Where is she? A real-life mystery.

(Over the next few weeks, I'll post another installment of this true life experience.)


She was stuck. Even though she was surrounded by a crowd of people, no one could help her.

There was one person. One person she wanted to call but surrounded as she was, talking on her cell into the silence of the tightly packed crowd, seemed like an invasion of privacy. Hers and theirs. But really, she felt embarrassed to do what she really wanted to do. Pull out her phone, dial 911 and shout, “Help!”

But it was not an emergency. She looked around. No one whipped out a cell phone. In fact, no one moved at all. Everyone stood stiffly, mostly silent save for the low giggle of the girl in the corner to her right, but she wasn’t sure if that was a nervous reaction to the situation or her boyfriend. And, somehow, she didn’t want to know.

Unbuttoning her coat in spite of the winter weather, she looked up toward the whirring sound above her head and thanked the gods. She was alive, breathing, thirsty and grateful for the free soda taken from the table outside the room. Sipping was calming

How long would she be stuck here with all these strangers? She sipped slowly and stopped saving a half an inch of soda in the bottle. Reaching in, she touched the two chocolates in her coat pocket, but didn’t eat them.

Was it survival instinct or fear? She didn’t know. But stuck and surrounded by 11 other people, she didn’t want a feeding frenzy to start over two small heart-shaped candies.