A split-second decision likely saved one Grainger County man's life.
Lester Elkins lives in Rutledge and was traveling through the Brussels airport Tuesday morning on his way to a business trip in Italy.
That's when terrorists attacked the airport and one of the city's metro stops.
Just a minute before the bombs exploded, Elkins paused in front of an airport gift shop and made a decision that likely made the difference between life and death.
"My wife was asking for some Belgium chocolates when I was over there, and, of course, in a duty-free shop they had all that," Elkins said. "But then I was kind of thinking I didn't want to haul that around in my suitcase right then and there because I still had quite a bit more traveling to do, so I made a decision to get it later on."
"If I would've stopped for that chocolate, there is a possibility I could've been right there when that happened," Elkins told WBIR 10News by phone from the London area, where he's staying ahead of business meetings there next week.
Still, Elkins wasn't far away when the bombs exploded.
"I was close enough to the blast to where...the dust and the concussion, I definitely felt it, you know. And everybody kind of froze for a minute and you start hearing all the yelling and the screaming," Elkins described. "There was, you know, all the debris and there were some fires burning...The dust and the smoke and everything else, and it was quite the scene getting out of there."
He said one of the worst parts was watching as hundreds of people, in survival mode, had to squeeze through two relatively small double doors to escape that portion of the airport.
There was a palpable "panic," he said, and "a feeling of, you know, 'Am I going to die?'"
After spending several hours at a nearby holding area and then a large airplane hanger, Elkins and some 900 other people were bused to a military base, where they spent the night at a Red Cross Shelter.
"I did see blood and I did see bodies and things like that when I was exiting the airport, so that's sticking with me. And the smell of the bombs," Elkins recalled Friday morning. "I was just one decision away from probably being in the middle of it...You just never know when it's going to be your time."
He said he called his wife - who was home in Grainger County - within an hour of the explosions and told her he was alright.
Elkins has been closely following any news of Sevier County native Justin Shults, who, along with his wife Stephanie, are still missing after the attacks, as of Friday evening. U.S. officials and family members are working to find out what happened to them.
"My heart goes out to that family," Elkins said. "It was just a mass panic and chaos. I hope that there is a possibility that these people are just misplaced and lost."
Elkins said he encourages everybody to tell those you love how much they mean to you. It's a message that has become all too real to him since Tuesday morning.