DIARY: Tantrums of Childhood

Lost Scene

Got lost in an elevator in our apartment building when I was 5. I forgot what floor we lived on and what out apartment number was. I was and am still a very visual person. I spent 7 hours going up and down the elevator, and since we had just moved into the building, nobody recognized me. I was also too shy to ask anyone for help either, and didn't know they had a directory on the ground floor. At about 5 that night, a guy named Derrick got into the elevator. He was about 6'2 and had his little daughter trailing him. The daughter was like my age, and asked me my name and what I was doing in the elevator. I told her I had gotten lost in the elevator, and when Derrick heard this, he asked if we were the new people on the 7th floor. That was our floor number, and he had reminded me of it. He took us back to my apartment, and we walked in on a cop asking my crying mom for a description of me. Since it wasn't a good neighborhood and this was like 2000-2002 New York which was still pretty s**tty at the time, the cop figured I had been kidnapped and would never be heard from again. The look on my mom's face was extreme happiness and relief, and I never forgot the floor number again. I also never saw Derrick or his daughter again, but I will never forget them.