My First Meeting

***

(Mr. Wonder and Danielle)

"Danielle, do you know where my 11 o'clock is?" questioned the man to his secretary.

"No Mr. Wonder. I have received no information on his whereabouts though I'm sure Mr. Reed won't be too much longer.... He's probably just stuck in traffic and the reception in this area is pretty bad for mobile phones."

"Yes, that might be it. Did you send him directions?"

"Yes sir, I wrote...

***

(David Reed)

'Dear Mr. Reed, the meeting with Mr. Wonder will commence at 11a.m. today. Once in Wonderland Theme Park, head for the 'Cyclone' ride and enter the building on the direct right, then go to the top floor. Kind regards, Danielle Smit, Head Assistant of Wonderland Theme Park.'

As I looked up from my mobile phone and into the crowded reception I just couldn't believe what was happening to me. As a newly architect graduate, I had been asked by Mr. Wonder to meet at his theme park to discuss the possibility of designing a building for him. Wonderful! But, as I looked around to the surrounding sea of people, it appeared as though they too had received news of the job on offer.

I headed for the lift, but was stopped by the receptionist at the counter, "Excuse me sir. You can't go any further, until you enter your details on this form." she said as she waved around a document.

"What? All I want to do is go upstairs and I'm in quite a hurry..."

"Yes, I understand that, sir, but everyone wants to go then the lift, and everyone is in a hurry. If you just enter your name and sign this form, I'll let you go on your way."

I looked at my watch; it was 11 o'clock already! I didn't have time to look at a form! I had to make a good impression on Mr. Wonder and being late would definitely not help. When she finally passed the ten-page form to me, I just looked at the first sentence, wrote my name, signed it and walked into the lift, towards my future.

As I pressed the button for the top floor, it lit up and the doors started to closed. All of a sudden, a man screamed, "Hey, you can't just cut in the line like that. I've been waiting for ages!" then a ruckus broke out. The doors immediately closed and the lift moved upwards, separating myself from any penetrable noise from below.

While the lift slowly crept upwards, I couldn't help but examine the lift. I mean, what was so special about it that required me to fill in a form just to ride in it? Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, aside from a little bit of padding on the sides of the lift, I thought back to the partial sentence I read in the waiver: 'Any information you may procure from this Wonderland Theme Park experience shall remain within this facility until opening day...'. Going over it again, I still couldn't make any sense of it. I really should have read through the whole thing, who knows what I've signed up for.

After a few moments I thought that, surely by now I would have reached the top floor. But as I looked at the lit up button, I realized that the lift had stopped and that I had probably been stationary for the last few minutes. Trying not to panic I lifted the emergency phone and rather nervously said, "Hello? I'm in the lift, at Floor 21 and the lift has stopped. Help!". But, with no response I simply hung up the phone and sank to the floor in the hope that help would arrive soon.

I couldn't believe my 'luck'. I had finally caught my 'big break' after studying tirelessly towards my future for years and now, as the result of a stupid lift malfunction I would miss it entirely. As if reading my mind, the lifts speakers suddenly sounded to life, "Don't panic David," Wait, how did it know my name?, "the lift will commence shortly and maintenance is on the way. We assure you that you will be out of the lift within a matter of minutes. Wonderland Theme Park's concern for your safety is our number one priority. We have utilized the newest technology available for this very reason. In fact, it's so new, that you're testing it right now. This elevator system is completely self-sufficiet, meaning that, while the power remains on the elevator supplies unlimited oxygen in that confined space, as well as remaining in its current position. So just keep calm and thank you for riding with...", the speaker suddenly cut out, along with the electricity.

I picked up the phone yelling, "TURN IT BACK ON, TURN THE POWER BACK ON!". I didn't know if it would work, but consumed in panic anything seemed plausible. The floor beneath me started to creak and then the entire right side of the lift lifted. I was immediately launched to the other side, but thankfully the padding came in handy. Alone in the dark, all I could hear was the sound of my heavy breathing, the air was already feeling thinner than a second ago. The floor creaked once again and I braced myself, prepared for another abrupt jolt across the lift floor.

Yet this was nothing like before...

***

(Mr. Wonder and Danielle)

"Wait, Danielle, what was that last bit?"

"Ah? Kind regards, Danielle S..."

"No, no, no, the other part. Did you tell him to go into the building directly to the right?"

"Yes sir, why? Oh no! I'm so sorry. I completely forgot about the new ride! Do you think he'll know the difference between here and there?"

"Seeing as he is now over twenty minutes late for the meeting of his life AND seeing as we have received no word from him since yesterday, I'm guessing no."

***

(David Reed)

As I plummeted to my death, I felt as though my organs had abandoned me at the top ensuring that if I didn't die from impact, I would definitely die from loss of organ failure. I really wish that I wasn't going to die. I still had so much more to do in my life. I wish I could just survive, live my life and complete my dream of designing my own building. But that was impossible; I was falling from 20 floors, 66 meters. I looked around at my last ever surroundings. All I really noticed was the lift's buttons. Somehow in my descent the lift had enough power to light them up. As I passed through each level the buttons quickly flicking from one to the other in a matter of milli-seconds. And just as 'The Challanger' did, my life too would end after a countdown: three, two, one.

...

My heart was pounding, my brain was paralyzed and I felt astronomically sick, but I was still alive. I wiggled my fingers and toes not believing that I was unharmed. I opened my eyes and looked for the reason. Surrounding me were little polystyrene balls, billions of polystyrene balls. Rethinking back, I remembered the floor beneath me giving way. The lift's floor had literally fallen out from beneath me and dropped me into this pit. As I started to get up and move towards the edge, I saw Mr. Wonder, he was laughing? As his laughter begins to subside, he just looked at me and said, "Enjoy my new ride?"