story10951.xml

story10951.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-09-11

When it happened, I was only 11 years old. It was the first Tuesday of the school year, and I was pretty excited to be in a new school. I got a call from central office to report there. At first, I was confused and asked myself, did they call me? Once I found out it was me that was called, I was worried that I was in trouble, so I took my time. When I got there, I saw my brother waiting for me. He said to hurry getting my books and getting back to class to tell my teacher that I had to leave. I took my time and got my stuff, and my brother came by and told my teacher what happened. I didn't hear what he said, but he told me on the way to the car. He told me that a plane hit one of the twin towers, another one hit the other tower, and yet another plane hit the pentagon. I realized that I left the school so that if the school was hit, I wouldn't die.
On my way to my other brother's high school, my dad called my brother driving. We were listening to the radio, and I remember hearing on the radio "Oh, my God! The South tower has just collapsed!" My brother goes "Holy Shit! The South tower just collapsed!"
We reached the school, and my brother went in the school to get my other brother. I waited in the car, and as soon as we were all set, we went home.
I watched the lonely tower burn, until I saw my other brother go on online, trying to get information. My mom said that he should get off, in order to help people trying to get loved ones on phones in NY.
I heard a loud sound, and thought a plane was going to crash near my house! To this day, I still think it was all in my mind, but shortly afterwards, a news report came out, saying that a plane crashed in Pennsylvania. Was it just a conscience?
I went into my room to watch in there. At about 10:30, I saw with my own eyes on the TV the North tower collapse. As it fell, I heard my dad say from the living room, "Oh, no!" He raced to the back to check on me and I saw the look on his face. I was full of fear and sadness.
From there, everything is a blur. I took a nap in the middle of the day, and woke up about 3:00. I saw on the news that Osama Bin Laden was being blamed for all of it. My friend called me, saying that she was taken out of school, but didn't call until then because she didn't know if I was home.
Later that night, my dad got a call that my uncle was seen near the twin towers, but is nowhere to be found now. We feared that he had died at Ground Zero, because he was a Port Authority police officer. We found out days later that he was near the twin towers, but he got a weird feeling and high-tailed it out of there. If he waited only a bit longer, we would have lost him. His guardian angel was watching over him that day.
I found out that at school, an announcement was made about a terrorist attack on the World Trade Centers. A lot of people were taken out of school that day; the people who stayed throughout the day didn't find out anything until they got home and saw the news.
The Sunday afterwards, I went to New York City with my dad and 2 brothers. From where I was, I was able to see the smoke rise up from Ground Zero. There were lots of signs about people missing from the WTC's. I'll never forget that day, for it is another day that will live in infamy.