Paranoia
I glanced at the teenage girl beside me from the corner of my eyes, then went back to staring at the numbers jump as the lift came down. I was waiting for the lift when she joined me. I recognised her as my neighbour staying on the fifth floor. But I had my earphones plucked in so I was not obliged to talk to her.
Then we stepped into the lift. Suddenly, my alertness heightened. A tall heavy-set man had so silently came up from behind me and joined us in the lift. I did not recognise him at all. And it was distressing he did not press a floor. The girl got out on her floor.
The man took out a penknife and started playing with it, sliding the blade in and out of the sheath. The noise was certainly stressing me out.
Oh no! What is the world coming to? I thought.
Actually, that was not what I thought. What I was thinking was, I had two choices at that time. I could use my trustworthy and heavy as hell briefcase to whack that robber in the head, possibly giving him a concussion while I pulled my non-existent karate stranglehold on him. Or I could use it to block the penknife again and again if he were slow to attack and I were fast to defend.
Ding!
We reached my floor. This was it!
He headed out and was greeted by another stranger standing at my neighbour’s door.
What is this? I panicked. Double-team?
“You got the knife? Good, cut the box open so we can take out the pieces and assemble the shoe cabinet.”
My eyes twitched.
