Where is Lando Calrissian when you need him?

"More coffee?" Someone in a suit asks as I hand my cup over to them.  There's nothing but sugary donuts on the board room table, and I'm trying not to give into the temptation.  It's another long development meeting and I've spent most of it half listening as I gaze out the floor to ceiling windows towards the skyscrapers in the horizon.

It's a foggy day; and so most of the buildings are half engulfed by clouds.  It's eerie, but part of me is secretly hoping for Lando Calrissian to show up and orchestrate my escape.

How friggen cool would that be?

I try to wash away the boredom with images of me running down a long glass corridor in Cloud City with Chewbacca guarding my back.

The irony, as I sit here bored to tears, is that I couldn't sell the reality of my life.  There's no conflict.  Nothing to get excited about.  No thunderous soundtrack to mark impending doom.

Just me, sitting here, on a foggy morning having a boring meeting -- and trying my best to ignore the presence of sugary donuts.

The clock ticks.

Seconds morph into Eons.

I yawn.

It's funny how life is.  The Monday to Friday of it all.  Boring.  Simple.  Uneventful.  I guess if the real world were more exciting, I wouldn't have a thriving career.

I yawn, again.

More seconds melt into minutes, then quarter hours.

The clouds become thicker and darker.

Probably going to rain.

Eventually, the room becomes so dark that we have to turn on some more lights.  A moment later a predictable squabble starts between the talent and one of the producers.  Their egos put on boxing gloves and duke out who has more power, and so I shift back in my chair to feign sleep until it is over.

I'm awoken a moment later by a commotion outside, followed by a young girl who bursts into the boardroom and exasperatedly tells us to "Turn on the news!"

I look outside to see that the fog has shifted to dark rolling clouds.

What the fuck?

Panic starts to set in as someone clicks on the flatscreen to our right to catch an interrupted news brief;

"...to warn that all immediate measure be taken and that for the time being; we are urging everyone to stay underground. I repeat, while it is unknown what exactly has prompted this bizarre...firestorm...we are urging all citizens to immediately evacuate to the nearest basement at this time."

In the distance I see a red streak shoot from one of the clouds and smash into a building.  A moment later, our building begins to shake.

"C'mon!" I say to everyone as we all begin to race towards the stairs.

There's a lag in the hallway in front of the stairs.  People stampede over one another as they push forwards towards the staircase.  I take a second and grab some water bottles from a nearby waiting area and throw them in my bag.  A moment later, two people behind me grab the rest of them.

The crowd in front of us is thick, and there's massive panic and disarray in front of the stairwell.

My stomach begins to turn with fear.  I don't know what is happening.

I don't try to push; because something deep inside of me is telling me not to -- and so, out of primal necessity I chose to listen.

And then it happens.

A red steak fires through the wall and disseminates a dozen or so people who are crowding in front of the stairwell.

Before I have time to process what I've just seen, someone grabs my arm and we begin to race in the opposite direction.  I can feel tears flowing down my cheeks, but my legs seem to take over and a moment later we are scurrying down another set of stairs.

The smell of fire and charred flesh becomes more pungent.

I can barely grasp enough breath to take me down the next flight.  But somehow, I manage and a moment later we join with a small crowd as we race through the back hallways of maintenance towards another door and another set of stairs.

And then we hear it.

The thunder.

The screams.

"Hurry!" someone shouts as if that thought hadn't occurred to any of us.

We blast through the emergency exit.  I'm the second to last to make it through the door before I hear an explosion.  And then the steel door shuts behind me.

It's dark and moist as we hurry towards the basement parking area.  More screams in the distance. 

The five or six of us take salvage in the bottom of a stairwell on one of the levels of the parking garage.  The lights have now gone out with only the faint hue of green from one emergency light outlining our terrified faces.

It's hard to breathe.  I watch as the walls and stairwell shake uncontrollably all around us.  I have no choice but to huddle and cover my head.  The screams intensify as the ground all around us shakes.

I grab on to the person beside me for balance -- and they do the same to the person beside them. 

We are all in tears.

More screams -- this time in the parking garage outside of the stairwell we're huddled in. 

And then we hear it -- the deep rumble of crashing cement.  It is inevitable -- the building is caving in on us.  The stairs begin to crumble around us, and I brace for impact by covering my head with my hands. 

I am shaking uncontrollably.

The screams become louder with the thunderous crumbling --

Thunk.

Thunk.

Thunk.

Floors are caving in on one another.  Slowly at first -- then faster.

My heart is pounding.  The person beside me wets themself out of fear.  I look to them to offer some sort of comfort, but just when we're about to make eye contact, the walls around us begin to crack -- and the floor gives out.

And I fall -- barely able to make out the chaos and destruction in the hue of the green light that offers little comfort.

And as a sharp searing pain takes control of my body, I --