We Will Remember
Hey everyone! I was thinking about the 9/11 incident in 2001 and decided to write this in honor of the people who died in the attack. This takes place when Leah and Lewis were in kindergarten and did not know each other, but shared a similar 9/11 experience that day. Oh, and Leah is Lewis's long lost sister. They didn't meet until they were in the 6th grade.
September 11, 2001 6:00 am
Leah, a shy and small kindergartner heard the motion of her orphanage room door swing open. Her orphanage caretaker named Becky shook her awake. Leah lifted one eye up, then went back to her sleep. "Wake up, little girl!" Leah could hear Becky gently nudging her. Leah groaned.
"Come on, Lee." Becky persuaded. "Don't you remember that we are going to New York City to go sight seeing on the Twin Tower! It's really going to be fun, and the view is great!"
Leah preferred to go back to sleep, but remembered being excited about the sightseeing. A few days ago, Becky had asked everyone in the orphanage if they wanted to go on a trip. A few ten-year-olds wanted to go to Hawaii, and some wanted to go to Disneyland in California. However, the choices were limited, and no one wanted to go to any one of them. Well, at least Leah wanted to see the Twin Towers. Since then, it was only a trip for two: Leah and her caretaker.
Leah looked forward to it. She could tell that Becky was, too.
September 11, 2001 6:55 am
Five-year-old Lewis, an orphan living in an orphanage in Tomorrowland was anxiously waiting in a crowded subway bus full of strangers he didn't know and orphans he lived with. Mildred sat next to him on the subway bus as it took them to their destination. Lewis was very anxious to go to see the White House with his with his orphanage. Best of all, it was before his first day of kindergarten. The trip from Tomorrowland to D.C. would take about an hour boarding on it.
"You excited, Lewis?" Mildred asked Lewis. Lewis held onto the subway window with his pudgy fingers. His short stick-up-straight hair pointed toward Mildred as he looked up. All he could see was the concrete tunnel.
"Mildred, why are my ears popping?" Lewis asked.
"Because we are going through a tunnel. It happens in subways." Mildred explained. "So are you excited?"
"Yeah, because I'm going to meet the president!"
Lewis's caretaker giggled. "I'm not sure if that would happen, but we are definitely going to see the White House."
Lewis smiled innocently, then looked at the window again. Mildred knew that smile ever since she saw him on that doorstep when he was a baby.
September 11, 2001 7: 20 am
Leah boarded off the big subway she and Becky took an hour ago. They were not yet near the Twin Tower, but after a quick little snack and some pictures, they would go walk there and sightsee.
"Hold on, Leah." Becky motioned Leah to sit on the bench next to her. "I gotta call my sister, Kate. Did I tell you she works at The World Trade Center?"
Leah smiled to Becky and stared at the other people boarding the subway and getting off it. She swung her small legs back and forth as Leah could hear Becky call her sister. As if her mind wondered, Leah's daydream about her kindergarten class shifted to startling and clear images in her head. Leah flinched, as she does not know why mysterious images and random voices of bystanders next to her ran through her mind.
Leah saw an airplane as she closed her eyes. She could not tell if it was spiraling out of control or landing in an airport. Things got more disturbing when she saw fire spewing out of a collapsing building, and injured citizens in an ambulance. Even Leah could hear screaming and painful crying. She could hear a little bit of trained and experienced people telling everyone to calm down.
That startling image flashed out of her mind. Leah's heart raced when she could see in her mind another spiraling plane crashing into another tower. Now two buildings were on fire, and they were about the same height. It looked a lot like the Twin Tower she and Becky were going to. She began to hear news reporters vigorously talking of a disaster, but that image soon disappears. Next, Leah saw people and their luggage being tossed around an airplane, and a flight attendant talking into a hand held phone. She was talking about the plane flying straight into a building, and that the airplane was hijacked. Leah can hear people panicking in the burning building, some jumping to their deaths. Another spiraling airplane crashed into a building Leah could see was a pentagon.
Leah did not know why these images suddenly ran through her mind. She thought other people could see clear visions in their heads, but never asked if they did. She opened her eyes, and they got watery. She could hear fire burning and more screaming and wailing in her mind. Leah started to breathe heavily.
"Hold on, Kate, I have to do something." Becky told her sister on her cellphone. She looked at Leah and knew that she was feeling uncomfortable. "Leah, what's the matter? Are you too overwhelmed? Do you miss home?"
Leah did not know how to put her feelings to words. Even if she was older than she is now, she still may not explain it. "I thought of something bad."
"What is it?"
Leah hugged her caretaker with her little arms as Becky sat down with her on the bench. "It came to me…maybe it's a nightmare! I don't like nightmares."
"Well, I'll get you a little something to make you happy and then we'll go see the Twi—"
"No!" Leah exclaimed, hugging Becky tighter. "I don't want to. It's too scary."
"But the view is great! Nothing wrong is going to happen, really." Becky told Leah. She still refused. Becky did not know why Leah would feel this way when she was excited in the first place.
September 11, 2001 7:45 am
Lewis had boarded off the subway bus with Mildred by his side and the other excited orphans. In D.C., they had walked for a couple of minutes until Mildred could see the White House and people taking pictures around the Lincoln Memorial.
"We are here!" Mildred declared. "Why don't we see the Lincoln Memorial?"
Lewis looked up at the sky and expected it to be clear and sunny. Something darted across the sky rapidly. Many people standing where Lewis was pointed up in the sky as it spiraled down far away.
"Mildred, what was that?" Lewis tugged Mildred's pants. "Didn't you see it?"
"I saw it!" Mildred exclaimed. "I wonder what that was?"
By the time it passed by them, the plane was no where to be seen. Lewis had a bad feeling about this. Mildred wasn't sure if everyone else should worry about it. Was that an accident or was it an attack?
September 11, 2001 8:16 am
Leah still refused to go. Becky decided to go to the food court in the subway station. Becky ordered two hamburgers and sat at an empty table with Leah. Leah didn't say anything, so they ate quietly as everyone else around the food court were walking around and boarding busses.
There was a small television on the ceiling, broadcasting news everywhere. Suddenly, the news reporter was talking about a collapse of a building just now. That caught Leah and Becky's attention, as well as everyone else eating and waiting. It was what Leah had seen in her mind several minutes ago. If she were right, there would be another one crashing on the other tower the same height as the other one. Then, there might be a third plane crashed into a pentagon shaped building. Leah was so overwhelmed, that part of her hamburger came out of her mouth.
The caretaker, too, was overwhelmed. "Oh my God. That is one of the Twin Towers burning on fire. And you didn't even want to go there!" Becky looked at Leah awkwardly, knowing that somehow, they were lucky. "Leah, how did you know not to go there?"
Leah shrugged. "I just saw it, I guess. I don't know." She didn't want to mention the other two towers crashing down. Leah did not want to give Becky a heart attack.
"Wait, so if the Twin Tower is burning, what if my sister is in there?" Becky thought, immediately pulling out her cellphone. Leah felt worse by the second. She knows what's definitely going to happen.
September 11, 2001 8:48 am
Lewis was definitely worried. People who toured the White House were told evacuate the White House thinking something bad might happen. Mildred did not fully understand when she walked with the children and other visitors. What was going on?
The news came to them when a couple of people told each other that one of the Twin towers were hit by an airplane. Then came another one that hit the other Twin Tower. Now they were told that another airplane hit the Pentagon. It was probably said that there was another plane crashing somewhere in Pennsylvania, but many people are to confused right now to know what was going on. Who knows if another might crash?
"Mildred," Lewis called his caretaker. "Is everything okay?"
Mildred sighed. "I don't know, Lewis. Buildings are being destroyed, and many people there are hurt." Lewis sighed, and looked up at the sky. No planes where flying, but Lewis could just imagine one spiraling out of control right now.
September 11, 2001 9:02 am
News channels were broadcasting like crazy. They showed live pictures of the Twin Towers burning to ashes, spreading toxic debris around the air. They even showed other crash scenes that probably had to do with the Twin Towers. News reporters announced that many people were dead and counting. Others suffered injuries. Some died from those injuries. Few jumped off the building instead of being burned.
Leah saw it coming, and knew that she should not go there for sightseeing. If she did not see it, Becky and her would have drove down there and look at the view of Manhattan before the plane, Flight 11 would crash into one of them. Then the plane would do the other tower.
What was even worse was that another plane already crashed into the tower, now causing two burning buildings and many deaths. And Becky's sister was in one of them. Becky called her. Kate was doing fine until she saw a giant airplane fly toward the window and that was the end.
"Kate…" Becky sighed, then let one tear roll down her cheek. Leah knew what happened to her caretaker's sister. She could not help but cry as well. Other men and women called, and some found out what had happened to people that they know.
September 11, 2001 9:20 am
Lewis, Mildred, and the orphans could go no where. There was no transportation until everyone knows that they are safe. Ambulances and fire trucks drove by in order to put out the fire in the Pentagon and hospitalize people who are injured. Somewhere in D.C., everyone will have to wait until there is a way to get home.
September 12, 2001
After a rough and violent day yesterday, people finally found their way home. Bodies were still being recovered and some are still being found. Too many people died that day. A lot died instantly, but some survived or died from injury. Becky heard on the news that it was an attack from terrorists who hijacked a couple planes and made them crash into different buildings. One plane was going to crash into the White House, but the terrorist could not see it, so they crashed into the Pentagon. Now, many are thinking of a memorial for all that did not survive.
Leah knew that Becky's sister would be on that list. She and Becky will stay a little longer and go to the memorial. Lewis knew now that if the plane crashed into the White House, he, Mildred, and the orphans would be those victims. It was too sad for both Lewis and Leah to imagine for their age. 9/11 would forever haunt them, even when it would be eight to nine years from now.
September 11, 2001
8:00-9:00 am
We will always remember
That's sad, wasn't it. I just wrote it because even I experienced a little of 9/11. My mom had to take me out of school in kindergarten because she was afraid a plane might crash in my school. Really, it wasn't just planes crash landing onto buildings, it was probably one of the saddest days in American history (Well, that should be true.). Oh, BTW, this is my first sad story I written in my MTR fanfics. You don't have to like this story, I just wrote it out of my sadness. This is based on what I know about the 9/11 attack, so I tried my best.