I Carried My Elderly Neighbor down Nine Flights During a Fire – Two Days Later, a Man Showed Up at My Door and Said, ‘You Did It on Purpose!’
It had been an ordinary Tuesday—spaghetti on the stove, Nick pretending we were on a cooking show—until the fire alarm screamed and smoke filled the hallway. We took the stairs with our neighbors, nine floors down through coughing and panic. Outside, wrapped in cold air and flashing lights, I made a decision Nick understood immediately. Mrs. Lawrence, our elderly neighbor in a wheelchair, was trapped upstairs with no elevator. I went back in.
The climb was brutal. Smoke burned my lungs. My legs shook. When I reached her, I didn’t argue logistics—I lifted her and carried her down nine flights of stairs, one aching step at a time. We made it out together. The building survived, but the elevators didn’t.
