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The Day That Changed The World

Chapter 2

I was hanging onto the hanger thingy above the window and Nessa was driving like a maniac. Our siren was on, but do people ever listen to those? No. They kept getting in our way. Nessa was trying to drive and I was slamming the horn. People just looked at us and kept walking slow. A couple of real geniuses walked slower on purpose.

Assholes. Why else would a police car be going or trying to go over 50 if there wasn't an emergency?

Finally after what seemed like forever, we got down to Franklin Street. We saw smoke and people screaming and crying. I checked my cell. It was 8:52. We got out of the car and what we saw, no one would have been prepared for.

The North Tower was on fire and people were jumping out of windows. I saw my brother and sister cops trying to catch them, but almost no one that jumped was caught. All we heard was a bunch of huge SPLATs. All there was was smoke. Huge thick gray smoke, blocking people's view unless you were in the smoke, which I had the great fortune of being. Other cops, some of who I knew, most I didn't were trying to get people out of the way and comfort them at the same time. It's not a very easy thing to do. I decided to jump right in with Nessa. I hid my shock and fear from everyone, even her. I had to look strong and in control. I just had to. If I didn't, I'd probably start crying.

People were gasping for air, tears rolling down their faces. Others were staring up at the building in complete shock, trying to make sense of what was going on. The people that were in shock weren't moving at all and I assumed it was our job to move them.

"1-7 Dennis."

I looked up and my eyes met Nessa's who was a couple feet away from me.

"I-7 Dennis." I answered.

"!-7 Dennis, go to the east end of the tower site. You'll get further instructions there."

"Instructions for what?"

"What to do."

"That explains a lot." I muttered.

Nessa looked at me with questioning eyes. I wondered why she couldn't hear. Then it seemed my hearing turned back on. All I heard was screaming, shouting and crying.

"We gotta go the east end. We'll get more instructions there." I looked up and around, trying to figure out which side we were on now. I wasn't sure. I looked back the way that we came, but the smoke was too thick. I couldn't see a damn thing.

"Instructions? For what?"

"I said the same thing, but you know dispatch..." I trailed off, knowing she knew what I was talking about.

We both rolled our eyes at the same time and exchanged an almost invisible grin. We both knew it was there though. We went back to our squad and got in, not saying a word.

I felt Nessa looking at me, making sure I was okay. Who could be okay after that? And it was just beginning. I reminded myself.

Nessa cleared her throat.

I looked at her. "You wanna say something, say it."

She shook her head.

"Nessa." With that tone, she knew I wasn't playing with her.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine." I answered shortly.

She looked at me skeptically.

I ignored her glance and kept my eyes on the road. It took about 10 minutes to get to the East side. First, since we weren't sure which side we were on, we had to go around and get outta the smoke area. We established that we were on the West Side. We had to honk to let people know we were there in case they couldn't see us and with the people standing in the middle of the street, that took awhile. We honked our horn, but some people still didn't hear us. Since Nessa was driving, I got out of the car and moved some people out of the way. Finally we were only a couple minutes away.

"1-7 Dennis." Central called.

"1-7 Dennis." I answered

"1-7 Dennis, go to the East side."

"We are. There's too many people standing in the street so it's taking a long time." I said impatiently.

"10-4 1-7 Dennis."

We go to what we assumed was where we were supposed to be. We saw a bunch of cops standing around. I glanced at Nessa.

"Let's go." She tried to encourage me.

I nodded. We closed the doors and went over to our fellow cops.

We tried to blend in and stood at the end of the crowd next to two other cops, a male and a female. The female looked over at us and nodded in greeting.

We nodded back. I looked on their jackets. They were from the 5-5. I looked at Nessa and I could tell she was listening to the captain. I relaxed a little bit and hoped I was still gonna be with her. I had so many questions I wanted to ask the cops from the 5-5, who had obviously been there for a pretty long time. I looked over at them, the female was paying attention, but the male definately wasn't. He was looking around at everyone too. Nessa poked me in the rib and I looked at her, startled.

"Pay attention." She scolded.

I rolled my eyes. She knows I never pay attention. I guess this bombing is a big deal. I looked around and I saw news reporters all around. Over here it wasn't as smokey.

I tuned back into the captain. He was saying names. I decided I should listen.

"And from the 1-7, Novello and Wilder watch the entrance..."

I heard two people groan and knew it was Jerry Novello and Steve Wilder.

"... Thorne and Barry make sure nobody's close to the building. Cruz and Garano comfort the people that are away from the site."

I opened my mouth to protest. Nessa saw me and jabbed me to shut me up. What the hell kinda job is that? Just 'cause we're women? I gritted my teeth, pissed as hell. I swear I was gonna say something, but Nessa dragged me away.

"C'mon Maritza." She spoke to me like I was 5.

I wanted to shake her hand off my arm, but I knew better. Muttering under my breath I went along with her.

When we were about 60 yards away, she stopped. She didn't say a word.

"That is such bullshit." I started.

She held up her hand. "I know." She sighed. "Ritza, don't say anything, just go with it."

I looked at her in shock. "How could you..?"

"It's better than being near the smoke. C'mon. Let's go."

I shook my head. This is such a long day. What time is it? I took out my cell phone quickly. It was 9:07. "Fine." I gave in.

We walked outside the building and we almost got hit by fire trucks. We kept walking and went about a block away from the area. The smoke was light and we were able to see a bunch of people crying, screaming, sitting on the ground. We sighed at the same time. I felt something above me and I looked up. It was a plane.

"Oh shit, oh shit." I cried.

Nessa looked at me.

"A plane." I shouted. "Get out of the way people! It's gonna crash."

The plane got closer to the South Tower. Nessa pulled my arm.

"Let's go! Now!" She yelled.

"The people are gonna die." I shook her grip off me. I ran back to the people and I started pulling them.

Nessa stood still for a millisecond and then ran back with me. We started shouting and pointing to the sky, showing them the plane. There were about 20 people there. We managed to get about 10 of them out of the way in a matter of 30 seconds. True, about 5 of them moved on there own when they saw the plane. I looked back at Nessa. She was still moving people. She was about a block away from me.

"Nessa!" I screamed. "We gotta go!"

"There's more people!" She shouted back.

"Leave them. We did the best we could." I cried. I felt a huge shake. It was almost an earthquake. True, I've never lived through one, but I could imagine. A deafening sound followed. "Nessa!" I yelled.

She looked back at me and started to run. She was only 20 yards away from me. Another earthquake happened. I wondered what that was. If the first quake was the plane hitting the building what the hell was the second one? The plane has to come out doesn't it? Brillant Ritza.

I got out of my brain and looked for Nessa. I couldn't find her. Then, I looked on the ground. I saw her curled up.

"Dammit!" I debated whether or not I should go get her first or get help.

"Ritza!" I heard the fear in her voice.

I couldn't leave my best friend. I sprinted towards her. I got to her. I tried to help her up but she was too shocked and I bet terrified. I know I was. Okay, stay calm. Don't let her see your afraid.

"Are you in pain?" I asked.

She shook her head no.

I gave her a look. "It's me Ness. Tell me."

"My wrist." She whispered.

I nodded. "Okay, that's not bad." I looked for a way to pick her up. "Um. Which wrist?"

"Left."

"Good, you're a righty anyway."

She grinned weakly.

I reached for her right arm. I grabbed her hand and she held onto my hand with all her strength. I didn't wanna get her up yet. It was too soon, she might not be stable.

I feel like her lifeline. Maybe I'm the only one that can help her right now. Hell, I am the only one that can help her right now. I looked around. I saw people screaming and crying louder now. I saw other policemen and women helping people. I caught one guy's eye. I recognized him as the cop that wasn't paying attention before when the captain was lecturing us. He came over to me.

"She okay?" He nodded at Nessa.

How stupid is he? She's lying on the ground and she's obviously in pain. "Yeah, she's just wonderful." I stood up and let go of Nessa's hand. I heard her whimper.

"You need help?" He asked, not at all turned off by my sarcasticness.

"No." I snapped.

He kept walking.

I crouched back down and held onto Nessa's hand. "Ready?"

"Yeah." She winced.

I slid down to her legs and tried to get them to work. I unbent them and then I went back up to her hand. I grabbed her hand and pulled. We struggled at first but she was up standing on her own two feet in a matter of 10 seconds.

"Is it broken?"

Nessa shrugged. She brushed herself off with her good hand and looked back at me. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Coming back to me."

"We're partners. That's what we do."

"And best friends." She added.

"And best friends." I repeated.

TBC!!!

I know that chapter was short and I'm sorry! But i thought that was a good place to end it. So stay tuned, chapter 3's coming up soon.