Public Nudity

"Oh... Oh my god..." Joanne spoke aloud, as she crouched down. The first signs of shock were beginning to wear off, and give way to laughter and pointing. With each passing second, Joanne noticed more and more people turning in her direction. Looking to her left, Joanne's eyes widened as she noticed an even greater number of people gathered in the parking lot to the left of the hotel. "How can a hotel fit this many people?!" Joanne thought to herself, adrenaline beginning to spike. Without a second thought, Joanne sprinted for the front entrance around the corner of the fire escape she had come through. As she ran, she heard numerous comments about her body, or the embarrassing scenario unfolding at her expense.

"Rock on lady!" One young man yelled out in her direction, much to the amusement of his friends.

"I get its a fire alarm, but couldn't she at least have some decency and throw on a robe? Some people just have no class..." Another older, discontented woman commented. The employee at her side was thankful that the naked woman was distracting the old woman from her original rant.

"I thought I'd seen it all..." The hotel manager said to himself, sipping from his coffee. Not wanting to deal with another hectic situation, the disgruntled man slipped behind the fire truck, out of sight.

Joanne tried her best to ignore the various comments and jeers she received on her short run towards the front entrance, and finally found her way to the sliding glass door. Just as she was about to run through, a fireman moved into her path as he exited the building. Looking closer, Joanne deduced the person in the suit was a brunette woman with bags under her eyes from clear exhaustion. She initially looked surprised, but decided to move along, mumbling under her breath. Until she noticed Joanne move towards the sliding glass doorway.

"Wait. Building isn't clear yet. You have to wait until we give the OK." She stated monotonically, moving into Joanne's path. The action happened faster than Joanne could react, causing her to bump into the indifferent woman positioned in front of her. Joanne recoiled from the shock, and slowly processed that the woman in front of her had meant to obstruct her from entering the hotel. "P-please! I just need a towel, or even a coat! I only want something to cover up with. That's it." Joanne pleaded, trying her best to smile politely despite the side-eyed smirks she kept receiving.

The woman pondered for just barely a second, before shaking her head no. "No can do miss. There's smoke coming in from a stairwell door that was left open, and its not safe. I can't afford to risk someone getting hurt because of some naked lady. Just be patient, I'm sure one of the hotel staff or one of the residents would be glad to help you."

Joanne stared aghast at the woman, who simply crossed her arms and re-positioned herself in the middle of the doorway to better safeguard the door. "You can't leave me out here like this! There's hundreds of people out here!" The woman chuckled to herself, before correcting Joanne. "A little over a thousand actually. Had to empty the whole building, and they said they were at maximum capacity."

Joanne turned around, and noticed with horror a few people had began pointing their phones in her direction. The woman near the door rolled her eyes, and sighed. "Look, I would love to help you, but I'll be blunt. If you go in there, or a hotel staff member goes in there, they are at risk of getting lung damage from smoke inhalation. If it comes out that I let someone into an active fire scene and they got hurt, I could lose my job." The woman calmly explained. "I'll make sure someone comes to help you as soon as possible, but our resources are stretched pretty thinly already. We're a small island, so we can only afford to keep one deputy on staff 24 hours a day. Just... take a minute to compose yourself. If you're worried about getting arrested, I'll radio to the deputy on duty about the situation and we will make sure there's no misunderstanding."

Joanne turned back around, finding a small bit of relief in the woman's words. "Well, thanks anyways. Do you have any idea where I could get something to wear?" She inquired nervously, looking back towards the fire truck. The formerly compassionate woman grew a stern look on her face again. "I just told you I would do everything in my power to make sure you wouldn't have a problem. Everybody's seen your bare ass, and I've basically given you a pass on public nudity until you can go back inside, so what do you care?" The woman frowned down at Joanne as she spoke the last bit, implying that she had been expecting more gratitude for her assistance.

"I've got to get back upstairs. The radio keeps buzzing so I'm worried something might be wrong." With those stern words, the woman left Joanne wearing nothing but a pair of flip-flops and a dampened hope that she could find a way to escape the public eye.