Paper Trails

Elevator Rides

Daniel stood and stared his face bright with awe.  He was at the foot of a towering skyscraper with a large sign above the door that read, 'Chicago Broadcasting Center' also known as CBC News, a publication that he'd been reading since he was a child.

Coming from a little town in South Carolina, Daniel's family had strong political notions, but Daniel himself was the exact opposite. From a very young age he found he had very little in common with the views of his parents, much to the chagrin of his father. It was due to this that Daniel would sneak into the library every Sunday to watch the CBC broadcasting and learn as much as he could about the world. He longed to be cultured, longed to be worldly. He wanted to be writer, one of the people who wrote the stories that changed his life.

Looking up at the building filled him with excitement, but also with dread. For as much as Daniel wanted to be a world traveler and story chaser he'd never even seen a skyscraper before, let alone worked within one. The building stretched so high it seemed to disappear into the clouds. The sun glinted off the glass and blinded Daniel as he stood.

You should just go in... he thought, but failed to move. He had thought he would be braver when the moment finally came, but there in the center of Chicago, staring at the headquarters of the his promised land, he was terrified.

The farthest Daniel had ever been from his home town was a trip to the Outer Banks with his older brother and parents that ended in disaster and returning as a child. Daniel's father wasn't prepared for the new world, and even OBX was too far for him. Nothing Daniel had seen online could prepare him for the sheer volume of people, buildings, and sights, in the great city of Chicago. It was like something out of a storybook, even with its dirty streets and less than satisfied pedestrians. 

This is it. This is your shot. Daniel prepped himself. So don't blow it.

With a final breath of anticipation Daniel entered the building. When he'd applied for the internship the librarian had cut out of the paper for him he hadn't thought he would ever be hired in a million years, but yet he passed the first round of interviews, and the second, and the third. In all the hustle and bustle of the competition across the nation to get hired Daniel had never actually needed to go to Chicago, he'd been able to do it from the comfort of his own room, but here.... now... everything was real, it was tangible. He could barely contain the conflicting ranged of emotion. 

The lobby was a large room full of glass and shining silver modern accents all branded with the CBC logo. Daniel wasn't a fan of modern architecture, but yet as he looked up at the balconies that looked down at the lobby with its shooting indoor fountain he couldn't help but be awed. It was like he was a pilgrim looking at a sixteenth century church--- taking in every sight and savoring it as if it might be his last. But it wouldn't. Daniel was going to get to look at it everyday for the next six months. 

Towards the back was an elevator on one side of a large rounded desk. On the other side was a frosted glass window marked with a 'C' for Chicago. Daniel hadn't been alerted in the email correspondence as to where he was expected to go, but he figured the front desk was as good a place to start his search as any other. 

The boy's shoes clinked as he walked into the room making him feel as if he was interrupting the room, as if he was like food color sitting on water and he had spilled down staining it. The woman sitting at the desk looked up at him and scoffed.

Her reaction made it harder for him to justify walking up to the desk and asking her his question. Still, Daniel had no better options so he did.

"Hello," He greeted trying to be cheerful, and she rolled her eyes but didn't answer as if she thought he was just an annoying boy trying to flirt with her. "Um... I'm a new intern, I submitted a writing sample, and got hired.... but I've never been here, and the email didn't say where to go... "