story11764.xml

story11764.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2005-08-24

I was a Senior in high school on 9/11/01. I remember the day so vividly, almost to the point that it is all like a bad dream. However I know it is not. I arrived at school and prepare for my first class of the day, which happened to be advanced history (my high school worked on a block 8 system so my first class changed everyday). I sat down in my desk to discover that today we would be watching a movie about Queen Elizabeth of England. Sometime after the movie began, our principal walked in our room and pulled our teacher out into the hallway. People instantly started talking, because the only time the actual principal, not the assistant principals, came to see you was when either you were in serious trouble or a family member was dead. My small advanced history class had no idea had wrong we were. Our teacher returned to the room and sat back at her desk as if nothing had happened. When the movie had ended, she turn back on the lights and began to speak. She began with talking about what we would do during our next history class, since the bell was about to ring to send us on our next class of the day. Her voice was shaking slightly though. Just before the bell rang, she said, "Mrs Murphy came up here to let me know that just a little while ago, a plane crashed into one of the towers of the world trade center, and they thing that it was a commercial jet. No one really knows what is going on right now, just that the tower is on fire, and people may be trapped inside. They think it was an accident." The bell rang, and we all walked out. We I arrive in my next class, the room was buzzing with conversation about what had taken place. Not long after my second class began, one of our assistant principals walked into our class, and pulled his ex-wife (our teacher) to the corner of the room. He was the type of man that talked with his hands, and it was very easy to tell by his hand motions and the look of horror on our teacher's face that another plan had crashed. Only, she wouldn't tell us where. The bell rang to release us to lunch, where I met up with my friends at my car to head to a local fast food resturants. The knew as much as I did, but that changed when I started the car. The radio came on and all we heard were minute to minute reports. We then learned about the other planes had crashed into the other tower and the pentagon. WE FREAKED OUT! We all wanted to go home, but school wasn't canceled. We had no choice but to go back. I was sad and scared. My first class after lunch, we didn't do anything. My teacher was crying and running all over the place. Her dad was happened to be flying that day, and she couldn't find him. Her panicing was scaring us. I just kept think of the fact that a month before this day I was standing underneath the towers as I did the summer before. What if this had happened a month earlier? What is happening to all those people I saw leaving the building at the close of the day? School ended and I had a dress fitting for the homecoming dance. But I went home first. My TV was already on our NBC station. I watched in horror as the replayed the tapes of the planes hitting the buildings, and the buildings falling. That night I didn't sleep, I cried. Everytimed I closed my eyes I saw faces from the days I was in NYC or a plane hitting the buildings. So I sat up all night watching the clips over and over again, and watching the recovery effort. I was shaking uncontrolablly, and it didn't stop or weeks after. 9/11 changed my life; however, I have not be back to NYC since the attacks. 9/11 will fully sink in for me until I return to New York and see the gap in the skyline for myself. Then, maybe I will be able to begin to let heal and let go. My heart, prayers, love goes to the heros, victums, and famlies touched my the attack. Peace and Love!