story10689.xml
Title
story10689.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2004-07-15
911DA Story: Story
I live in a large (because of the local university) town about 2 hours south of Washingtno DC.
On the morning of September 11th, I was the first student at my high school, as usual. I was 16 years old and still at the beginning of my junior year. I went to a place called the "Butterfly Cafe" where I could sit and write a journal entry while looking out the windows. I still have that journal today, almost 3 years later. I wrote about a fight I was having with my Mother, how I wasn't looking forward to my chemistry lab, and how I was excited to spend the day with my friends. I was currently grounded and on very thin ice with my mother, so I was excited to be at school where I could socialize. I remember it being a very beautiful morning.
My first class of the day was Chemistry, which lasted until around 9:45am. We were having a discussion on lab safety, which was very very boring. One of my best friends, Amanda, and I were probably making faces at each other or writing notes. I know we weren't paying attention. Sometime between 8:30 and 9:00am, after the first plane hit the World Trade Center, Miss Barrett, another science teacher, ran into the room and told us that there had been an accident. My teacher, Mr. White, couldn't get the television to work, so the class filed into Miss Barrett's room. I remember Amanda and I smiling at each other, glad that we were away from the lab safety discussion.
The two of us and another friend, Jennifer, jumped up and sat on a lab table while we started watching the TV. Immediatly we sobered and started wondering what could have possibly happened. After a short time, the second plane hit and I remember the entire room just getting too quiet for a moment. Amanda and I leaned into one another until about 7 minutes before class was over, when we had to go back into our classroom to collect our things. While we were waiting for the bell, someone brought up the issue of biological warfare. Many of the girls, myself included, started to cry. The boys tried to comfort us, but I could tell that they were afraid too. A girl named Amelia said that she didn't see what the big deal was, and Amanda became very angry. She never liked that girl again.
Amanda and I had our next class together as well. It was a computer publishing class in the top of the building. When we got there, our teacher, Mrs. Wilkins, told us that if we could remain calm, she'd allow us to follow coverage of what was happening. She turned on the TV around 9:50, and we found out that the Pentagon had been hit as well. Most of that period passed in silence. I remember seeing the first tower fall shortly after the class started though. Someone, and to this day I have no idea who-it could even have been Amanda or I-screamed. People in the classroom were muttering and trying not to cry. At one point I excused myself to go to the bathroom and sat on the sink blanking out for a bit. When I came back in Am scooted closer to me, and I was so glad that we were together.
That class ended around 11:30. It was also duing that period that the second tower collapsed, as did a part of the Pentagon. When the plane fell in PA, we all wondered how many more were going to go down that day. That class was very hard to get through.
Amanda and I seperated for our third classes. I don't remember what she had now, but I had Advanced Placement US History. I loved my teacher. He was an older man who an acerbic toungue who made you want to succeed. Or else. He let us watch the television as well. A girl in that class thought that her Mom was on one of the planes and spent some of the time in the bathroom throwing up until her father called the school and told her that her mother was OK. I guess he knew that she didn't know her Mom's flight.
In that class, my friend Kim who was a year older than me comforted me. We didn't pay as much attention to the TV, and instead had a talk. Just a casual one, but I was glad to be there with everyone. Including Mr. Buhl. We broke for lunch in the middle of class and I met with my other best friend, Malinda, in the cafeteria.
Noone at our table had lunch, and I think alot of other people skipped food too. I think that I might have shared a drink with someone, but I wouldn't swear to it in a court. The cafeteria was too quiet, and Kim and I walked back to our classroom in a haze. I lived 20 minutes out of town at the time, and Kim offered to take me home. I worked at the mall, but they closed at 2pm.
My last class was English where, again, we were watching the TV. I wasn't close to anyone in that class, and couldn't stand to watch anymore of the coverage, so I begged my teacher, Mrs. Antonnicola, to let me leave and walk around. She agreed and I again found myself in the butterfly cafe. I remember thinking how different things were from earlier that morning. My friend Emily and another friend (maybe Malinda or Amanda, but I don't remember now) eventually drifted by and ended up sitting with me until the end of the day.
Kim drove me home, and I cried on the way because I hadn't been able to get through to my Mom. She was driving parts to various places in Virginia and West Virginia at that time as her job. I didn't know if she was near or in DC that day, but I wanted to talk to her. I don't know why, but as soon as I left my first class I wanted to talk to her right away.
When I got home, I realised that I didn't want to be alone. I thought that I had wanted to. So I went to the neighbors, a single mother Mary, and her 10 year old Gwen. We watched the news together for awhile, and Gwen asked me why it had happened. I felt so simple, because I didn't have any kind of reasonable answer to give her. I didn't know why it had happened.
I came into my house at some point and took a shower, and then made some food and watched more of the coverage. Mom came home and we hugged for a long time. Then we spent most of the rest of the night watching the TV together, except for my time on the phone with Amanda, rehashing our day, as usual. I probably fell asleep sometime after 2am, although I was in bed at midnight.
Another interesting thing is what happened the next morning. I was at school early again (Mom had to drop me off before work at 7am, so I was usually there around 6:45) and Jonathan came up to me. He wanted to hang a memorial and asked for me to help. I did. In the forum we hung 2 small American flags and a piece of tape on which he wrote the words "We forgot Pearl Harbor, lest we forget again: God Bless America." We stood there and looked at it for awhile and then left. I'll never forget the look on his face after we put it up. He seemed so much more grown up than I had ever seen him be before. He started at the academy to pursure a career in the miltary at the end of the school year.
That's my story of September 11th. It's not very exciting, and pretty close to other high school students, I'm sure.
On the morning of September 11th, I was the first student at my high school, as usual. I was 16 years old and still at the beginning of my junior year. I went to a place called the "Butterfly Cafe" where I could sit and write a journal entry while looking out the windows. I still have that journal today, almost 3 years later. I wrote about a fight I was having with my Mother, how I wasn't looking forward to my chemistry lab, and how I was excited to spend the day with my friends. I was currently grounded and on very thin ice with my mother, so I was excited to be at school where I could socialize. I remember it being a very beautiful morning.
My first class of the day was Chemistry, which lasted until around 9:45am. We were having a discussion on lab safety, which was very very boring. One of my best friends, Amanda, and I were probably making faces at each other or writing notes. I know we weren't paying attention. Sometime between 8:30 and 9:00am, after the first plane hit the World Trade Center, Miss Barrett, another science teacher, ran into the room and told us that there had been an accident. My teacher, Mr. White, couldn't get the television to work, so the class filed into Miss Barrett's room. I remember Amanda and I smiling at each other, glad that we were away from the lab safety discussion.
The two of us and another friend, Jennifer, jumped up and sat on a lab table while we started watching the TV. Immediatly we sobered and started wondering what could have possibly happened. After a short time, the second plane hit and I remember the entire room just getting too quiet for a moment. Amanda and I leaned into one another until about 7 minutes before class was over, when we had to go back into our classroom to collect our things. While we were waiting for the bell, someone brought up the issue of biological warfare. Many of the girls, myself included, started to cry. The boys tried to comfort us, but I could tell that they were afraid too. A girl named Amelia said that she didn't see what the big deal was, and Amanda became very angry. She never liked that girl again.
Amanda and I had our next class together as well. It was a computer publishing class in the top of the building. When we got there, our teacher, Mrs. Wilkins, told us that if we could remain calm, she'd allow us to follow coverage of what was happening. She turned on the TV around 9:50, and we found out that the Pentagon had been hit as well. Most of that period passed in silence. I remember seeing the first tower fall shortly after the class started though. Someone, and to this day I have no idea who-it could even have been Amanda or I-screamed. People in the classroom were muttering and trying not to cry. At one point I excused myself to go to the bathroom and sat on the sink blanking out for a bit. When I came back in Am scooted closer to me, and I was so glad that we were together.
That class ended around 11:30. It was also duing that period that the second tower collapsed, as did a part of the Pentagon. When the plane fell in PA, we all wondered how many more were going to go down that day. That class was very hard to get through.
Amanda and I seperated for our third classes. I don't remember what she had now, but I had Advanced Placement US History. I loved my teacher. He was an older man who an acerbic toungue who made you want to succeed. Or else. He let us watch the television as well. A girl in that class thought that her Mom was on one of the planes and spent some of the time in the bathroom throwing up until her father called the school and told her that her mother was OK. I guess he knew that she didn't know her Mom's flight.
In that class, my friend Kim who was a year older than me comforted me. We didn't pay as much attention to the TV, and instead had a talk. Just a casual one, but I was glad to be there with everyone. Including Mr. Buhl. We broke for lunch in the middle of class and I met with my other best friend, Malinda, in the cafeteria.
Noone at our table had lunch, and I think alot of other people skipped food too. I think that I might have shared a drink with someone, but I wouldn't swear to it in a court. The cafeteria was too quiet, and Kim and I walked back to our classroom in a haze. I lived 20 minutes out of town at the time, and Kim offered to take me home. I worked at the mall, but they closed at 2pm.
My last class was English where, again, we were watching the TV. I wasn't close to anyone in that class, and couldn't stand to watch anymore of the coverage, so I begged my teacher, Mrs. Antonnicola, to let me leave and walk around. She agreed and I again found myself in the butterfly cafe. I remember thinking how different things were from earlier that morning. My friend Emily and another friend (maybe Malinda or Amanda, but I don't remember now) eventually drifted by and ended up sitting with me until the end of the day.
Kim drove me home, and I cried on the way because I hadn't been able to get through to my Mom. She was driving parts to various places in Virginia and West Virginia at that time as her job. I didn't know if she was near or in DC that day, but I wanted to talk to her. I don't know why, but as soon as I left my first class I wanted to talk to her right away.
When I got home, I realised that I didn't want to be alone. I thought that I had wanted to. So I went to the neighbors, a single mother Mary, and her 10 year old Gwen. We watched the news together for awhile, and Gwen asked me why it had happened. I felt so simple, because I didn't have any kind of reasonable answer to give her. I didn't know why it had happened.
I came into my house at some point and took a shower, and then made some food and watched more of the coverage. Mom came home and we hugged for a long time. Then we spent most of the rest of the night watching the TV together, except for my time on the phone with Amanda, rehashing our day, as usual. I probably fell asleep sometime after 2am, although I was in bed at midnight.
Another interesting thing is what happened the next morning. I was at school early again (Mom had to drop me off before work at 7am, so I was usually there around 6:45) and Jonathan came up to me. He wanted to hang a memorial and asked for me to help. I did. In the forum we hung 2 small American flags and a piece of tape on which he wrote the words "We forgot Pearl Harbor, lest we forget again: God Bless America." We stood there and looked at it for awhile and then left. I'll never forget the look on his face after we put it up. He seemed so much more grown up than I had ever seen him be before. He started at the academy to pursure a career in the miltary at the end of the school year.
That's my story of September 11th. It's not very exciting, and pretty close to other high school students, I'm sure.
Collection
Citation
“story10689.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed April 10, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/14311.