9/11: A Short Story

It was a cold January morning. The smell of fire was strong throughout the air and smoke filled the room. There was a strong, loud beeping sound throughout the house. It wasn’t just coming from one place, it was coming from multiple. My family hurries to find our animals as we call 911. I can’t be dreaming, is this real life?

BEEP! BEEP! “Already,” James moaned. “I thought I had the snooze set for thirty minutes.” James thought to himself. Before he could even get out of bed, James's mother swung open the door so hard that he could have sworn she made a dent in the wall. “JAMES! YOU’RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL AGAIN! THIS IS THE THIRD TIME THIS WEEK, AND IT IS ONLY WEDNESDAY!” James quickly sprang up from his bed and began to apologize until he was interrupted as she continued to give him a lecture. She calmed down but then proceed to sass with, “Not only are you late, but your room has also seemed to be hit with a tornado. I want this cleaned up after you come home from school or else I’ll be sure you can’t feel your behind after I am done with you.” James

Thunderous roar reverberates in the sky, hole after another fill the world, from within, lay another roar which makes us shudder in fear.

23 years have past and Irene is at the emergency office making phone calls to people who need her. “911 what’s your emergency?” She asks to a little boy on the phone.

It had just seemed like an ordinary day, but after that day had passed, the day of September 11th, was no where close to ordinary. It all started out as if it was any workday.

Todays story will be a special one in honor of the upcoming Anniversary of 9-11-01

Its was June of 2008, and the rain was coming down harder than ever. We were at a wedding reception in Des Moines, Iowa. Why were we even here when there are annoying beeping sounds all over, from the phones. We all started dancing and having fun until… my dad, Michael received a call from a friend. Wide eye stare as he frantically looks around the room. Then he whispers something into my mom, Hillary’s ear and she panicked. My sister, Lauren and I were having the best time dancing and playing around the room when my mom grabs my hand and says…

I was sitting in my office one day looking around. Something was not right, I didn’t feel safe. I could tell something was going to happen, but I didn’t know what. As I sat there wondering, and watching the pigeons flying around outside I got hungry so I ate a Snickers bar. For some reason it tasted better that day than it ever had before, and then there they were, the planes! My coworkers and I watched as they circled the towers, getting lower and lower. By that time everyone was at the windows all watching, all wondering.

It is now lunch, I have called my mother and she is okay. For lunch I ate a 6” sub from Subway. So far all I have gotten was flirty looks from girls, and obscene gestures from their boyfriends. I honestly don’t know if this day can get any more boring.

One of Ms. Brown's coworker quickly called her daughter, who was touring the World Trade Center. Ms. Brown's coworker lost contact with her daughter and did not hear from her again for four long days. All the cell phone company's signals were all stationed on top of the Twin Towers and when the buildings fell, all service was lost. All communication was gone and in the streets, there were silence. Smoke spilled out of the burning towers and painted the sky black. People jumped out of the flaming buildings, desperate for escaption. When the towers crumbled, a black substance covered the streets and people as they ran for help.

The diffused light became a blinding glare as Toni swam back to the surface of reality. Her head felt as if it were being pounded with a sledgehammer. There was a thick silence around her, broken only by a steady beeping sound in the background. She vaguely felt numerous tubes and needles poking into her body.

"Shinichi, I've got the information from your father's files and added some from recent newspapers., but he is still shrouded in mystery. The first time he showed was in Paris about 18 years ago. He stole for 10 years until one day, he disappeared. Many thought he passed away. Eight years later, however, he showed up again, but stayed in Japan instead of traveling around the world."

IT WAS ABOUT ELEVEN O’CLOCK in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.

“Maria! Maria where are you?” I look around the vast yard searching for my sister. I give up looking, she’ll eventually come in when she notices I’ve stopped looking for her. I pass my mother on our porch staring into the horizon waiting for something that’ll never happen. “A blizzard” the radio had crackled out last night. The reporter said that anyone in Oklahoma to leave if they still can. My father and I don’t believe that bogus, but it has Ma a bit rattled. I ran up the stairs of our rickety old house up to the attic. I heard the slamming of the door. It must be Maria, ‘cus it’s still light outside so Pa shouldn’t be home yet. I peek down stairs and Maria and ma are heading into the kitchen to cook supper. I know I should go and help but

Rain drops splashed on top of the rooftop as the sun began to set .Amber hopped of the counter in the kitchen and walked over to the fireplace were we were all sitting at. I opened up a can of ravioli and poured it in a pan and began to warm it up on my portable cooking stove. Amber sat beside me as we felt the warmth of the fireplace. Eve was rocking back in forth in the corner her face in her knees eyes not blinking as she seemed to be in deep thought. I focused my attention on Isamu who was staring out the window staring at the rain his hands behind his back probably contemplating what he will say. He turned around and looked at me and Amber and released his hands behind his back .