story8441.xml
Title
story8441.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-10-16
911DA Story: Story
Leaving Las Vegas with a fever and two day deadline to get to Seattle we pulled out onto the strip tired, disgruntled and ready to be home. Nate drove and when the cell phone rang I answered it.
"Tristan, did you see what happened" It was an old friend Chloe. "Tristan call your parents, call them quickly."
My stomach dropped so quickly, the panicky unease at someone calling out of the blue and urgently ordering you to call your parents set in immediately.
"Chloe, what are you talking about?"
"Their bombing New York, and D.C. Tristan, call your parents and find out if they're all right." She sounded panicked
My hands started shaking and I felt like crying but I didn't want to in front of my friend, because there were things I needed to do now, because I was too shocked.
"Who's bombing New York?"
"I don't know, nobody does. Just call your parents."
I think that was the moment when I realized maybe everything isn't going to be alright, things can so disrupt the natural order of the universe, that the mortality of your loved ones isn't guarenteed. Picturing my parents under rebel surrounded by a wasteland that used to be hometown was too horrific and those images were enough to nauseate me.
I hung up the phone and shaking all over told Nate what Chloe had said. He just looked at me blankly and turned on the radio while I tried to call the home to Arlington only to get busy signal after busy signal. By now the anxiety was massive, for christs sakes the phones weren't working, all I could think was "my home is being bombed, the infrastructure isn't working..." I felt so close breakdown, so firmly and strongly that something was wrong, that earth had shifted and shadow had fallen over it.
That feeling hasn't lifted even yet more than a year after the attack.
"Tristan, did you see what happened" It was an old friend Chloe. "Tristan call your parents, call them quickly."
My stomach dropped so quickly, the panicky unease at someone calling out of the blue and urgently ordering you to call your parents set in immediately.
"Chloe, what are you talking about?"
"Their bombing New York, and D.C. Tristan, call your parents and find out if they're all right." She sounded panicked
My hands started shaking and I felt like crying but I didn't want to in front of my friend, because there were things I needed to do now, because I was too shocked.
"Who's bombing New York?"
"I don't know, nobody does. Just call your parents."
I think that was the moment when I realized maybe everything isn't going to be alright, things can so disrupt the natural order of the universe, that the mortality of your loved ones isn't guarenteed. Picturing my parents under rebel surrounded by a wasteland that used to be hometown was too horrific and those images were enough to nauseate me.
I hung up the phone and shaking all over told Nate what Chloe had said. He just looked at me blankly and turned on the radio while I tried to call the home to Arlington only to get busy signal after busy signal. By now the anxiety was massive, for christs sakes the phones weren't working, all I could think was "my home is being bombed, the infrastructure isn't working..." I felt so close breakdown, so firmly and strongly that something was wrong, that earth had shifted and shadow had fallen over it.
That feeling hasn't lifted even yet more than a year after the attack.
Collection
Citation
“story8441.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 10, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/4132.