Amber's POV

"Get up! We are going to be late!" Patricia yelled at me.

"Patricia! Be quiet! I am trying to sleep." I yelled back. I threw a pillow at her and pulled the covers over my head.

"Come on Amber. You know we have to get there soon. You know the resturaunt will get really crowded." Nina said.

I groaned.

"So why should we go if it means getting up at 7?" I asked.

"Come on Amber. We said we would get there by 8:45." Nina said and yanked the covers off my head.

"I don't like you." I growled.

"Sure." Nina said.

I got up and went to get ready. According to the clock, I had a little over an hour.

An hour and a half later, Nina, Patricia, Mara, Joy, and I were in a taxi on our way to the restaurant for "brunch" (it is WAY too early for it to be brunch).

The skyline of New York City towered above bustling streets below, zipping past the window as the cab raced through the city streets.

The taxi pulled over and let us out in front of a pair of the tallest buildings I have ever seen. Gleaming white in the early morning sun, rising high above the rest of the city.

I had been looking forward to spending our last day in New York doing something other than going to museums (Why do class trips have to ALWAYS be educational?), but I really hated getting up early

"8:42. We really should hurry." Nina announced.

"No!" I yelled. I had just realized I had left my purse in the cab.

"Wait!" I screamed down the street after the cab, trying (and might I say failing) to run in my heels. The cab pulled over down the block.

"Amber, we don't have time." Joy whined.

"Go up without me. I'll meet you guys up there." I said, already halfway down the block.

"I'll go with Amber. Just get us a table." Patricia sighed.

"Alright. Windows on the World is on the 107th floor, alright. Don't get lost." Nina said.

The others went into the lobby and I continued walking to the cab, accompanied by a very grumpy Patricia.

"Why do you always lose your purse?" Patricia grumbled.

"Hey, you didn't have to come with me."

I got to the cab, grabbed my purse, and thanked the driver again. The cab pulled away and we started making our way back to the building.

"8:46. We are late." Patricia said, glancing at her watch.

"By a minute. Do you always have to be so grumpy?" I muttered.

Patricia stopped walking.

"What did you say?!" She asked me.

"Let's just go in..." I started.

I was cut off by a deafening roar from above. I looked up, only to see an airplane. I almost laughed. All this Sibuna stuff is just making me paranoid.

"Amber come on!" Patricia yelled at me, trying to pull me along.

But I had stopped. Something was wrong. That plane was too low.

"Amber! For..." Patricia started to yell at me.

I was frozen to the spot, watching in horror and the plane disappeared in a blinding flash of flames into one of the gleaming white buildings.

I didn't move, just stood there transfixed, staring at the thick, black smoke pouring into the cloudless sky. I could now hear sirens in the distance. Patricia was pulling at my arm, dragging me towards the burning building.

She was yelling something to me, pulling me faster along.

"Patricia?! What are you d..." I started to ask.

"THAT'S THE BUILDING THEY'RE IN!" She screamed at me.

I looked to the sky again. It looked so strange now with the smoke against the towering skyline.

I froze.

The realization hit suddenly.