September 11, 2004
Aelita was walking to Verity's room, as she thought about the strange things she saw that morning. Firstly when she turned on her TV, she saw the news channels showing pictures of New York City, a few years ago, with smoke and dust clouds all over lower Manhattan. Secondly she saw the American president, George W. Bush, giving a speech on September 12th 2001, promising that those who did something evil will face the wrath of the world. Thirdly she kept hearing about this group called 'Al Qaeda', things about airplanes, and this man 'Osama Bin Laden'. And lastly she saw images and recordings of people crying while waiving American flags. She sighed as she walked into Verity's room, and saw the group, as she sat on his bed.
"Hi guys" Aelita said
"Hi Aelita" The group said
Aelita looked at the newspaper Ulrich was holding, it had in big letters on the cover in French: 'Today we are all Americans'.
"I can't believe it's been three years already..." Ulrich said
"Same here, I had an uncle in the World Trade Center" Odd said
Ulrich went wide eyed.
"I'm sorry" Ulrich said
"Me too..." Odd said
Aelita rose an eyebrow.
"What are you talking about?" Aelita asked
"The attacks on the US, a few years ago" William said
Aelita had a confused look.
"What happened? What got attacked? Was it XANA?" Aelita asked
The group except for Jeremie stared at her with wide eyes. Yumi looked at Jeremie, and frowned.
"Jeremie, you never told her?" Yumi asked
"I didn't think it was important at the time..." Jeremie explained
Aelita looked at Jeremie.
"What was important?" Aelita asked
The group had serious expressions, as Jeremie sighed.
"There's a group, that wants to exploit evil... They attacked by land, in 1998. They attacked by the sea, in 2000... And they attacked by the air, in 2001" Jeremie explained
Aelita had an intrigued look, as Kyra nodded.
"There was two big towers in New York City, and this military building in Washington DC..." Kyra said
"The World Trade Center and the Pentagon" William said
Aelita nodded.
"I think I'm getting it. Are those buildings important?" Aelita asked
"The World Trade Center was a major American financial symbol. If not the most important one" Jeremie explained
"And the Pentagon was the symbol of the American military" Yumi said
Aelita nodded, but still had a raised eyebrow.
"What happened to them?" Aelita asked
Patrick sighed.
"Some people hated America, and the liberty for which it stands for. So they thought if they did something horrible, then we would stop supporting the cause of freedom. But they were wrong" Patrick said
Verity nodded, and sighed.
"The only thing they did was infuriate the world" Verity said
"How?" asked Aelita
"They killed over three thousand innocent people" said Verity said
Aelita softly gasped, and went wide eyed with shock.
"W- Why would anyone do something like that?!" Aelita asked
"They hated the United States, and the entire free world. They wanted to send a message for us to get out of the middle east" said Amy said
Aelita had a look of disgust, and anger.
"By killing thousands of innocent people?!" Aelita asked
"Yes... The bastards do that for fun..." Patrick said
Aelita looked at Jeremie, with disbelief.
"Well, have they been caught yet?" Aelita asked
"Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind of the plot. Right now he's in a room at Guantamino Bay, being handled by the CIA" Charles said
"But the man who authorized it is still on the run. He's the leader of Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden" Jeremie explained
"How are the Americans hunting him?" Aelita asked
"We went to war... Your country, and mine. The entire free world went to Afghanistan, to totally destroy them, and liberate the country from their oppressive regime, the Taliban" Verity explained
Verity got off of the floor, and walked to the map she had on her wall. She frowned, as she pointed at the country of Afghanistan.
"The Americans invaded the country of Iraq about a year ago. And Afghanistan not long after the September 11th attacks" Jeremie said
"Why those countries?" Aelita asked
Jeremie looked at the map of Afghanistan.
"Osama Bin Laden, and his organization, was being sheltered by the Taliban government... The NATO organization invoked Article 4 of it's treaty. An attack on one, is an attack on all..." Jeremie said
"The United States, and all of it's NATO allies went into Afghanistan, to find Bin Laden, and topple the Taliban government" William said
"Wait, if the people who were responsible were in Afghanistan, then why did the Americans invade Iraq?" Aelita asked
Verity smirked, and pointed at the country of Iraq.
"Saddam Hussein, the dictator of the Iraqi people, became an incredibly loose cannon. He was a threat, so we went in to topple his dictatorship" Verity said
Charles and William, both scoffed.
"An unneeded war..." Charles said
"Unneeded?" Aelita asked
Kyra sighed, with annoyance.
"He's just expressing his right to free speech..." Kyra said
"Back to the point... Saddam Hussein was toppled from power last year. And the NATO organization has toppled the Taliban, and set up a new government. The Taliban, and Al-Qaeda, are on the run" Jeremie said
Aelita nodded.
"But how did they attack America?" asked Aelita
"They hijacked four airplanes, and used them as missiles" Yumi said
Aelita went wide eyed, as Ulrich frowned.
"They picked coast to coast flights because they had the most fuel" said Ulrich
"And they flew one of them into the Pentagon. One in the South Tower of the WTC. And another one into the North Tower..." Patrick said
Aelita rose an eyebrow.
"B... But what happened to the fourth plane? Did they land?" Aelita asked
Patrick and Verity, both smirked.
"The people on those planes fought back... They saved a lot of people, with what they did" Verity said
"Did they retake the plane?" Aelita asked
"Yeah... And they saved a lot of people on the ground" Verity said
Aelita smiled.
"That was pretty brave of them" Aelita said
"Yeah... But the plane still crash-landed in Pennsylvania" Amy said
Aelita rose an eyebrow.
"Did anyone survive?" Aelita asked
"No... The hijackers made the plane go kamikaze, straight to the ground" Kyra said
Aelita looked saddened, as she sighed.
"Oh... T- That's so sad..." Aelita said
"Yeah... Not a lot of people took that day very well..." Odd said
Aelita looked at Verity, with curiosity.
"How did everyone react to the attacks?" Aelita asked
"At first, everyone figured it was an accident. Like how that bomber crashed into the Empire State Building, in 1945... After the second plane hit, everyone knew it was an attack" Robert said
"The first was a statement... The second was an attack... The third was a declaration of war" Charles said
Aelita nodded, and sighed.
"Why does some people do things like that...? Kill others?" Aelita asked
Jeremid sighed, and shook his head.
"There's some evil people in the world, Aelita... A lot of evil people... I don't know why, princess" Jeremie explained
Yumi sighed.
"I was in New York when it happened" Yumi said
The group looked at Yumi, with wide eyes.
"I thought you lived in Japan, in 2001?" Ulrich asked
"We were moving to France, in September... WE passed through JFK international, on the way here about three or four days before it happened..." Yumi explained
"Did you see the plane hit?" Kyra asked
Yumi closed her eyes, and nodded.
"Yeah... I'm not ever going to forget that" Yumi said
"D- Did you see the jumpers?" Jeremie asked
Yumi sighed.
"Yeah... I did..." Yumi said, sadly
Verity had a look of sympathy.
"I'm so sorry" Verity said
"Where were you in New York when the first plane hit?" Ulrich asked
"Just a few blocks away from tower one" Yumi said
Everyone went wide eyed.
"Wow..." Odd said
"I- I saw a guy land just a few feet away from us... And I... I saw a person land on a firetruck..." Yumi said
"What else did you see Yumi?" Aelita asked
Yumi looked at Aelita, with a saddened look.
"We ran as fast as we could, but then we heard a loud noise like a train engine or an earthquake... Then we turned and saw the South Tower collapsing" Yumi explained
"What did you do?" Amy asked
"We tried to outrun the dust but it caught up to us, fast... We put our shirts on our mouths to filter out the dust, and we ran as fast as we could" Yumi said
Yumi paused for a second, and then took a deep breath.
"We didn't stop running until we got to Times Square" Yumi said
"Jesus..." William said
Yumi closed her eyes, tightly, as she sighed.
"We... We saw the second tower fall to the ground not long after that... We saw people covered in dust, and god knows what else, stumble into Times Square" Yumi said
"How long did you stay in New York after it happened?" Aelita asked
"Three weeks... My dad helped out with the rescue efforts" Yumi explained
"Did he find anyone?" Ulrich asked
Yumi shrugged, sadly.
"Just one person under some rubble... He died at the hospital" Yumi said
The group looked at each other and then back to Yumi.
"I'm so sorry that you had to see any of that..." Jeremie said
"Its alright... I'll be fine" Yumi said
Jeremie nodded, and looked at the group.
"Anybody else want to say anything that happened to them that day?" Jeremie asked
"I remember my dad was sent to help the US in Afghanistan... He got back a few years ago" Ulrich said
"So how is France helping the United States? And that NATO thing?" Aelita asked
"France, along with most of NATO, isn't going to war in Iraq. It's mostly just a US, and United Kingdom thing" Patrick explained
"But France is helping a lot with Afghanistan" Jeremie said
Aelita nodded, and then sighed.
"I still don't understand why anyone would do something like that" said Aelita
Kyra smiled, and nodded.
"Someday you will... Sooner or later you'll understand..." Kyra said
Odd nodded, in agreement.
"It'll be okay" Odd said
"Yeah, Aelita... You don't need to think of them, if you don't want to. Fear, is their most powerful weapon" Verity said
Aelita nodded, and smiled.
"I'm glad that you guys explained all of this to me... I was very confused... Thank you" Aelita said
The group smiled, and nodded. Suddenly, everyone heard a bell ring. Aelita, Jeremie, and Verity all stood up.
"Well... We've got history class" Verity said
"Okay... We've all got math. We'll see you later" Patrick said
Verity, Jeremie, and Aelita all smiled, as they walked out of the room. Aelita smiled, as she had a renewed appreciation of her new life on Earth...
(RIP to all of the men and women who died on that day of infamy, September 11th 2001. WE WILL NEVER FORGET)