An Unlikely Survivor
Chapter 1
August 31, 2001
Olivia lived in New York City, her house had an amazing view of the Twin Towers. The sky scrapers towered outside her bedroom window. The long lines in the left and right sides of her window. Noises of the bustling city
wipe any chance of sleep from the daytime sun shine. Mom says I've got the best view in the whole house. If I've got the best view the views of this house must be bad.
In the night the view's better and the sounds are quieter. I can actually get some sleep at night. The Towers are lit up with individual light bulbs. I thought about how long and how many people it took to build the towers. I remember looking at only the frame of the building some years ago. I never knew it would turn out like this. I thought the buildings were an are indestructible. In a few days I will learn I was wrong.
Dan lived in Boston. All he did was sit and watch red socks games or study for school. City life for Dan isn't much fun. Although through the first weeks of school his sister, his dad, and him are going to Disney. "Son, I need you."his dad called. Dan walked do stairs to his dad. His dad said, "Son, we were supposed to leave Disney October 4, right?", "Yeah." I replied hesitantly. "We're now leaving September 10."
Chapter 2
August 31, 2001
"Does Malary know?", I questioned. My father said yes. Malary is my little sister. She is a little snobby and has an attitude. She's a little bit whiny. She's only whiny when she doesn't get what she wants. She's always does that. I get really annoyed when she does that. I mean it's very annoying. She cries when I don't play with her. Other than that she's fine.
September 1, 2001
I'm on the plane with Malary, and Dad. It's 8 am. I have nothing to do to not bore me. The flight to Florida was boring. We got to the airport on flight 84 at 10:00 am. Relieved and tired we got to my aunts house. I slept til 12:00 pm. I got reacquainted with my aunt until I went to sleep.
Olivia's mother works on the 19 floor of the south tower. So I can stop anytime I want. I usually go to the top to see the view or hang out with Jerry my mom's cool friend. He usually has something cool to talk about. This time I went to the Cafe this time to see Jerry sitting and drinking coffee some thing about him seems different. "uh-oh.", I murmured.
Jerry had been there the hole morning hours drinking coffee. That means he's in "hyper mode.", I muttered. "Hi Olivia where you been? were you sleeping? Were you bored? Did you play bored games? Whee is your mother? Is she sleeping? Does she have work? I like work.", Jerry said in a hyper voice. "Wow, Jerry slow down.", I soothed. Jerry looked at me, scared, and said, "I'm scared... the World Trade centers are going to collapse!"
Chapter 3
September 2, 2001
"uh huh, sure." I replied hesitantly. Jerry said nothing but looked at me with a genuine look of scarce. I knew Jerry could be right I know that nothing is indestructible. Take a look at what happened to the Titanic. The supposed unsinkable sank. A lot of other things said weren't unbreakable have been broken. Who knows, maybe Jerry was right. Maybe the all-standing can fall. "how long until the attack?" I asked. "9 days." was my answer.
Today was fun. we rode a bunch of Disney rides. I'm not going to say my list because I could go on forever and ever. The one and only ride I didn't like was the Terror Tower. It was too scary. I'm not going to ride it again. The only thing I liked about it was the drop. It was fast. There is a rumor that if you put a penny on your lap you can see it float. I watched my dad put the penny on his lap and it really did float. I want to go there again sometime soon.
Tomorrow, we are going to Universal studios I totally want to ride the Harry Potter ride. I am a huge Fan of Harry Potter. I read all the books and watched all the movies...7 Times. I am working on my 8 time I'm half way through the 4th book: Harry Potter: and the Goblet of Fire. I am a huge fan of J. K. Rowling's writing. In fact, I'm going to read some now so tomorrow I know what they're talking about.
Chapter 4
September 3, 2001
"He left the compartment before they could say another word, stepping over Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were still lying on the floor, covered in hex marks." The final paragraph of the Goblet of Fire. I want to read the Order of the Phoenix. When I went to get the book I realized I forgot it back in Boston. "Malary, Dan! It's time to go!" I heard my dad call. I'm sad I forgot my book at home. Head hung, I walked down stairs.
8. The only number I think of is 8. 8 days at 8 am Jerry predicts an attack that will bring down the Twin Towers. I still doubt him. These things still could happen. I am very lucky to know thee things could happen. Yet, the still have a chance of not happening. I am going to prove to Jerry that these things will not happen. At 6:30 am I'm going to the South Tower
I'm not going to the North Tower. The only reason is my mom works at the South Tower. I'd love to see the view from the North Tower. The height is no different, but it shows a different part of the city. Jerry never said anything about which tower will be attacked first, so I will stick to the tower I know.
Chapter 5
September 4, 2001
After a good nights sleep, I'm not crazy about the number 8! I'm crazy about the number 7! It's driving me crazy! Man, I'm starting to sound like Jerry. I need to stop this crazy paranoia. Just don't think of it. Sev. Seve. S... I did it I stopped thinking about 7! Great.
We got home and as I started to go to my room Dad called me and Malary. Then said, "You two were very kind today, so I stopped at the gift store while you guys were riding the Harry Potter ride for the third time.", he paused. "Here you go Malary.", she got a small minion thing that universal said would make in a couple of years. "and for you, Dan.", I got... a genuine Harry Potter wand.
I jumped up and screamed. I hugged my dad. I went back to my room to check it out. It's amazing. There is no trademark date or copyright label. I heard the television I went and saw the first Harry Potter on. I watched all the movies the rest of the afternoon.
Chapter 6
September 5, 2001
I still can't get over how I got my wand and the marathon came right on a few hours later. Today we're just going to stay at home nothing really fun. I sat on my bed. I stared at my wand. Thinking of something to do to not bore me to death. I guess I'll just have to survive today and wait for the fun day tomorrow we are going to ride the water rides in Disney.
Today is day 6! It's like I'm counting down to New Years Day. Instead of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Happy New Years! It's 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Happy No Towers Day! Also, instead of a series of cheers, a series of screams of terror and cries of fear. Great paranoia. I need my mom to have a talk with me.
"Mom?" I wanted to talk to my mom. She always solves the family problems. "Yes, honey?" I replied with, "Mom, Jerry told me that the Twin Towers are going to fall.", "So?" she said. "I keep having paranoia.", I told her. "Honey, stop the Twin Towers are fine. They won't fall."
Chapter 7
September 6, 2001
The look of my mom's face after she said what she said to calm me down yesterday, was a face of worry. She was scared of the thought of me being crazy. " Honey, you coming to the Tower with me?", my mom asked. I never wanted to see those towers again. Except I replied, " O. K." I guess I wanted to check on Jerry. I wanted to see if he still was paranoid.
I was dripping not with sweat, but with water. The rides we went on, man they were cool. They were cool in both ways. I chuckled to myself. I love this trip. The most active summer I've ever had. Luckily I'll be in Boston on a Saturday so my trip will last longer. I'll get back September 11, 2001.
I've never been more excited for another date. September 11, 2001. We're getting our tickets tomorrow. We're not even leaving until 4 more days. Tomorrow 3, no difference. September11, 2001. The plan leaves at 8:30 on the 10th and we get there on the 11th. By the time we get there it would be 12:30, 9/11/01.
Chapter 8
September 7, 2001
At the airport, we went up to were we can buy tickets. We said we wanted the closest date ticket to Boston. She said the closest was September 10. We took the offer. She printed out our tickets. I looked at the tickets. They stated, "Sept. 10 8:30 am Flight 175".
3 days til the flight home. Man, how it'll feel to be in Boston again. How nice to be away for the school week and be home for the weekend. Home. A place where you feel safest. So many things to be reintroduced. I haven't seen most of my things in my room since for a long time. Or my friends. I miss them dearly, all of them. 5 days.
Jerry was fine. He said that he didn't know what he was talking about. "You know how I get." he said sadly. "You know..." "It's O.K." I replied cooing him. He seemed relieved. He smiled his weak smile. We said nothing the whole five hours we were there. It was dark when Jerry left. We left two hours later than Jerry did. I had two go to bed when we got home.
Chapter 9
September 8, 2001
I was so tired on the way home, I was basically sleep walking. I went home, got a shower. Brushed my teeth. Then went to bed. I fell asleep. Into a deep sleep. All of a sudden, I saw myself on the top of the South Tower looking through the binocular things and I saw a plane heading my way.
I woke up in sweat and tears. I looked at the time it read. 11:00 pm. So, I went back to sleep at least I tried. It was mid night when I went back to sleep. Another one of those dreamless nigh... half of a nights. All I saw as an abyss of black. I woke up one more time. A few hours of staring into an abyss
of darkness I heard. "Olivia it's time to wake up!"
last night I had a dream that I never was going home. That I was never going to see my friends again. I woke up and realized everything was alright.
My dream kept coming back to me. All day. I hope it won't stay that way for the next two days. In two days I'll make that terrible nightmare just, a nightmare. In two days I'll be on my way back to Boston.