story477.xml

story477.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-04-28

September 10th - Night

I went to bed with a kind of weird feeling in the back of my head. I couldn't quite figure out what it was, but I usually get this feeling before something big happends. I had an important test the next day, so I figured, hey, maybe this means I will do well on it. I fell asleep...

September 11th - 7 AM (PST)

I awoke to hear the sobs of my mother crying "We're in war, we're in war..." I had not come to my complete senses, and then I heard the TV on. "If you're just joining in with us, both towers of the World Trade Center, in New York City, have been struck by two large airplanes, according to witnesses." I thought "This is some sick Hollywood movie, this can't be the news." I turn on my TV to CNN, and I saw the chaos. I immediately looked into the corner of the screen, where the word "Live" was flashing.

What is all of this? Dear God, the people in that building. I quickly dressed for school, and as I was putting on my t-shirt, the first of the buildings fell. I was in shock, I did not know what to make out of it. I got into the car, and turned on the radio to KNX 1070. My school is about 15 miles away, right by downtown LA. As we were approaching the Harbor FWY, the second tower fell. I immediately looked out into the LA Skyline, thinking "Will it happen here?" I glanced up into the sky, to see the approach pattern into LAX. There were no airplanes. I thought "This is odd, no airplanes flying into LAX today, the FAA must know something is going on." It had not even hit my head yet, that this was a terrorist attack.

I arrived at school, and the administration was doing there best to keep everyone calm. I went to my lockers, and joined a conversation with people speaking about the events. A kid came up to us and said, "What's going on guys..." He had not heard of the news yet, which was surprising to us all. We told him, and he began to get worried. Apparently, his brother worked in Tower 2, of the World Trade Center. (We later found out, that his brother, who had recently graduated from the school, saved dozens of lives that day. He quickly helped people out of the building, and later, as the building collapsed, he was leaning against the side, just outside the main lobby. He looked up, just as the building started to collapsed, and ran. Somehow, he lived.)

School was cancelled that day, and for the day after that. We were so close to Downtown Los Angeles, that we felt that it was a danger for us to be in school.

I drove him, and there was hardly anyone on the freeway. I pulled into my driveway, and ran inside, to turn on the TV. I sat there, watching the coverage for a few hours, then fell asleep. The events of the day had worn me down mentally.

September 12 - Morning

I woke up, and thought it was all some big dream. Those buildings didn't fall, I joked "What an awful dream I had." Then I turned on the TV, to the local news. It hit me again, that this was not a dream. The dust had not even settled, and I could see the horrible logo, forever sketched in my mind "Fox News: America at War"