Hala Al-Qahtani
Al-Sharq
As the elevator door opened in front of me I saw a man with a grim and horrific face. There was a middle-aged woman behind him who looked sad and sorrowful. The man looked at me nervously as if I had stormed into his den. I was reluctant to greet him because of his unpleasant and loathsome face. I entered the elevator and quickly turned my face.
While I was inside the elevator I heard the man abusing the woman. I stood a bit away from the two. Seconds before the opening of the elevator door, there was the sound of beating on the backside wall and a muffled cry and both occurred simultaneously. The man then got out of the elevator cursing the woman.
An atmosphere of tension and calmness prevailed inside the elevator following that unacceptable and obnoxious incident. I had a prick of conscience and felt that if I had stood facing the two individuals the man would not have attacked her. I was wondering whether I should turn toward the woman to pacify her or remain where I was before to avoid an opposite reaction.
The woman was crying and I thought it was my duty to do something to reduce her pain and sorrow. It was unbelievable that all these things happened within seconds. The man’s audacity to attack her inside a public elevator was repugnant. I checked whether there was any camera above us. There was none.
I turned my face toward the woman and found her covering her face to hide her crying. She was shivering because of the intensity of her cry. I turned my face again to give her more time to wash away her sorrow with tears. I was thinking how to strengthen her mental power to deal with such a cruel person with patience.
The woman was likely to faint because of uninterrupted sobbing and I stood beside her to give necessary support. Her body hit the elevator while she was trying to sit down holding its door. I extended my hands to help her get up but she refused my assistance. When the bell rang informing us the elevator’s arrival on the ground floor, I stood up quickly and tried to remove her tears.
When the elevator opened a number of people entered. I stood in front of the woman so that nobody would know she was crying. I don’t like people watching me crying at times of weakness. I don’t know to which direction the woman went and in a second I felt like someone pulling my hand. She then hesitantly came closer to me and said: “Thank you and sorry to bother you.”
I was a bit confused and did not know what to say. I told her: “It’s O.K. There was nothing unusual.” She left with a smile and her eyes were still wet. But I was not happy and felt that the gush of tears from her eyes proved she was having unbearable sorrow and tension. I held her hands and wished everything would be all right.
There is nothing wrong in crying. After all we are human beings and we may sob at certain difficult circumstances because of sudden emotional pressure. I tried to convince her how cries would help us in overcoming tension and difficulties. She moved head to show that she understood what I had meant. Before parting I asked her whether she needed any help.
She hesitated for a moment and then told me to stay with her for some time. We sat at the waiting room of the hospital. She said she needed sometime to take control of herself. Tears were still flowing from her eyes. She said she wanted to take my opinion and believed a stranger’s opinion would be more justful than that of relatives. In the meantime I gave her the joint number of the family protection center, 1919, and told her not to hesitate to contact it whenever required.
She agreed and smiled as if there was an understanding between us. While the woman was about to say something, that frightening man appeared in front of us and dragged her with him. The scene was very disappointing but I found her keeping that number inside her vanity bag, which gave me some kind of relief because of optimism that her tragedy would not last long.
