I have to admit, when I was younger they had me
fooled. I just didn't notice it not being there. I would watch the little
elevator floor read-out like everyone else and not even blink when 12 changed to
14. It just seemed......well, normal I guess. And the people that got off on 14 seemed relatively normal, I mean, they
looked normal. I didn't have much reason ever to be on 14, but when I was, I noticed that the numbers on all the doors started with 14. It just never crossed my mind.
It wasn't until I started
3rd grade that it hit me. I had been doing some sort of math project thing where you have to count stacks of books and do division by breaking the stack up into groups (very thought-provoking I can assure you). This is what I was thinking about as I was walked toward my building. I started counting the floors from the bottom up and when I got to 13, I stopped.
Wait a minute, I thought. I quickly walked inside and surveyed the
elevator panel.
There was no 13! I was utterly confused and asked the first person I saw where the
13th floor was. This elicited a peculiar look, and the person excused himself and left. I got on the elevator with someone else and asked her as well.
"There
is no 13th floor", came the response.
"What do you mean?" I asked, thinking there must be some
bizarre mathematical theorem that proved why the 13th floor didn't exist. I mean, someone had gone
way out of their way to make it look that way.
"It just doesn't. No one talks about it.
It's just not there. How would you like to live on the 13th floor?" she asked.
I thought about that for a moment. I suppose it was a moment too long, because the elevator stopped at 14 and she got off, giving me a scornful look.