The man behind him was in an expensive, three piece, pin-striped suit partially covered by a camel hair overcoat. At the top of the escalator he began to walk more quickly. "I hate when people walk slow," Ben thought to himself as he dodged and cut around the various tourists clogging the kiosk-strewn walkway. .
9:49 PM EST.
The narrow hallway emptied into a large clearing, sending chills down Ben's back and over his tanned arms. He saw the doors across the way. Ben stared blankly at the wall that was covered in flowing water. He knew that these walls were put there to instill a sense of calm in the patrons of the mall, but Ben felt the exact opposite. Ever since he was seventeen, he hated the water. There was just something unnatural to him about the way something so calm could become so violent. How something so serene could take a life so quickly. Taking a deep breath and biting the inside of his cheek, Ben made his way towards the wall of water and the desk that lay in front of it. He pushed open the glass door and let his nostrils become intoxicated by the stale air.
9:52 PM EST.
"Excuse me sir, do you have your employee identification?" " .
The stern voice startled Ben, stopping him halfway to the elevator. The portly Latina woman in the gray security uniform sauntered her way towards Ben. "Well,no ma'am,"" he said, as politely and calmly as possible. "I'm just trying to get to 'The Top of the Hub' where I'm meeting someone. " .
Even though she was significantly shorter than he was, she seemed to look down at him disapprovingly, as if by coming into her guarded space, he had personally affronted her. "Well, you're in the wrong place. That elevator is downstairs." Ben raised and then furrowed his eyebrows. .
"So I have to go down to go up? That doesn't make much."" She cut him off. "Sir, I'm not going to tell you again. You need to go out these doors, take a left and go down the escalator. You'll see the elevator on your right.
