9.11 PART I
5:00 A.M
Miranda woke to a blue light streaming in through her curtains. The sun was beginning to rise over the city. The sound of car horns and engines sang through the windows, the score of her city lulled her in a way no music could. The room was cold in the early morning, but she was warm under the covers.
An arm was wrapped around her waist and she recognized it immediately as Andrea. The amount of comfort she felt knowing that she was there, was unmatched. She leaned over to pull the sleeping brunette from her dreams with a kiss.
"Andrea, darling"
The young woman's face frowned being pulled from sleep. She slowly opened her eyes. The residue of makeup smudged beneath them, making them look darker than usual.
"I have an early meeting in lower Manhattan" Miranda whispered against her lovers pouting lips, combing her fingers through the long dark hair.
"Stay" the brunette begged halfheartedly before pressing her lips more firmly against Miranda's.
The revelation of their love had sent them both spiraling into bed together the night before, and they could not seem to get back out again.
Andrea tugged Miranda's bottom lip between her teeth, and slid her hand between their bodies. The move made the older woman groan viscerally.
"Oh god…I…Cant." Miranda sighed, her breathing erratic. Her slender body betrayed her and began to tremble as fingers teased her beneath the blankets.
"But you want to" The brunette grinned.
Andrea threw the covers off of them and made her way down Miranda's pale stomach. She glowed in the morning light like polished marble, her body so perfect in its shape and color that it seemed like fantasy. The cold air wrapped around them and their bodies broke out in goose bumps that multiplied under Andrea's ministrations.
"How do you do this to me?" Miranda moaned watching her lovers' torturous descent.
She caressed the young woman's face and lovingly brushed the hair from her brown eyes as she settled between her legs. The intensity of the stare was overwhelming; it seemed to magnify all of her senses. Her head fell back against the bed and she grabbed at the sheets when she felt the first swipe of Andrea's tongue against her.
In that moment they were alone in the world. The sounds that sang through the room were feral and getting progressively louder and more guttural with each flick of the tongue. Miranda slapped a hand over her mouth and bit down on her index finger, attempting to hush the sounds still poured from her like a flood. She felt she could explode upon release.
5:30 A.M
They collapsed, both bodies still wrenching from climax. They gasped for air, their naked chests heaving with the effort. They stared at one another with a heavy dilated look in their eyes. They already felt the swell of desire rising again. Miranda wondered if she could ever get her fill. She looked at the small analog clock on the nightstand, and nearly jumped out of bed. She definitely needed a shower after what she just did, and did not have much time.
"Go back to sleep" Miranda said with a final kiss before rising out of bed.
"I'll be back before you even know I'm gone."
6:10 A.M
Downstairs, Caroline and Cassidy were sitting at the table eating their breakfast. Their nanny Maria had already gotten them up and ready for school.
"That won't be necessary, Maria. I do not have enough time." Miranda said as she noticed the plate of food set out for her on the counter.
"Okay, I leave out for Andy?" Maria suggested with a mischievous grin. The Vietnamese woman was busy scrubbing dishes in the sink, and did not see Miranda's micro expression of contempt. Her nanny loved to give her a hard time.
"I don't care what you do with it, Maria" Miranda replied evenly.
"Where are you going?" Her daughters called out to her as she scurried around the first floor, her high heels clacking across the dark wood floors.
"Mommy is going to a very important meeting in the North Tower today" Miranda explained pacing the room, trying to find her blazer. She was going to throw a fit if she could not find it. It went perfectly with her blouse.
"Have you seen my black blazer, with the gold trim?" Miranda asked the nanny from the other room.
"It is in the coat closet, put it there this morning." Maria answered from the hallway, her hands dripping with soapy water.
After checking the coat closet again she found it hiding between two large fur coats.
"It does not belong here" she said quietly to herself as she pulled it from the hanger.
"I'll be back before you get home from school. She kissed her daughters on top of their bright red heads and headed for the door.
"Love you" she called out before shutting it behind her.
Roy was outside and waiting. He held the car door open for her as she approached him. The day was already beautiful. The sky was clear and blue, a rare day in Manhattan. The park will be quite nice this afternoon she thought to herself as she slid into the open car door.
Miranda was not nervous, after years of meeting with some of the toughest in the business and none of them as tough as her, she just got anxious. She hated long meetings, and this one was scheduled to be over three hours. She was already thinking about going home and crawling back into bed with Andrea until the girls came home. She had to push such thoughts out of her mind. Although this meeting was going to be a drag, it was the most important meeting in her career, and she had to stay focused.
Turning onto Liberty Street, Miranda could see the twin towers glowing orange in the rising sun. The meeting was on the eighty-fifth floor in a conference room. She was already dreading the elevator ride up; she knew it would be crowded. She did not officially work for the company yet, so they insisted that she ground herself. She could not expect bankers and traders to clear out an entire elevator just for her. None the less, she still felt apprehensive about sharing one with so many people.
6:55A.M
Roy pulled up in front of the North Tower and let her out. The lobby was packed like a hive; every worker was just arriving for work. She felt anxious and knew that meant she needed a latte. She could not drink that cheap shit that they brewed at these meetings; she needed more caffeine than that these days.
She joined the crowd of people, blending in quickly in her black pant suit, but standing out with her striking silver hair and beautifully painted face. She found her remedy at a coffee shop in the lobby, ordering an extra shot of espresso just to take the edge off. She followed the surge of people up the escalators and to another cluster of people waiting for elevators to their floor while sipping the hot brew in her hand. When she finally managed to catch an elevator car, she waited in the corner to reach her final destination.
7:15 A.M
Miranda walked through the offices of Spencer-House to a conference room on the north face. There were phones ringing and people busy at their desks. A few people raised their heads to see the silver goddess stomping past them in all her glory, but most did not pay her any mind, they were all engulfed in their work. She liked it here already.
When she pushed open the heavy door to the room she was pleased to see her lawyer, John Brill, was already taking care of some of the paper work.
"Miranda!" A tall dark headed man said as he stood from his chair on the other end of the room.
"I'm glad to finally meet you"
"William Spencer" The young man introduced himself with a firm handshake.
He was boyishly handsome with a glint of naivety in his eyes. Miranda had talked to the man over the telephone but had never met him until now. He mentioned that he liked to spend most of his time in the Hamptons.
From little research she gathered that he had a severe case of agoraphobia; therefore he rarely did business in the city. He had inherited the company from his father but she was quite surprised to see how young he was, he didn't look a day over thirty. He was notoriously hard to work with, which is why they offered the job to her. William would handle twenty percent of the company, while Miranda would handle the other eighty percent. William would collect a much larger salary from the company, but she would be paid a ridiculous sum for all her hard work that would make her 1.5 million dollar salary at Runway look like pocket change.
"Michael Knapp, Ms. Priestly. Chief Operating Officer" A large man stepped in with a tight squeeze to Miranda's hand. He was around her age; he sported a crew cut and wore a very expensive suit.
"This is Kelly McDuff, stock market guru and president on our board of directors." Michael introduced a tall, fit redheaded young man. He had a strong jaw, and thoughtful eyes. Miranda wondered briefly if she had seen him on a runway. The young man nodded toward her in acknowledgment, he was busy with his nose in a stack of papers.
"This is Abby Carteret, she serves as our vice president on the board" he pointed to a plain looking woman standing by the window looking down at city like she would rather be anywhere but here.
"And this is my assistant Helena Clare" He said while motioning a scholarly, middle aged woman over.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. Priestly. I am looking forward to working with you" The woman beamed while shaking the editors hand incessantly. Miranda gave the woman a once over. Red Manolo's, a brown Chanel blazer and a charcoal grey pencil skirt. She must read runway, she thought with a smile.
Once introductions were made, they all sat down to start reviewing and rewriting the conditions of her contract with the company. The stacks of papers were rather large. Her lawyer looked over each document meticulously. He was old as dirt but he was a fast reader, and one of the most successful attorneys in the state. She trusted him more than anyone to get this right.
8:30 A.M
There was not a lot of talking; everyone was huddled over a piece of paper. Miranda sat with a pen next to her hunched old lawyer. His eyes magnified by his large glasses scanned the page at lightning speed. She was ready to start having some real discussions, she wanted to share her ideas about how she could improve and expand the company. She had several ideas for using her publishing power to sponsor impoverished schools around the nation. The move would greatly soften the public's view of a company that had a somewhat scarred reputation. From that program would sprout brand new opportunities for profit and domestic employment.
She stared out at the city through the enormous windows. The view was truly magnificent. She noticed out of the corner of her eye, the young redheaded man looking at her from over the top of his steel framed glasses.
"Have we met before Mr. McDuff?" Miranda asked after a moment. He smiled shyly and leaned forward.
" Mr. McDuff was my father, I'm Kelly" He replied in an Irish lilt. "My brother looks exactly like me. He modeled some years ago" He explained.
"I see" Miranda replied with a pleasant smile.
"He gave that up long ago and moved back home" He chuckled to himself. "The industry was a bit much for him."
"It is not for everyone." She replied with a small laugh.
He looked into her eyes and smiled gently. He looked remarkably like the girls' father when they first met. He was an Irish catholic with generations of family having lived in New York.
The smile on Kelly's face faded to concern as his eyes were focused on something outside. He jumped out of his seat, shoving papers onto the floor, startling everyone in the room. They followed his gaze and saw what looked like an airplane peeking out from behind the empire state building, heading toward them at a terrible speed.
"GET DOWN!" he screamed seconds before impact.
Miranda was thrown against the wall with such force that it knocked the breath out of her and she felt a sharp pain in her left leg. The building shook and she was sure for a moment that it was going to topple over. It felt like a sick rollercoaster that she was not strapped in for.
The smell of gas filled the conference room and smoke began to seep in from under the door. The pile of papers they had been going over meticulously had been flung all over the room. The alarm rang inside and the sprinkler system began spraying the room.
Once the initial shock wore off Kelly jumped up and ran over to nearest person, Michael Knapp. He had been forced head first into the windows on impact, and he was not moving.
Miranda noticed the bloody dent in the thick glass, and knew he must be dead, but did not say a word as she watched the young redhead crawl to his friend.
"Mike! Listen to me buddy! We're going to get you some help!" The young redhead screamed over the sounds of hell around them. He started doing chest compressions and counting them out loud, the large man's body shook as two fists shoved down on his chest but was not responding.
"He's fucking dead!" Kelly wailed, running his hands through his hair.
He took off his wet jacket and laid it over the body on the floor. Helena sobbed quietly in the corner for the man she had worked with for fifteen years. The rest of the room was agape. Miranda slowly rose from the floor. Her left ankle had been crushed by the table and she was sure it was broken. Her ears rang in protest to all the sounds.
"What the hell is going on?" Abby screamed from the somewhere near the door. She had been thrown from standing by the windows to lying on the other side of the room.
"What kind of idiot crashes into a building? I mean, how could he not see us?" She said as she stood and brushed herself off.
"They meant to hit the building." Miranda barked, standing on her good leg, hand at her hip.
"No respectable pilot would allow his plane to crash into a building. They would have crashed into the Harbor. It was aimed right at us!" She exclaimed hooking a thumb behind her toward the windows.
The girl shrank into the corner, still completely convinced that it was an accident.
Smaller explosions rang out above their heads. They all stood silent and listened. Miranda looked wearily up at the ceiling, blinking the water out of her eyes.
"This is not good. I have a really bad feeling about this."
"We have to get out of here!" William panicked. He ran over to the door, it would not open. He started to kick the door.
"He's right, we can't stay in here" John Brill said from the other side of the room as he sat up and put his large eyeglasses back on. The left lens was cracked and bits of glass fell out of the frame.
"The room is filling with smoke, and that fire is right above us and right outside that door" He explained as he struggled to get to his feet.
"What!" William said as he ceased his assault on the door, his eyes wide, pure terror the only expression on his face. This was his worst nightmare, they all knew it. They were all scared but not nearly as scared as he was.
Kelly helped John to his feet and the old man started looking around the room.
"We need to get through that wall, that's the only way out" he pointed at the wall around the door. He opened a small storage closet in the room. It was filled with pens, pencils, staplers, and several water cooler jugs.
"Won't we be rescued?" Abby asked timidly from behind the old man. Trembling as the water sprayed down on her.
"I Imagine that thing cut right through the core of the building, that would knock out most, if not all the elevators, meaning rescue has to come up the stairs, we don't have time for that. We're on our own up here."
John said with a determined huff, rummaging through the small supply closet.
Abby stood next to the cracked windows and looked down to the streets below. She could see people were gathering in clusters, and rescue vehicles flashing down every street. She wondered exactly what the people were seeing when they looked up at her, but she knew it wasn't good.
"The letter openers, there metal! Grab one and start knocking through this wall!" He exclaimed as he grabbed at the knife like tool.
Kelly and John stabbed at the wall with the long metal pieces, making quick progress. Water dripped from their brows and their faces were red from the effort. Helena pulled off her soaking wet blazer and held it around her mouth and nose. She motioned for Miranda to do the same.
"It will make it a bit easier to breathe" She called out.
William had sat down in the corner of the room in a ball. He seemed to be praying to himself, trying to gather his wits. No one was sure what was on the other side of that wall, but their only fighting chance was to break through and try making it to a stair well. Something William knew he must do, but dreaded the adventure out, because he knew he would see and feel things that would haunt him till the day that he died.
Andrea had not been able to fall back asleep after Miranda left for her meeting. How could she? She tried to go back to sleep, but she was too worked up. She went downstairs just in time to greet the twins before they went to school. She sat down with them and ate breakfast. They chatted until Maria called for the girls at the front door. Their ride to school had arrived. Maria came back in after walking the girls out to the car and plunged her hands back into soapy water to clean the dirtied breakfast plates.
"You like Ms. Priestly?" the small Vietnamese woman asked quietly with a shy grin. Looking over top her cheap black framed glasses.
Andrea couldn't help the silly grin that spread across her face at the question. She tried to pull the smile back in and turned her head away from the nanny.
"She like you" she stated, placing wet white plates onto a towel to dry.
"What makes you say that?" Andrea asked, she could feel her cheeks burning.
"She not as bitchy, she smile now" Maria explained "also I never heard Ms. Priestly make noises like that this morning." Her smile was wide and mischievous.
Andrea's face turned bright red and her stomach turned, oh god, did her children hear us? She thought to herself. The look on her face said it all and Maria's grin disappeared.
"I was doing laundry on third floor; girls were still sleeping when I heard. Don't freak out!" The lithe middle aged woman said wagging her index finger at Andy.
She felt relieved but still embarrassed. Miranda's nanny had heard them making love this morning, it was a rather un settling thought, but knowing it was only Maria, she supposed if anyone had to hear it, she would rather it be her.
While Maria cleaned the rest of the townhouse, Andrea went back to Miranda's bedroom and decided to take a long hot bath. Her gut reacted to the overwhelming smell of her lover as she lathered herself in Miranda's expensive soap. It was almost strange to smell her and know she was not there. She closed her eyes blissfully and breathed in deeply, her mind flooding with memories of last night and this morning.
The sound of the impact shook the windows. It startled her from her daydream. She flung bath water all over the floor. She thought for a moment that it was an earthquake, but had never felt one in the city before. She wrapped a towel around herself and walked out into the hallway. She heard sirens blare outside, and a TV click on in the living room across the hall. She followed the sound.
Maria was standing in front of the television, with a hand over her mouth and tears falling from her eyes.
"Ms. Priestly!" She rasped
"What?" Andrea asked, her heart sinking into her stomach as she registered what she was seeing on television.
"Witness to what he describes to be a twin engine plane, possibly a 737 passenger jet, flying into the world trade center and it appears to be in embedded in the building."
"Miranda is in there!?" Andrea screamed, sprinting from the room.
She ran into Miranda's bedroom tossing the towel on the floor and pulling her clothes on. She dumped the contents of her purse onto the bed to find her cell phone. Her wet hair dripped onto the white linens and her gut sank low at the scent of her lover. She tried not to panic, but her hands were beginning to shake. The idea that Miranda might be dead or in danger made it hard for her to control herself.
A cell phone rang somewhere in the darkening room, but no one could see it. Helena picked up a soaking purse from the floor and pulled the cell phone out of it.
"Who is Andrea?" she asked the room.
Miranda jumped toward the woman and grabbed the phone from her hands, hissing at the pain in her leg.
"Andrea!" She cried into the phone.
"Are you okay!?"
"I'm in a Conference room on the eighty-fifth floor. I… We're trapped" Miranda shook with pain.
"We're breaking through the wall right now" she added trying to calm the young woman on the other line and herself.
"It looks really bad Miranda; I can see it from here! Please get out of there!" Andrea begged, witnessing the inferno from a top the roof of the townhouse on the Upper East Side.
"I'm working on it." She assured her. Sounds of coughing and banging could be heard in the background.
"What does it look like?" The older woman asked, not sure if she really wanted to know.
"A big hole at the top of the tower, the whole skyline is filling with smoke!"
"Andrea, listen to me."
The young woman took a steadying breath, and wrapped an arm around her torso, in attempt to get a hold on herself.
"If I don't make it out of here, I want you to make sure my children know how much that I love them, and how much that I love you" The soft voice was strong on the other end of the line.
"You're going to get out, Miranda!" the young woman sobbed, "You have to get out!"
Andrea heard the scream of a jet plane, it was incredibly close. She was sure it was a fighter jet sent to protect the city.
She watched the plane circle over jersey, something didn't feel right.
"Miranda! There's another Plane!" She screamed just before the plane flew into the south tower and exploded in a giant ball of fire and black smoke.
The townhouse shook beneath her feet.
"Miranda!"
"Miranda? Are you there?"
The call had disconnected.
Andrea frantically dialed the number again, and again. Nothing, not even a ring.
9:03
The sound was deafening, the explosion shook their bones. Miranda had fallen over during the second impact, throwing her phone across the room. It landed in the growing inches of water on the floor.
"Fuck!" she said harshly as she regained her balance.
Everyone seemed to be fine physically, but William was crying silently in the water on floor, hugging his knees to his chest.
"Right, we're almost out of here!" Kelly called over out over his shoulder as he stabbed at the crumbling dry wall. He looked through the small opening into the offices outside. He shook his head slowly.
"There's fire all over the place, I can't see much else."
"We can use those barrels of water to help douse any fire on our way to the stairwell" John added while taking his peek through the hole.
The dry wall was becoming easier and easier to cut through as it was dampened by the water spraying from the ceiling. They had cut a big enough hole to crawl through. Kelly stood up motioned for John to go through first.
The old man grunted as he squeezed through the hole. "Slide some of that water out here, will ya?" He called out from the other side. Kelly shoved two barrels through the hole and shortly after Helena, William and Abby crawled through.
Kelly and Miranda were the only two left in the conference room. They could hear William sobbing on the other side of the wall. Kelly offered a hand to ease the pain on her ankle as she got to her knees to crawl through. He followed out shortly behind her.
The scene was horrific. It looked nothing like the office she had just walked through an hour before. Half of the ceiling had collapsed and was burning. The fire was bright orange and she could feel the heat against her skin, in her lungs, on her hands and under her feet as she stood. John was already pouring a generous amount of water from the barrel over a small fire in front of them.
The stairs were in sight. They were all slowly following John in single file. One step and Miranda cried out as pain shot through her ankle and up her leg. Kelly caught her before she collapsed onto the floor.
"I don't think I can walk on it" Miranda said in a voice shaking with pain.
The older woman was trembling, the pain was excruciating, like nothing she ever felt before. The slightest bit of pressure sent her into violent shakes, the added stress around her seemed like it was all too much for the posh fashion editor. Her hair was wet and slicked back, her black blazer discarded in the room behind them. Her blouse ripped in places from the metal in the opening. She felt helpless.
"I'm going to pick you up" He said just before he swept Miranda off of her feet and over his shoulder, she hung on tight to his dress shirt.
"Please don't drop me!" She screamed
"I won't drop you miss" He assured her. "I've got you"
She did not want to but she trusted the young man, she hated being picked up, but did not resist and hung her head. Not wishing to see the horror erupting around her.
She heard the metal click of the stairwell door and she finally felt like she could take a breath from the relief of knowing it wasn't over yet.
The air was thicker in the stairwell. The breath of relief was filled with heat, scorching her throat.
They all struggled to take small breathes so to limit the pain they all felt breathing in the burning air. They held tight to the railing, even it burned their hands like they were touching the fire itself. The stairs were littered with debris, and soaking wet from the water sprinklers.
The all scurried down the steps; Kelly holding tight onto Miranda over his shoulder.
"You can put me down now" She said dangling over the back of him.
"Not yet, just a few more floors and I'll let you walk." He grunted, repositioning his grip on Miranda's legs.
She looked up at the stairs flying past her head, afraid that one might knock her out. They were on the seventy-third floor before they ran into anyone. Fire Fighters passed them in the stairwell, handing them water bottles and telling them to continue down.
Once they were out of the impacted area Miranda was set on her feet to walk on her own. Kelly looked exhausted, his face was red and dripping with sweat, the stairwell was still incredibly hot, a muggy wetlands kind of hot that drenched your body in moisture. They took each step slowly, with Kelly's arm around her waist for support.
They were on the thirty-first floor, they stopped to gather their breath. The stairwell felt cool and dry down here, it was an incredibly to go from completely destroyed, to completely intact. Miranda leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes for a moment, taking in a sharp breath, fighting the tears that threatened to break through. She would do anything, give anything, to be with her family right now.
9:59 A.M
Suddenly they heard a loud explosion and then a deafening rumble. It was the worst sound Miranda had ever heard. It was so loud and awful that she knew it was death. They all looked up and tried to place the sound, but as it got louder and more terrible they were all sure that this was it, this was death, racing toward them like a freight train from the sky. They ducked and covered their heads, praying that it wasn't true. The lights in the stair well went out and the only sound was silence.
REVIEW FOR A QUICK PART 2