror and liked what he saw. No, he loved what he saw. ‘A good impression, and all that’ he mused.

The Italian custom tailored suit was a perfect fit. He was glad that he went with the mix of linen and wool for the material. Black shoes gleamed on his feet and he pulled the bottom of his pants up slightly to reveal the socks that matched the colour of his shirt perfectly and he smiled. Adjusting his blue silk tie a fraction, he had a final look at himself and was ready to go.

Sliding into the seat, he started the engine of his expensive car and listened to the purr. He remembered his phone in the leather brief case on the passenger seat and plugged it into the charger. ‘I need my phone charged up and ready for today’s grand finale’ he thought as he clipped the seatbelt on and reversed out of his driveway.

Today’s meeting was a culmination of many months of hard work and negotiations. The numerous hours of collective ‘bargaining’s and reached agreements’ had taken their toll on him. And not only him but all the other people involved.

The thought went through his mind that, ‘If this doesn’t come off today – which it will – life wouldn’t be worth living’. He was very secure in the knowledge that he had done all the sums, smooched with all the right people and whilst driving a hard bargain, had been fair, as far as he was concerned any way.

The traffic as usual was busy, and even though he had left home with a lot of time up his sleeve, he was perspiring a little at the thought of not getting super early. ‘I’ll race in to the office to grab those papers, although I may not even need those ones’ he said out loud as the lights eventually turned green and he sped off.

It was too early for most of the others from the office to be there – the undercover carpark was almost empty so he took the liberty of parking in the CEO’s spot, being the closest to the lift.  

Normally he would sprint up the four flights of stairs and still reach the floor breathing relatively normally, but not today, not in this expensive and deal clinching suit. Up in his office he looked out of his wide window at the streets below and a sudden feeling of ‘I’m near the top of the world and I’m about to go even higher’ enveloped him.

It wasn’t too far to drive. The Freeway was a smooth run so far and he had plenty of time. One thing his Father had taught him was to leave plenty of time when on your way to an important event. “You can always use up time when you are early but you can never find extra when you are late” was something he told him as a teenager and he had never forgotten it. The thought crossed Nathan’s mind that his father was such a principled and honest man all of his life…and he himself really wasn’t. Oh he had tried to lead his life in an even and self-controlled way but it hadn’t always worked for him.

‘I can’t think of anything negative this morning’ Nathan told himself, ‘I’ve put too much time and effort into this deal and I have to get that dotted line signed. Once that’s done, I can think of other things – so for now I’ll concentrate on the most important.

The Conglomerate was made up of tough and ruthless business people. Their focus and goals were using their power and expertise to make money. Simplified, that was it and of course what business and large companies is all about. A lot of these people were wily old men who had been in the business world a long time. That was another piece of advice Nathan’s father had given to him when he first started out in the world of mining…”Never let your guard down Nathan. These are businessmen after all. They aren’t out to give money away but to make it. There are no second chances with them. You have to do a good job the first time”. Nathan didn’t really know what his father meant at that stage of his working life but as the years went on; he understood and took heed of the sound advice his father had given to him

‘I do feel slightly nervous’ he thought, walking into the thirty two story building.

Even this early there was hustle and bustle here, a hub of powerful people, the centre of the business world, where deals went down and bank balances went up. Smartly dressed men and women scurried about – the men in well-tailored suits like Nathan’s and the women in stylish outfits and heels so high that it looked impossible to walk in them.

‘I need a coffee’ Nathan told himself as he walked into the café on the ground floor. The soy, skim milk latte drinkers were lined up or standing back waiting for their fix. Nathan ordered a long black and waited. ‘Plenty of time’ he told himself as he looked around at everyone, but was relieved when his name was called to collect his coffee. Taking it he wandered back out into the foyer to find the lift. He kept checking that he had his satchel on his shoulder, as if it could miraculously fall off without him feeling it. Yes it was still there. He pressed the button and waited for the lift to come back down.

Sipping his coffee he felt more relaxed, the caffeine taking the edge off the jittery feeling in his stomach. As he was once again going over the main points of his offer, the lift stopped and the doors opened. It smelt quite pleasant. He had been in lifts that smelled stale, and it was such a relief when you finally reached your floor and could escape into the fresh air. Nathan pressed the button with the silver twenty eight on it, and the doors noiselessly closed. There was a light above the mirror in the lift, and he looked into it to check his hair, then popped a breath mint into his mouth and waited.

The lift silently made its way to the top, two, three, four, five…’What the heck was that?’ Nathan said out loud as the lift shook violently and shuddered with a loud banging sound, and about five big thuds, but it didn’t stop the lift, six, seven, eight, nine… ‘Hell’ he called out as a screeching noise squealed out from somewhere in the lift. The box shuddered again and suddenly and violently stopped. His bag which he had leant against one of the sides got thrown to the opposite side of the lift and as the top flew open, some of his papers fell on the floor. ‘Oh for goodness sake’ he called out and scrambled over to put the papers back in. The paper cup in his hand had flown up in the air and landed on the floor but not before splashing as it was on its downward journey. Wetness crept across the front of his shirt and with a terrible feeling of despair he realised that some of his coffee were now seeping into his expensive slim cut Italian shirt. He looked down to check the damage when suddenly the lights went out and the lift was plunged into darkness. There wasn’t a crack of light anywhere. The whole panel seemed to have shut down. It was so black that it hurt your eyes at first, straining to try to see something, anything. For some strange reason he thought back to a health lesson in High School and the effect light had on your pupils, and how big his pupils would have become with no light. ‘Why am I thinking about that now? You are an idiot.’ He told himself. I just need to get out of here. Nathan pressed the ‘door open’ button but nothing happened. He kept pressing harder and harder hoping that it was just a matter of time until the metal door slid open and he was out of the lift, but the doors stayed firmly shut. Panicking, he quickly started to run his hands all along the walls feeling for the emergency phone. “Oh here it is’ he said and breathed a sigh of relief as he roughly grabbed it and put it up to his mouth. “Hello, hello, can you get me out of this lift. I’m in a lift in the Frazer Building and the lift has stopped. Its floor….I don’t know which floor, but I’m thinking eleven or twelve. Hello, can you hear me?” Nathan yelled. The phone didn’t seem to be working. There was no one there on the other end. “Oh hell” he swore, sweating profusely – not from heat but fear. ‘My mobile, of course’ he yelled in excitement, knowing he could contact someone on that to get him out. As he reached into his inside breast pocket he remembered…’Oh no, it’s still charging in the car. I forgot to take it off. Ok Nathan, think. Come on. You need to get to that meeting. No second chances as the old man used to say’.

Since he was a young boy, Nathan had suffered with claustrophobia. He had gotten it under control when in his twenties. Having no success with group therapy, psychology sessions one on one, and even his Gran’s faith healer at her church, he decided to see a hypnotherapist. That actually worked and the positive affirmations and mantra’s that he said every morning kept it in check. Right now he was finding it difficult to ‘relax, take deep breaths and focus on some positive aspect of your life’…His fear took over and he started shouting – very loud. “Help, help, get me out of here. Can you hear me? I’m stuck in the lift. HELLLLP ME”. But to no avail. No one yelled back. There was no noise outside the lift. It was so quiet and so dark.

Nathan was perspiring profusely now. He took off his suit jacket, painstakingly folding the arms together and then the jacket in half. He bent down and laid it on the floor against the wall. He was disorientated and couldn’t even think if the lift doors were opposite him or next to him. Having had no response from the other end of the phone and a tightness starting to grow in his chest, Nathan slid down the wall, and sat on the floor. He bent his knees, putting his head on them and somehow knowing, in despair, that even though he couldn’t check the time, he was missing the meeting.

He didn’t know how long he had been sitting – but he felt as if he had been on the floor for hours. ‘Surely they will be fixing it by now. Why is there no noise then? I won’t run out of oxygen will I? I know I’ve blown my chances of getting the deal but I don’t want to die in a lift’. All of these thought were running through his head as he wiped his dripping brow with the silk handkerchief he had in his top pocket.

‘It would be this black all the time for someone who was blind’ he thought. His mind wandered back to a time when his Dad’s cousin came to visit along with his wife, from England. He was born blind. He would tap things with his white cane and sometimes just from the sound of it, seemed to know what it was and how he could safely walk around it. Often his wife guided him by holding his elbow, but he would only ever see black, not even be a tiny sliver of light. ‘I couldn’t do it’ thought Nathan, ‘I would want to die now that I have had sight, if it was taken away from me. I couldn’t comprehend the notion of not being able to see anything. Everyday things that we take for granted…. people, the sea, trees, animals, and food, and everything that I enjoy about life. What would be the point to living if you lived in darkness?

Somehow Nathan had begun to relax a bit. He realised that he didn’t even feel panicky or claustrophobic any more. ‘I just want to get out of here and suck in some fresh air, but I’m ok, I really am’ he said, proudly to himself.  The knowledge that when he got out of this lift, and was able to see, to see light and brightness and not just be surrounded by nothingness somehow made him feel grateful. Nothing would have changed in his life…but for some strange reason he had a feeling that it would seem better somehow - except for the fact that he lost the contract he had been working on for months. All that blood, sweat and tears for nothing. He was still angry about that. ‘I suppose I will just have to start again. Dad would say ‘pick up your bottom lip, stomach in, chest out and get on with life’. (I think that would have been said a few times in his Army days).

‘My suit is ruined now so what the hell’ he uttered out loud as he lay down with his head on his jacket. He was feeling really weary and more than likely dehydrated in the airless confined space. His thought went to the little bistro down the road from where he lived and he could almost taste the pint of cold beer he was looking forward to downing. As he drifted off he was already onto his second beer. In his dream he could someone banging and voices. He was in his ‘local’ and boisterous punters were banging on the counter for their drink and yelling with frustration…..

Nathan sat up suddenly, seeing nothing, but still hearing the noises from his dream. His head felt heavy and his mouth had a terrible taste in it. His eyes felt gritty and dry too. ‘I’m awake and I can still hear voices and noise’. Forgetting how lethargic and tired he was, Nathan sprang up and started yelling, ‘I’m in here. I’m in here’. He found where the lift door was and started banging on it as he shouted.

Suddenly the door to the lift opened. It was as if the midday sun had fallen from the sky and was waiting to get into the lift. Nathan couldn’t see at first. People were talking to him, too many at once for him to register what they were saying. They were holding on to his arm and helping him out of the lift. He could hear “Are you ok? Here have this water. You must be parched. You have been in this lift for a few hours. Let’s get you downstairs and sort you out there”.

As Nathan recuperated at home after his ordeal, he wasn’t sure how he actually felt. But he knew that this event could either change his life and way of thinking permanently, if he wanted, or he could take a day to get over it, and resume life as it was. His Dad would probably say, ‘All things happen for a reason and we must take the positive and good out of a situation and use them wisely’.

‘And that gives me a lot to think about’ he said out loud as he looked out of the window at the orange sky and the purple Jacaranda trees silhouetted against it.