Eliana wanted to push the call button, so she was in front of us when the door opened. When it opened, an elderly gentleman with a crutch slowly hobbled out. Once he was clear, Ellie ran in. I started to push Elizabeth in when the doors closed in front of us. She didn't feel well enough to kick out to keep the doors from closing and I didn't try to dive around the wheelchair. Instead the doors closed. As the elevator took away our five year old, we heard panicked screaming fading.
We were on the second floor. Elizabeth and I quickly rode the other car in the direction I thought Ellie's car went. When we got to the third floor, I popped out, look around, and saw no kiddo. I left Elizabeth sitting in the chair there and rode down to the first floor, then back to the second. Repeating the drill on both floors revealed no Eliana. I rode back to Elizabeth. She hadn't seen the daughter either.
After a little bit of discussion with a not entirely lucid Elizabeth, I decided to go check her in and ask the receptionist to call security about Ellie. We did that. The receptionist was surprised when I calmly explained that I'd lost my kid as an addendum to checking in my wife.
As the receptionist started to call security, Elizabeth's phone rang. The caller said they were from hospital security and had an "Ariana." Elizabeth told them which doctor's office we were in and they said they'd bring Eliana there.
It turns out that when Ellie got to the third floor, the woman who had called the elevator found a crying kid and took her to security on the second floor, which explains why I couldn't find her.
I was really proud of Ellie; she remembered her mom's phone number at a really stressful time. A woman who works in the gift shop by the elevator heard the story and was also very impressed. A little later she brought a "You're Awesome!" balloon to the doctor's office for Eliana.
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