“Hold the elevator!” Paulie shouted down the hallway of our office. I pretended not to hear him as I swiped my punch card, and went out the door. It was Friday afternoon. Quitting time. No need to be around Paulie anymore than I already had during the week. He was a Grade A creeper, to be frank, and it was a relief to finally be away from him, at least until Monday morning. All the other girls in the office hated Paulie as much as I did. Not only did he have a problem with staring at us all the time, but he didn’t hide how he was ogling over us. It made me and the girls in the office feel dirty and objectified. On more than one occasion, he’d gotten into the elevator with one of the girls in the office, and they said he liked to get really close to them and try to sniff them.
He’s a gross, disgusting piece of shit, but on this day, I wish I’d waited for him, and we’d gone down the elevator together. To avoid what happened to me next, I’d have let Paulie take a sniff of my heels, panties, and boob sweat if it pleased him.
I wish I never got into that elevator.
I punched the call button for the elevator and waited for the doors to open. While I waited, I kept watching the door to see if Paulie would appear in time. He didn’t. The bell rang, and I heard the elevator doors open behind me. I stepped inside quickly and turned to the panel of buttons. I mashed the close door button until the doors closed. As soon as they did, I immediately realized something was wrong.
A sickening smell filled the small space, and I brought my hand up to pinch my nose shut. Then I heard it. A retching noise came from the corner of the elevator. It startled me and I turned around to find a man in the corner of the elevator. I don’t know how I didn’t see him when I got on. Thinking about it now, I was so focused on avoiding Paulie, I likely didn’t pay enough attention to have noticed the man in the elevator. As I made eye contact with the man, I noticed his face was green with a tint of illness about him. His cheeks were puffed so large he looked like he was about to burst.
And he did. The man vomited.
I gagged as the regurgitated contents of his stomach splattered against the walls and floor. He took a deep breath, and then another stream of vomit exploded forth from his mouth. I didn’t see this second round of vomiting as I’d shoved myself into the opposite corner of the elevator box and pushed myself against the wall as much as I could to avoid getting caught in his splash zone.
“Are you okay?” I asked, knowing the man clearly wasn’t, and pushed the emergency button on the panel. Nothing happened. The elevator didn’t stop. No one spoke over an intercom. Nothing. It was as if we were cut off from the whole of humanity.
The Vomiting Man offered no response to my question. Our eyes met for what felt like the first time, and it was here I started to better understand the situation I was in. The Vomiting Man’s eyes were wild and rabid. My concern for the man disappeared altogether, and I felt afraid for my life. Not only in fear of the man himself, but of the illness he carried within him. Was his illness contagious? Was I exposed to it already just by being around him? I didn’t know, but I’d come to find out soon.
As our eyes locked, the Vomiting Man doubled over again and turned his head toward the floor. He retched, and continued vomiting, his body wracked with spasms. Between the bouts of puking, he gasped for air like a drowning man breaking the surface and taking in as much air as he could before going back under again. He gulped for fresh air only to continue barfing.
The stench inside the elevator was unbearable. My own stomach churned with each passing second, threatening to join the Vomiting Man in tossing his cookies along with everything else he’d ever eaten in his life. Thick, undigested chunks of food coated the walls and floor near the Vomiting Man. A small trickle of vomit seeped toward my shoes like a tiny river. The elevator felt as if it was tilting in my direction. I know this is impossible, but it felt like this at the time.
“Help…me…,” groaned the Vomiting Man, and reached out with a vomit-covered hand toward me. The lights flickered, and the elevator shuddered to a sudden stop. The flickering lights produced a strobe effect. His eyes were strained and bulging from the sheer force and violence of his regurgitation. All the blood vessels in his eyes and face had exploded. Vomit spilled from his nostrils. Foamy, red drool dribbled down his chin.
He let out a scream, which inside the tiny confines of the elevator sounded like the T-Rex from Jurassic Park. I also screamed but in fear of him. His mouth was wide open. Wider than a human could open their mouth without breaking their jaw. Then I heard a snapping noise come from him and saw his jaw go completely slack.
I screamed, and this was the biggest mistake I’d ever made in my life. The Vomiting Man leaped toward me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He tossed me on my back to the upchuck-covered floor and got on top of me. I struggled to knock him off me, but he was far too strong, and it was already too late. His body was wracked with another wave of convulsions and spasms. I felt his twitching and trembling on top of me. The Vomiting Man retched and heaved, and a fresh river of ejecta spewed forth from his mouth into mine along with my nose and eyes.
There wasn’t much I could do to respond. If I screamed, the puke would go further down my throat. Honestly, I couldn’t even scream because I kept choking on the puke being forced down my throat. I was forced to swallow chunks of whatever food the Vomiting Man had eaten. I felt vomit coming from out of my nose, and I couldn’t tell if it was mine or his. The Vomiting Man had my arms pinned to the floor. I could kick with my legs a little bit, but with all the vomit on the floor, I couldn’t gain any traction. The more I attempted to fight, the weaker I became until I felt like I was drowning in the Vomiting Man’s never-ending supply of puke.
Darkness slowly overcame me as the elevator continued its descent toward the lobby of the office building. Mercifully, I lost consciousness until the elevator came to a stop.
When the elevator stopped, the jolt of it woke me up. The doors slid open, and I found myself alone on the ground floor. I crawled out of the elevator, into the lobby, and collapsed against the wall. I was shaking from how utterly cold and violated I felt. The inside of my mouth felt slimy and acidic. My stomach churned. I knew what was coming. I turned my head to the side and puked my guts out. When I finished, I wiped at my mouth and felt yet another crippling wave of nausea force my insides to expel outward once more.
Again, I lost consciousness.
When I awoke again, I was still slumped against the wall. A small crowd had gathered around me but it was Paulie’s face in mine which brought me back to reality. He was saying something. I didn’t understand him. Everything sounded muffled and far away. I pushed him aside and forced myself to stand up. After taking stock of myself, I concluded that for the most part, I was okay. From head to toe, I was covered in vomit, but otherwise, I felt healthy aside from the burning sensation in my esophagus, nose, and eyes.
“Holy shit, Samantha. What the fuck happened to you?” Paulie asked, probably for the second time.
Stupidly, I spilled my guts (no pun intended) and told him I’d been attacked on the elevator by a very sick man. Paulie rushed over to the lobby security guard and relayed the information to him. There was a huge stir in the building for the next hour or two. The police were called. People were detained and not allowed to leave until I’d seen everyone who was in the building. The Vomiting Man was not among them until they checked on the elevators.
They discovered the Vomiting Man still in the elevator. He was dead. He’d puked with such force and frequency that his esophagus split open. Boerhave’s Syndrome is what I found out this was called afterward.
While the investigation was going on, Paulie had run to a clothing store and got me a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. They were a bit too large, but I didn’t care. It was good to be in fresh, new clothes. I cleaned up as best I could in the bathroom before I left for home. Paulie offered to accompany me home, and normally, I would have declined, but after this day, I didn’t mind the company.