6000 Balloons
Disclaimer: I do NOT OWN iCarly. But as a citizen of the U.S. I feel it is my patriotic duty to do a memorial each year.
"How many is that?" Sam asked, tying yet another balloon to the stand for Freddie's tech equipment.
"Um…that was number 5915 out of 6000. How many helium tanks have we used up?" Freddie responded, looking at the pile of helium tanks lying in the corner, and the other pile that still had helium.
"54 tanks. I'm surprised nobody's talking weird. And how much longer do we have to do this?" Sam asked, looking at her watch.
"We release them tomorrow, at school, at 8:47." Freddie said. It was 3:45 in the morning, and Freddie, Sam, and Carly had been busy filling up balloons with helium. Each one was either red, white, or blue. Red for Sam, white for Carly, and blue for Freddie. This way, nobody could argue over colors. Each one had the name of somebody who died from 9/11. The number of fatalities was over 6000, but that was the decided limit. They were making fast progress, because at about 6:30, Spencer and a ton people from school had decided to help. So there they were, a crowd of about 42, sitting amongst balloons, bags of unfilled balloons, string, notecards, and helium tanks. Carly, Spencer, and the others were busy moving dozens of balloons downstairs, and Spencer swore it was making him float.
Sam tied another red balloon, writing down the name of the last victim on the card. As she tied it, she quietly prayed that the families of the victims would, by some miracle, see the balloons.
An hour later they were done.
oOo
Taking all 4000 balloons to the school football field was not easy at first, but everyone at school showed up, each taking at least five balloons. At 8:45, everybody sat down in the bleachers, holding their balloons. Sam stepped up to the podium, with Carly, Freddie, and Spencer behind her, and everybody turned to face her.
"On 9/11, over 6000 people died or were fatally injured. Nobody knows the extent of the emotional damage to the survivors. I found out from my mom that we were scheduled to fly Flight 93 that day, but something came up and we couldn't leave. Let's have a moment of silence."
Dead silence filled the stadium. Sam checked her watch and turned back to the microphone.
"And now, at 8:47, we can release the balloons."
A cloud of red, white, and blue went up, blowing east. Everybody looked up as clouds of tiny balloons began spreading over the school. Sam looked up at the multicolored swirls. Everybody else was heading to class. They weren't affected as much as she was, but she had a reason.
On 9/11, her father was killed when Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania.
And nobody had bothered to cry.
oOo
Over 6000 innocent people died 7 years ago
I was naïve back then, I didn't understand
Now at 13, it's finally hit me.
God bless those who were there and who lost family and friends
They can't beat us, no matter what they do
America is still alive