"Hey dad you coming over today?" I shot the text to dad and looked at the time. "Hmmm...maybe I should go on a walk before dad comes over..." the thought rattled around in my brain for a few moments before I changed into my running shoes,shorts and a tank top. "iPod,check. Hair ties...also check...house key and cell phone...another two checks..." I laughed a bit and darted out the door,my music blasting in my ears. It was about 8:30 in the morning and nothing out of the ordinary was going on. I couldn't help but laugh a bit as I remembered the date of the day before. Yesterday had been September 10th which was 9/10 depending on how you wrote it out. While 9/11 wasn't as silly as 9/10 it was just as beautiful. I didn't notice my younger brother Alex come up behind me and hug me tight. "C.c!I decided to come and visit you today!" I jumped at the hug but smiled a bit as I returned my brother's hug. "Hey Alex...what's up?" I noticed he was wearing his National Guard uniform so he must have been here anyway on business. "Oh nothing really...just here for work...i saw dad yesterday and he said he might not be coming today if the work at the pentagon doesn't calm down at all...he told me to let you know since his phone had died and he didn't have a clue where his charger was." I sighed and laughed "Figures...it's dad" I smiled a bit glad to be spending time with at least part of my family as we passed the world trade center. The two of us continued to talk as we passed the two of towers that had earned the nick name,Twin Towers. Like earlier everything was fine until I heard the gasps and the confused mumbles around me looking up to the sky only to see a massive plane flying above them. "Cc...why is the plane heading straight for the tower?"I looked to Alex and gasped in pain,dropping to the ground, as my forehead suddenly erupted in pain just as the plane smashed into the side of the tower. "Sister!" Alex knelt down beside me instantly and looked up in horror,not believing his eyes."A-Alex...what happened?" I couldn't catch my breath and from the looks I was getting no one understood who I was. I shouldn't have been surprised but I was,mainly at the plane that had just embedded itself in the side of one of the towers. "A plane hit one of the towers...C.c you're bleeding!" He reached under his jacket to pull off a piece of shirt and held it to my forehead. This had to be the worst pain I had experienced in my life. Nothing could compare to this, or that is what I thought till I heard a sickening thud and crunch on the ground not too far from me. I looked up and immediately regretted it. People were jumping from the tower. My eyes widened and I felt sick, my citizen's were choosing to die by flinging themselves from some of the highest floors in the tower. Alex paled considerably as another person hit the pavement,their bones breaking immediately and a leg flying away from their body. I couldn't stand to watch anymore and I collapsed into my little brother's chest sobbing, terrified and worried about the others in the tower. He comforted me as best he could when another plane smashed into the second tower,earning a scream of pain from my dry throat. He dragged a EMT over to me and gave them orders saying that I was important and that if I got any worse there would be hell to pay. The last thing I remember seeing before I passed out from the pain,not only from two important buildings being destroyed in a blazing inferno of black smoke and fire but also from the pain my citizens were experiencing,was Alex running off to try to help those that were still trapped in the towers or were stumbling out of them, bloody and broken.
I stood in one of the many rooms of the Pentagon, looking rather stoic on this particular day for no real reason. My daughters Skye and Catriona held back small giggles at my unusually serious expression. I turned to them and shot them a look that meant "Hush or leave..." We were in the middle of planning a small Intel operation and I needed them to be serious. Skye understood the look immediately and stifled her laughter long enough to get about 2 more hours work done. I turned to them after that and smiled a bit. "Girls...I understand that i'm normally not this serious but it is a big deal right now." Skye nodded and smiled apologetically. "Sorry daddy I just couldn't help it...you dont look like yourself when you're serious." I chuckled and sat down, taking a swig of my coffee, sighing contently. "Dad...weren't you supposed to go see C.c today?" Cat spoke up after a while and I smiled sadly. "I had Alex tell her that I probably wouldn't be able to make it today due to work." Cat nodded and took a quick drink from her soda before checking her cell phone. I looked at my wrist watch and sighed, it was only 8:40 in the morning and I still had so much more to do. I stood,nodding to several soldiers that recognized me and walked down the hall a bit, It was quiet,which was nice compared to the chaos I normally had to deal with. I glanced at the clock again which read 8:44,and I was filled with panic for some reason. I quickly walked back to the room where I had left my two daughters ,just barely making it inside before I gasped at the pain that shot across my forehead. Skye gasped loudly as I felt my forehead,my face dropping as a saw red on my gloves. My mind immediately raced trying to think of what could cause this when a young man that wasn't too much older than Skye rushed in. "Sir, there is something you need to see." He turned on the large TV in the room and shouted down the hall for any medical personnel that were in the building to come and check out my forehead which was bleeding steadily. Even though I heard every word he said it didn't register in my head. The image on the screen was of the Twin Towers in New York,where one of the towers was billowing black smoke from the side of it. My mind darted to my daughter C.c and the rest of my children. What if something happened to Hayley,or Sedalia, or Abigail? I paced as best I could with the pain clouding my senses. I was useless right now,standing here while my daughter was probably crying out in agony. As the clock hit nine I was slowly starting to accept the pain when he was another plane crash into the south tower. My forehead was once again ablaze with pain. Skye rushed over to me,catching me as I fainted from the flood of emotions I was getting from my people and the pain of my daughter. The next thing I could remember is waking up to shouting and screaming along with the building shaking. "Dad come on you gotta wake up..." My eyes snapped open as I heard Skye's weak voice amidst the shouting. My gaze darted across the room, eyes widening as I saw my daughter. She was bruised and her forehead, along with her right shoulder were bleeding heavily. "Skye darlin' what happened?" I stood shakily,leaning against a table,my chest and stomach in pain. "Daddy a plane hit the side of the building...we have to get out now!"Her eyes were wide and frightened,making the overly protective side come out. I scooped her and Cat,who was lying on the ground in pain,up while ignoring my injuries and carried them away from the wreckage and rubble behind us. The sight outside made everything seem worse. The plane was embedded up to the wings in the side of the building, people were staring in complete horror and shock, some were crying,others were just shaking their heads wondering why someone would want to do this to us. I set the girls down carefully,making sure that they were taken care of before passing out for the second time that day.
I looked outside with a nervous glance. My TV was droning in the background with nothing but talk about the towers and now the pentagon. I was worried for my sisters and my father,though I knew they could handle themselves. I kept glancing from the TV to my phone,just in case anyone called me with information or news. "Ma'am...we have just been informed that there is another plane...as to where it will land,we are not sure." My eyes widened in fear but other than that my face stayed calm. 'Thank you...have you heard any news from my family yet?" The young man looked down apologetically and shook his head. "Nothing yet...we will keep our ears open for anything that comes our way though." I nodded and hugged the young man. He had been the first to inform me when the first tower had been hit and had kept me up to date on any information that he'd gotten a hold of. "Thank you..." He smiled sadly and left the room leaving me to my thoughts. "Another plane?It has to be headed to D.C,there's no where else it could go..." I continued to pace and looked at the time once again, it now reading a dismal 10:00. This nightmare had been going on for a little over an hour and it made me sick. Or was that something else? I suddenly had the urge to vomit as a sudden wave of fear hit me. I glanced at the clock again and as it changed from 10:02 to 10:03 my hip suddenly erupted in pain. I had been hit by something. I screamed loudly as I felt blood run down my leg,the young brunette man rushing in before anyone else going to my side immediately. He barked orders to the other men and got me off of my feet so I could take away from some of the pain in my hip. I was sobbing from the pain my tears staining my cheeks and landing on the shirt of the man carrying me. He set me down carefully on a desk that had been cleared. I continued to sob but looked at the people starting to rush towards me. "That fourth plane was what hit me wasn't it?" The brunette man nodded sadly. "Yes Miss Penny...it hit Shanksville...in the southwest...we heard that its original target was either the white house or the capitol building..." I couldn't help but smile slightly. The fact that the original target was in DC but wasn't hit made me glad, Dad could handle this but if DC had been hit who knows what would have happened. "Ma'am..we have to tend to your wounds now...please try to relax." I nodded and allowed them to patch me up, praying that the rest of my family was as strong as I was trying to be.