I wanted to turn to Marissa and tell her my boyfriend would be meeting me for lunch next week and I would be bringing him up to the office to meet everyone, but in case he didn’t make it I refrained from telling her.

The office reminded me of the hospital. The walls were the same, the ceiling was the same, the layout was the same, and the windows; which didn’t open, were also the same. Some of the differences were suits and office attire instead of hospital gowns; people in rows of cubicles staring at computer screens instead of patients in rows of chairs looking up at a communal television; there was no ping-pong table or “Connect Four” here; and no one came around to check your blood pressure on the hour.

In the hospital there was a patient named Mae, she was an older black woman, quite, sweet, slow moving, and probably in her 70’s. She usually kept to herself, a quality I try to not interfere with, that is, unless they come to me.

One day as she was making her usual shuffled walk around the ward she stopped next to me, directed her glance from the ground to my face, and said, “my family is coming to visit me today”. It was the first time she ever talked to me. “Oh, that’s great” I responded. I asked her who, which engaged us in a conversation about her life. With a smile on her face she shuffled away. I was looking forward to meeting them.

The next day I had forgotten about their arrival until Mae once again came up to me, this time in a sad manner. She said, “my family couldn’t make it, but they’ll be coming today”. As I related to the feeling of being let down with the absence of a loved one I told her I was sorry they didn’t make it and I was sure they were looking forward to seeing her.

A couple days passed and Mae continued to approach me each time with the same story. It wasn’t until the fifth day when she rushed towards me in a frantic state “they’re stuck in the elevator shaft! That’s why they haven’t come! Someone has to help me! No one will believe me!” At that point I knew her family was never on their way. Even still I held Mae and consoled her while she cried; for in Mae's own reality her family was in fact, trapped somewhere.