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“Watch the Gap” signs are everywhere in the NYC subway system, but I dismissed them as a legal thing, and didn’t think people actually fell into the space between the subway car and the platform until it happened to me. I was coming home from a photo shoot and heard the train pull up while I was halfway down the stairs. It was Sunday, meaning that trains come about once every frajillion hours so I hustled, and was just getting into the car when my left foot caught and slipped straight down into the gap.

With my left leg suddenly wedged to just above my knee, my upper torso went flying forward and my face slammed onto the floor of the train, covered, no doubt, in a film comprised of every single substance a homeless human being can excrete. My right leg sprawled out on the platform behind me.

Thankfully BOTH legs didn’t fall into the gap or I’d have been stuck up to my hips, or, worse, fallen through completely, and then the train would have pulled away and I’d have been done for. Eeeps!

Thankfully with one leg out for leverage and two gentlemen who immediately came to my rescue by pulling my elbows, I was able to wedge myself out pretty quickly, although not quickly enough to avoid the subway doors closing and opening a few times on my rib cage (ow!)

I crawled all the way onto the car with the doors attempting one last failed open-and-close on my already bruised ankle. I sat. Everyone went back to reading their magazines or staring into space, because this is New York and people thankfully stop giving shits really fast. I patted the bruises and scrapes forming on my leg, brushed off the crud from my hands as best I could, and collected myself.

Seriously, guys: Watch the Gap.