The usual disclaimers as in my other stories, etc, etc, etc and Randy Zack is also not my character, but of the Girl Talk series author.
When New York City's Tears Dry
By: CNJ
PG-13
1: Tragedy Hits Home
Mona:
Mary Anne rushed off to class that morning after we had a quick tea and couissants for breakfast. I took my time and peered out the dorm window at Lady Liberty. God, it's so great being in New York City, living here. I still can't believe we're college freshmen. we lucked out that our dorm window here at Staten U. has a great view of the New York Harbor and of the Statue of Liberty. She looked so beautiful in the early fall sunlight, the sun glinting off the greenish copper. I smiled asI remembered that we'd arrived here almost a week before Labor Day, just a few days before classes started, Mary Anne, Kristy Thomas, who's at nearby Fellowdean, and I. We'd visited the statue two days before classes started and went up to her crown. It seems like you can see half of NYC from there, but in reality, most of the building in the city are way taller than Ms. Liberty; Ms. Liberty is actually not that tall. Almost eight-thirty, so I grabbed my bag, ran a comb through my dark hair and rushed to my first class, Math 101.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary Anne:
"...plane CRASHED into the
World Trade Center!" Leigh Barrens barreled on.
"What?!" Several of us turned
to look at her. She'd come running into Psych 101 just before it started
and announced this to our class.
"Alll right, very amusing,
Leigh, now should I begin my class?" Professor Steingeir came up to the
front of the room and ran a hand through her salt-and-pepper hair, which
reminded me of our high school principal back at Stoneybrook High, Ms.
Silverbein.
"It's NOT a joke," Leigh
insisted. "There is SMOKE all over the skyline and everything!" Most of
the students got up from their chairs and booked out down the hall to where
the windows were. I slowly followed, my heart pounding. Was there really
a plane crash? I got an eerie feeling that something was really wrong,
that thousands of people right here in the city were in trouble. Yes...from
the window, we could see smoke billowing into view.
"Oh. My. God..." Geri Lewitz
muttered. Even Professor Steingeir followed us out into the hall and saw
for herself all the smoke, which was getting blacker and thicker. Just
then, the trail suddenly dipped, then got even wider.
"Is the whole area on fire?"
Nicole Rameira gasped. It looked like the World Trade Center was on fire
at least. That was two towers over one hundred stories tall!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kristy:
"...nothing left but ASHES
and rubble," Paul Dansel shook his head as we huddled into one of the lounges
to try to get what was going on. I could see the smoke from the window.
We all listened in shocked silence about the hijacked planes.
"EVERYONE died in that World
Trade Center!" someone screamed.
"Shhh, not everyone...there
are some survivors," Ran Zack waved for quiet. God, oh, God, I could believe
this! How the hell did someone managed to hijack FOUR planes in a row?!
After the news broadcast was over, Ran turned off the radio, her hand shaking.
"They think it was from Afghanistan."
"The Taliban...the one that's
oppressed women," Mara Zemler nodded.
"I have to call Mary Anne
and Mona," I whispered, my heart pounding. I'm sure they're out of reach
of ground zero, but I just had to make sure.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh, Kristy!" Mary Anne gasped
once I got hold of her and Mona. "Thank the stars you're all right!" She
burst into tears and Mona came on.
"Hi, did they cancel classes
at your end?" Mona asked. "They did ours."
"Yeah..." Out of my dorm
window, I saw a fire truck race down, then a bunch of police officers.
Sirens began to scream. Other eerie sounds rose and smoke billowed higher
over the skyline. "I have the feeling it's like a war zone down there."
"That's what they said over
the news broadcast," Mona confirmed. "Oh, God, Abby and Anna's mom works
a few blocks away from us too."
"We have to see if she's
all right!" I heard Mary Anne scream in the background. "Oh, God..." she
started weeping again, high wailing sounds that made my spine crawl. This
was turning out to one unreal day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Abby:
"Mom, you're all right!"
I gasped in relief later that surreal afternoon. "You made it home all
right?"
"In one piece, yes," Mom
let out her breath. "Have you heard from Kristy, Mary Anne, or Mona?" She
knows they're in New York City, too.
"N-no, not yet," I told
her. I let Anna talk to her for a while, then after we hung up, stood in
silence for a long minute.
"We haven't been able to
get hold of Stacey's dad and Samantha yet," Anna whispered. They live closer
to Times Square, but we wanted to see if they were all right. Just then,
the phone rang. It was Stacey, who goes to Aberdine in Vermont.
"I reached Dad and Sam and
they're all right," Stacey quavered. We talked a bit, not really a coherent
conversation, but stilted words trying to reach each other in this crisis.
"I'll keep trying for Kristy, Mary Anne, and Mona too, she promised before
we hung up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, I got in touch with
my NYC friends. They called me from Mary Anne and Mona's dorm. Another
friend of theirs, Ran Zack was there too.
"Oh, thank the heavens of
liberty, you're all right!" I wailed, tears streaking down my face.
"Is your mom...?" Mona asked.
"Yeah, she's all right.
Oh, God, I can't believe this."
"Neither can I. It's all
so...unreal," Mona told me. Just then the call waiting sounded and they
wanted to see who it was.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dawn:
It was a relief to hear that
Kristy, Mary Anne and Mona were all right! I'd been trying to reach
them from Arizona, but just got hold of them now. Classes out here were
canceled for the day also and might be closed tomorrow.
"It's s-so chilling, seeing
all the smoke..." Mary Anne quavered. She sniffled, then added, "It's still
there and some of it is going right around the Statue of Liberty."
"I know, it's awful seeing
it here on the news," I said. "Are Mom and Rich...?"
"We got hold of them and
they know we're all right," Mary Anne started to cry again and Kristy took
up the phone. Kristy sounded shaken too and we tried offering words of
comfort, but not knowing really how effective they were.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in Stoneybrook:
Karen:
Mom, my sister, Emily Michelle,
and my brothers David Micheal, and Andrew headed over to Ms. Stevenson's
to make sure she was all right once we got the call from Kristy assuring
us that she and her friends up there were all right. Ms. Stevenson was
shaken, but it was good to see that she'd made it home all right. Mary
Anne and Dawn's parents were there too.
"Thank the skies our kids
are all right," Richard told us. Just then, Ms. Vaughn and the Kishis came
in.
"Oh, Sharon, Richard..."
Ms. Vaughn went over and hugged them. "Thank goodness, the kids are all
right...I spoke with them earlier...did you get a chance to talk?"
"We did," Sharon nodded,
her eyes welling up with tears.
"The thing is to see them
through the next few days and weeks after this tragedy," Mom told us all.
"Oh, God and if there's
a war over this..." Rachel Stevenson added in a low fearful voice. It was
a real possibility, with the kind of regime I hear Afghanistan has. The
women especially are virtual prisoners; they can't drive, go out without
a male escort and are forced to wear chadors with their whole bodies covered,
except the eyes.
"They hit the Pentagon too,
" Mr. Kishi put in.
"Is Janine...?" I asked.
Janine is Claudia's older sister and is a cadet at the Naval Academy in
Virginia.
"She all right," Ms. Kishi
told me. "She called. And the academy is further down in Virginia, not
really in Washington." We stayed for a couple of hours, mulling over what
could come out of this horrible event. Rachel started to cry softly
and Sharon hugged her, then started to cry too. Mom handed them tissues,
tears welling in her own eyes.
"We're so relieved you're
all right, Rachel," Mom touched Ms. Stevenson's shoulder. "If there's anything
we can do..."
"Thank...you..." Rachel
wiped her eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in NYC:
Mary Anne:
Mona, Kristy, and I lay on
the floor, heads together that night. We talked intermittently, but were
mostly quiet. The night was really eerie, but none of us got up to turn
on the light. I sat up at one point and could see smoke streaking past
Ms. Liberty. If she were a live person, her heart would be breaking and
she'd be in tears, I thought. Tears streaked down my face and I sat back
down, sobs breaking out of me. Mona put a hand on my shoulder. Kristy sat
up and handed me a tissue, her own eyes bright with tears.
"All those people," Mona
whispered. "They say it's in the thousands."
"Oh...God!" Kristy burst
into tears, which made me cry harder. That got Mona started and the three
of us cried and cried until we were exhausted. By the time we started for
bed, I was a bit light-headed. Kristy was spending the night with us, so
we set out a cot for her. I lay awake for a long time, thinking about Afghanistan.
Claud had called us a while ago and said that she knew they'd do something
soon. We all knew what kind of regime they had. It made me shiver uncontrollably
to hear about how the women especially were oppressed there. It's so unreal
that in this day and age, in even the most awful dictatorships, that women
are denied the right to drive, go out without a male escort and forced
to wear these long chadors and could be killed if they were even
suspected
of adultery or having sex before marriage! If they can do that to their
own people, then I wonder what they do if they could to other countries?
I wondered fearfully. It took me a long time to fall asleep and it was
a troubled sleep at that.
More later!