Chicken

I work in the once tallest building in the world, the PETRONAS Twin Towers, majestic and striking with her steel and glass façade. It has a total of 88 levels. A double-storey sky bridge at the 41st and 42nd level connects the two towers. Tower 1 is all occupied by PETRONAS while Tower 2 houses various other companies, mainly oil and gas companies.

I work on the 13th floor at Tower 2. What a lucky number that is! As a staff I have access to both towers as well as the sky bridge. However, I only had been using the sky bridge once, returning to my office after attending a meeting at Tower 1. The highest floor I had ever been to was level 61.

Until last week…

Last week I had to go all the way up to Level 70. To get there, I first took the express and direct elevator from the ground level straight to the 42nd level. Then I hopped onto another elevator to get to Level 60. From Level 60, I switched to another elevator, again to reach my final destination of Level 70. It was very much like flying long haul with several transit flights where you rush to different terminals and wait idly at the departing lounges.

I was alone in the elevator for the last leg of my trip up the tower. It was then I realized that I have broken my old record. Yeah! Some quick arithmetic in my head, I also realized that I was roughly 320m above the ground. Suddenly I felt my knees turning weak and I found myself holding the handrail in the elevator for support. I was afraid of heights!

Then all sorts of crazy what-if thoughts came flashing in my head: What if the elevator cables snap? What if the tower just came crumbling down? What if I somehow fall out through the window, off the Level 70? My knees went weaker, my breathing turned faster, my heart pounded harder and my grip on the handrail grew tighter.

“Oh my God!”

When I got there, the colleague I was meeting was away. Therefore I was told to wait at her workstation. There were French windows all around offering magnificent view of the city. Instead, I just stood at her workstation and looking at pictures she had at her workstation. I was afraid I might actually fall off the building if I went to close to the window (the window can break, you know!). I was too chicken to go to the window!

When I was done with business, I headed straight down, pronto! Several transiting lifts later I reached the ground level, in one piece.

I was so happy I almost kiss the ground.