My routine currently went like this: hospital, work, hospital, home, hospital, home. Sometimes I wouldn't even go home when I knew Utau or Rima or even Yaya, if she was able to, would be taking care of Noelle.
Today shouldn't be any different I thought to myself as I straightened my red and white striped tank. But it was. Noelle's little hand was in mine. We both stood on the driveway of the house that had the person we were looking for in it. Still keeping my hand in Noelle's, I knelt down and stared into her big brown eyes.
"Listen sweetie. I'm not sure what's going to happen once we step inside that house. I may or may not lose my temper. Okay?"
She just looked back at me blankly before shooting me a bright smile that revealed a missing tooth in the front.
"Nothing will happen!" she exclaimed in that over-confident, positive energetic voice of hers.
Flashing her a half-smile, I got up and rubbed her tiny knuckle.
Yeah, nothing's going to happen.
We walked up the driveway and rang the doorbell. It was a minute or two before anyone answered the door. At last, I heard muffled footsteps, and suddenly the door swung open. His face was quite bewildered and almost tinted pink. My face held almost the same expression – I was very flushed. I don't think he was expecting me. Actually I don't he had been expecting company at all. It was 11 o' clock in the morning and the man was dressed in his boxers – that's all.
I raised my hand to cover Noelle's eyes, but thought the damage had already been done. Instead, I stepped in front of her slightly so she couldn't see his bare chest.
"For heaven's sake, put some clothes on."
Snapping out of his trance, he led us in first before heading upstairs. Noelle and I took a seat on one of the couches and I took note of his house. Being a bachelor, his house was actually pretty well organized and neat.
Not long after he came back down with a loose white v-neck shirt, beige cargo shorts reaching up to his knees, and black socks. His hair was still a mess, and by the looks of it he had rushed to get dressed. It continued to remain quiet before he slightly turned towards the direction of the kitchen.
"Coffee?"
"No thank you."
"What about you Noelle?" he asked in a softer voice.
"Juice!"
"Noelle," I muttered in a reprimanding voice.
"It's fine," he said.
"Okay…May I have juice please?" she asked stretching out the last word with what seemed to be a mix of dread and agony.
"You may."
With that he disappeared, and here I was fiddling with my fingers. Stupid right? A little sooner than I had expected, he came back with a mug of coffee for himself, a juice box for Noelle, and a cup of juice for me as well.
"You didn't have to," I said as my fingers wrapped around the glass cup.
"It'll ease your nerves more or less."
"Thank you."
"Anything to eat?"
"No thank you."
"Noelle?"
"Nope!" she exclaimed sipping away at the grape flavored juice.
"I'll be back."
He retreated back into the kitchen and once more appeared with a croissant in his hands. He took a seat on the chair near the couch.
"What's up," he mumbled in between taking a large bite of his croissant.
I exhaled a deep breath and took a sip of the juice. He was right – it kind of did soothe my nerves.
"Will you come with me?"
"To the hospital? Sure-
"No. Ikuto, will you come with me to his house?"
Frowning, he silently drank his coffee, and looked back up to meet my frantic gold eyes.
"I have no problem, but why? Why do you need to go see him?"
"He has to know what he did to her Ikuto. And I need to see him."
He opened his mouth to say something, but instead turned to Noelle who returned his gaze with curious eyes. He then snuck a look at the time and smirked to himself.
"Noelle, you want to feed Yoru?"
"You have a pet?" I asked.
"Not exactly. It's this cat and he's been showing up a lot lately. I tend to feed him some biscuits and milk."
"Can I sissy?"
"Go ahead."
"I'll be back," muttered Ikuto without a glance in my direction.
Like any other six year old, Noelle mindlessly ranted off with dozens and dozens of questions. And surprisingly, Ikuto answered every single one before handing her a bowl filled halfway with milk. He guided her into the backyard with a bag of biscuits in his hand. The two of them patiently waited for the cat to come out. One the black tail emerged from the bushes, Ikuto taught her how to handle him, introduced them, and left. I did however take notice that he left the door open in case anything was to happen.
He came back with a semi-apologetic smile and took a seat on the chair.
"What on earth are you thinking? You can't go see him!"
"I need to see him Ikuto," I managed in a defeated sigh. "I need to tell him what's wrong with Ami. What he was responsible for."
"Did you check on her yesterday?"
"I couldn't, there wasn't anyone there to take care of Noelle. And I didn't want her to be in the hospital all the time so she can cry her eyes out."
"I managed to get some time off work and check on her…and if you want, I can keep Noelle on days when there's no one to watch her."
I looked up.
"Really? I don't want to impose or an-
"Don't worry about it, I'd be happy to."
"Thank you so much Ikuto. You honestly don't know how happy that made me."
"You're welcome, and about visiting Shou…when are we leaving?"
"How about in fifteen minutes or so?"
"That's fine."
A small silence loomed over us as I turned to watch Noelle interact with the cat. I turned back around and took a small sip of my juice.
"So how are you Amu?"
"Huh? Oh…I'm doing fine – I've been going to the hospital nonstop for crazy amounts of time."
"Tsukasa hasn't been giving you any negotiation cases lately?"
"No. And actually I'm pretty thankful about it. Who knows how badly I might screw up if I were to be assigned a case at this stage of my life?"
"Is that why you decided to come to my house to goddamn early in the morning?" he teased with a pleasant smirk on his face.
"Eleven-thirty in the morning isn't 'goddamn early' in fact it's a civil time to go to someone's house."
At this Ikuto roared with laughter. Remembering a distant memory of us, and looking at Ikuto laugh, my face unusually turned a pale shade of pink. Recovering from his fit of laughter he gets up with his empty mug.
"I'll just wash these up and then we can leave afterwards."
"Okay," I reply handing my semi-empty cup of juice to his outreached hand.
After he left, I got up off the couch and just wandered towards the wall with a few pictures hung. The first few were when Ikuto was younger – it seemed like he was at his very first negotiation case. The next one was with him and his little sister, Saya, probably from when they were little. There was a group picture of him and his family. It went on like that until my eye caught a smaller frame resting backwards on the wall. I gently flipped it over and my heart pounded outside of my chest. It was a picture of me and Ikuto from when he asked me out in the amusement park. When I heard his footsteps, I quickly turned it back over and resumed my nonchalant way of studying the pictures.
"That was my very first negotiation case with my uncle. My uncle has said 'Just his luck to end up with a hostage situation for his first case'. That thrill of terror combined with a mix of adrenaline and excitement – I loved that feeling."
"Funny, my first case had hostages too."
I turned to look at him for the first time since he came back from the kitchen, to see he was holding Noelle in his arms.
"We should probably go now," I said turning around.
"Do you have room for me in your car?"
"My car?"
"Yeah, my car is still getting repaired."
"Oh, just give me the bill. I'll pay for the damages."
"Hey, don't look so glum," he said flicking my cheek with his thumb before adding, "And I'm not giving you the bill."
"But-
"No buts. Plus it's about time my car got a little pampered up."
How can he just shrug it away like it was nothing? I'll just find out a way it to pay it back to him.
Ikuto strapped Noelle into her car seat, before joining me in the front. I didn't say much besides the occasional laugh or two when Ikuto and Noelle would bust out singing whatever song was playing on the radio. They were more than eager to sing away at another song, and the upcoming one just so happened to be 'I Kissed a Girl' by Katy Perry.
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"This was never the way I planned
Not my intention
I got so brave, drink in hand
Lost my discretion," began Noelle in a squeaky voice mispronouncing more than all of her lyrics.
"It's not what, I'm used to
Just wanna try you on
I'm curious for you
Caught my attention," now Ikuto had joined in and I was having a fit of laughter, especially when he began to add 'sass' to it.
"I kissed a girl and I liked it
The taste of her cherry chap stick
I kissed a girl just to try it," Noelle had already stopped before it had even reached the chorus, and now it was all Ikuto.
For a second I turned to face him, and that was probably my mistake. Because he was staring at me as he hit every lyric correctly. My face flushed quite a bit and I abruptly turned away. Noelle started off again when Ikuto stopped.
"I hope my boyfriend don't mind it
It felt so wrong
It felt so right
Don't mean I'm in love tonight
I kissed a girl and I liked it
I liked it."
The car ride continued with the two of them taking turns. Ikuto would always sing the chorus and end right before she said: 'I hope my boyfriend don't mind it'. From then on I tried not to look at him anymore.
When the song was over, I slipped a CD with all of Noelle's favorite kid songs in.
"That song probably wasn't the best for a six year old to listen to. More or less sing to," I muttered with a sigh.
"You're probably right," agreed Ikuto.
Noelle however had paid no mind to any of it and was currently singing to another song.
Before long the joyous car ride reached to a halt and I parked the car right in front of the driveway. There weren't any cars parked out front to prove anyone was actually home. Nonetheless the three of us got out and approached the wooden door. I rang the doorbell, waiting for someone to open the door.
A young girl with an emerald green tanktop with beige shorts opened the door. She greeted us with a smile and happy green eyes.
"Hello," she chimed.
If it wasn't for Noelle holding my hand and Ikuto laying a protective hand on my shoulder I might've exploded.
"I'm here to see Shou."
"Come on in, and I'll go tell him he has visitors."
After she led us in, she disappeared upstairs and I shot Ikuto a look.
"Cousin," he replied simply.
"She can't be a cousin!" I exclaimed with a rushed whisper.
To add emphasis I made an hourglass figure motion with my hands, and Ikuto smirked. The three of us sat waiting on the couch; Noelle was outstretched on my lap. She idly slid her finger back and forth over the leather material of the couch. When she released a large yawn, Shou took his time coming down the stairs. From the corner of my eye I saw Ikuto slightly tense. When he came down, the girl from before rushed down the stairs and into the kitchen. His arm was still up in a cast.
Getting a look at his 'guests' had him slightly freezing, but nonetheless he came and sat on the couch in front of us.
"Hi Amu."
"Hi Shou."
His eyes studied Ikuto and Noelle. He already knew the small girl idly sitting on my lap, but Ikuto was not a familiar face.
"Ikuto," he said looking Shou right in the eye – a wry smile on his face.
"Right. Nice to meet you."
It was silent between us for a while, and that same moment the girl from before appeared from behind the doors of the kitchen with a tray full of drinks in hand.
"Sorry," she mumbled as she set the tray down on the table, "I didn't really know what you might've preferred. And we really didn't have much either…
Yeah, I was angry at him for dating this girl while my little sister was stuck in a coma in the hospital. But something about the apologetic girl offering anything she could struck a chord within me.
"Thank you," I replied giving her a smile.
"Nanami."
She looked back to Shou, and took a seat besides him. As I picked up the small sip-cup intended for Noelle, Nanami piped up again.
"It was all he had in store – I hope she likes fruit punch," was all she offered.
"Yeah she does. What do you say Noelle?"
"Thank you!" she exclaimed in a bubbly attitude, snapping out of her bored mood quickly.
I took a moment to clear my throat.
"Have you seen Ami recently?"
"Um no…not exactly."
"Have you seen her at all?"
"No."
Sensing where this discussion was leading to, Nanami got up.
"Amu, would you mind if I took Noelle with me into the living room? I just bought this fabulous game and I've been waiting to try it out."
"Go on Noelle. Go with Nanami – I'll come get you when I'm done," I whispered.
More than eager to leave this boring discussion, she hopped off my knees and ran after Nanami. Ikuto and I turned to face Shou once more.
"You haven't visited Ami since the day of the accident – even when you're to blame?
"Amu," whispered Ikuto, but I ignored him.
I kept a hard, steady gaze on Shou.
"I can't see her."
"Why not?"
"Because it was my fault. I'm the one who was drunk and I only escaped with a broken arm. Look at her…she's in a fucking coma."
"You're her boyfriend aren't you?"
When he didn't say I word I got up off of the couch.
"Did you force her to go?"
"What?"
"Did you…force her to go with you the party?"
"No. She called me up and told me to pick her up."
I wasn't as angry at him as I was before, but the anger was directed to something…someone else.
"I don't want you to see her again."
"Amu!" exclaimed Ikuto getting up as well.
"It'll just be better for her if this all seemed like it never happened."
"So you're saying I should just forget about Ami."
"Yeah…"
"Let's go Ikuto."
He followed me out, leaving Shou on the couch. Nanami carried Noelle to us.
"You know, he has this picture of her on his desk. He keeps looking at it everyday, sometimes for hours at a time with a guilty expression on his face," she said handing us Noelle.
"But I can't forget that he's the one who did this to her."
A/N
I'll keep this short because I have another important matter to talk about. From the minute they began talking to Shou, I felt like this chapter began to stink. But I couldn't change it any other way so I'll hope you guys will forgive me. Another thing – This chapter was actually finished on September 11, 2011. I had to publish it a week later because of all my midterms. So I also hope I'm forgiven from that. At the very bottom I have another short story I wrote about Amu and Ikuto. So if you'll bear through my extremely long author's note I'll be really happy.
Thank you to:
violentgirl inc
Animefreaksrock96
CelestialEternity
RomanticaKH1
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alchemistlover14
x-xMusicIsMyLifex-x
XeMi-ChIx
TinkToxiixix
Flowerfairy9751
kisshu-ichigo
aznpride16xx
Okay so as I mentioned before I have something important to talk about. Today is September 11, 2011. It is the day terrorists came into the United States on commercial airlines and attacked us. The World Trade Center was knocked down killing thousands of men and women who couldn't escape from the burning buildings, or the people who were to close to the buildings when the collapsed.
I went on YouTube today so see what exactly happened. I didn't know, I was only in pre-school when 9/11 happened. I scroll down to see what people commented and I found hate comments and not the ones that should've been directed to the people who committed this horrendous crime. But there was this one comment that I have to share –
"If only we could eliminate all Muslims then everything would be better off."
For a while I just stared at the person who said this. And I thought 'Really?' Are you really going to blame an ENTIRE religion on something a small group of people did? I honestly don't think its right to blame everyone who is Muslim on this incident. Instead we should direct our hatred to the people who actually displayed this act of terror on us.
Yes what those people did was wrong. It was terrible. They killed so many innocent people. They killed people who were anxiously waiting to go home to their families. To see their wife, their kids, parents, siblings. But it's also wrong to put all the blame on a religion. There are Muslim kids at my school. When they tell their friends their religion, do you know what they say to them? 'Terrorist' these kids had nothing to do with what happened on 9/11. So why are we labeling them as Terrorists when it was a group of stupid, evil people who did this.
Honestly at first I was going to talk a little about what happened and my feelings on it. But that was before I saw that comment. I was also going to write a short little Amu x Ikuto story centered around 9/11.
Run
It always took so long before I could get to my floor and begin the tedious paperwork. I stepped into the elevator with a bunch of other people who worked in my building – funny how I had never seen them before. It also took a while before I got to my floor because of the fact that everyone else had a different floor to go to. We all had this specific order – from lowest to highest. We had to find out who had the lowest floor first, and from there we'd keep increasing until the last person was out.
First was a lady with short brown hair and large brown eyes. She needed to stop at floor thirty-five. Well so did fifteen other people. In about five minutes, she stepped out with anyone else who needed to get off. By now the large crowd of people had decreased to five. This might not take as long as I thought it would.
Two people got off at floor forty-five. A man with striking green eyes departed shortly after on floor fifty. By now there were only two people left in the elevator – me and a guy with dark blue hair.
"What floor?" he asked in a husky voice.
"Fifty-three."
"Hmm…one before mine."
With that he pressed the '53' button and I leaned back waiting for the familiar ding of the elevator to echo out. When the black box displayed the number '53' in dark red, I straightened out my shirt and stepped out.
"Have a good day," he called out from behind me.
Pretty good day if I do say so myself, I thought as I took a seat at my desk. I loved the area I worked in. I was right next to the large window, where I could see everything and everyone. I honestly loved the view of New York from such a high angle. I felt at peace up in the air rather than on the bustling streets.
An hour later
It was 8:40 a.m. when I got ready to go on break. As I was going to one of the vending machines for a little chocolaty snack and water I heard two women talking.
"I guess he's not planning to do the drills today."
"What a relief I never get anything done when he plans those silly evacuation orders."
"Hush Susan, after what happened before are you honestly going to say that?"
"It's the truth. I doubt something like that is going to happen again."
Sighing, I made my way over to the machine. People still thought Rick was part crazy because of all the evacuation drills he planned out. I honestly agreed with him 100 %. After the bombing in the garage in '93 I was pretty glad he was began this whole thing.
I stuck in a dollar bill and pressed the G3 button for a Hershey bar.
I mean I always believed that if something happens once, it'll happen again. And if something like that bombing wouldn't happen again, who cares. I mean not only do we get like an hour away from working, but it'll come in handy.
I stuck in another dollar and after much debate pressed B1 for a cold coffee. I wasn't in much of a mood for water. I placed my snacks on my desk, before making my way to find Rima. The two of us always planned a five minute break after 8:40. I wandered over to her desk, where she was idly pressing buttons on her computer keyboard.
"No break today?"
She looked up and a smile spread on her face.
"Well…
Rima looked down to her watch and shrugged.
"I guess I could manage five minutes."
"As usual."
"What? I have to keep time or I'll end up having to stay after hours. And you know how much I hate that."
"Believe me, I know."
"Do you have anything big planned today?"
I thought over the date Tadase had begged me to go on today.
"Tadase wanted me to meet up with him in a café somewhere for dinner then go to some Broadway musical."
"Is he still trying to make you his girlfriend?"
"He hasn't been doing it for that long," I mumbled.
Rima raised a small blonde eyebrow.
"He's had a crush on you since high school. Someone needs to teach him to get a hint."
"I feel bad for him though."
"Yeah, but when he asks you to be his girlfriend and you accept because you 'feel bad', I'm going to feel bad for you."
"I'm not going to be his girlfriend. He's not my type!"
"Oh, then who's your type."
My mind flashed to Adam on the third floor with his lazy smile every time I came to enter or leave. And then oddly to the guy with the blue hair in the elevator.
"Confident but not cocky. Sweet, smart and daring."
"Amu, that sounds like some Disney prince," she muttered in disgust.
"I'm not asking for a prince, but I want someone-
I wasn't sure what happened but I felt backwards as the building suddenly jolted. I heard the glass from the windows instantly shatter, and then screams.
"Was that an earthquake?" asked Rima suddenly on alert.
I got up off of the floor and much to my horror saw everyone running towards the elevator. The windows were shattered and under the rubble of turned over desks I saw bodies. From what was left of the window, I saw smoke rising.
Just as I was about to help the people on the floor, Rima pulled me back.
"We have to go."
"What about them?"
She looked back to the bodies on the floor, and closed her eyes.
"One minute."
We hurried over to them, and immediately the smell of blood had me feeling nauseous. Rima covered one side, while I checked the other. Every single one of them were dead. Rima ran over towards me.
"Anybody?" she asked.
"No."
A pool of emotion swirled into her eyes, as she grabbed my hand.
"Hurry we have to go!"
We ran not to the elevators like most had, but down the stairs like Rick had advised for the last couple of years. Honestly, I had been expecting most to take the elevators ignoring what he had been teaching us. But once we were down a flight of stairs, I saw just how crowded the stairwell was. Rima and I were making our way down the beginning of the second flight of stairs, when I remembered the little package on my desk.
"Rima I have to go back."
"Back? Amu, are you crazy?"
"I have to! Mom is still there."
She sighed.
"I'm coming with you."
"No, I'll meet with you outside. Don't worry about me," I said when she stared at me.
"Amu-
"Trust me. It'll take a minute or two. Please go."
"Fine."
I then started to fight against the crowd of people coming down, so I could head back to the fifty-third floor. When I managed to get back up, I saw that some of the phones were still ringing, and oddly it was from the people from the higher floors. Didn't they hear the sudden jolt?
Running towards my desk, I slipped on a piece of paper and fell into the pile of shattered shards of glass. I squeezed my eyes in pain, and when I could finally manage to handle some of the pain, I pulled out most of the pieces. Blood slid down my arm, as I searched my desk for the small blue frame with my mother's picture. When I couldn't find it on my desk, I began to panic. I pushed everything off the desk in a desperate attempt to find it.
I decided to check the floor, and as I did, I found the frame all cracked up several feet away from my desk. Hugging it to my chest, I ran into the stairwell once more and down the flight of stairs.
More people were beginning to climb down – but unlike the group that had vanished with Rima earlier; these people were frantic, screaming and running. Everything Rick had said we shouldn't do. I on the other hand, was walking down quickly, and as I was one of these frantic people shoved me down.
I tumbled down the flight of stairs and landed in the corner in a crumpled mess. I picked myself up and headed down a couple more flights before I was pushed down again. By now my bones were aching and tired. My blood still continued to sliver down my arms, legs, and face. Like before I picked myself up, and even slower than before I began my descent down the steps.
When I reached what seemed to be the forty-eighth floor it became harder to breathe. The smoke from unseen fires filled my lungs and stung by eyes. Basically trying my hardest to get in even a single breath, I continued my fight down. It was a while later when I reached the thirty-eighth floor. I placed my hand on the wall for support. My lungs were on fire, every breath I tried to take, it felt as thought they'd rip apart.
As I tried to go down the next flight of stairs, there was a large creaking noise. At first I thought nothing of it, but when the noise increased, I stepped back a little and half of what seemed to be floor above this one fell down. The rubble landed on top of me knocking the wind out of me.
I struggled out of the mess, and looked at the destroyed staircase. I couldn't go down anymore at this point. Feeling the tears come forth and the hopelessness arise I laid down on the floor in a crumpled mess and closed me eyes. I couldn't go back up because that was just pointless, and the elevators – we were advised not to take those in cases of emergencies in case someone cut the power and they stopped working.
And to think I'd never get to see Rima, Ami, Dad, Utau, or even Tadase again. So this was how I'd die…on the thirty-eighth floor on a stairwell.
Ikuto POV
When the building suddenly shook and the glass from the windows shattered everyone ran down the stairs or into the elevators. Instead of rushing down quickly, I snuck a peek out of the window. Looking down my eyes widened in shock. An airplane had crashed into the side of the tower. Smoke raised from the engines and people watched with their mouths agape.
Realizing what was probably going on, I rushed down the stairs. Entering the stairwell, I noticed there was practically no one taking the stairs. Taking the stairs, I was actually pretty thankful for the fact that I had taken soccer and football in high school and college.
Later
Just as I was finishing the descent from the thirty-ninth floor, I noticed a body in the corner and the staircase messed up. The first thing that came into my mind was why this person was just lying there. Rushing down I turned the body over and noticed it was the girl from before. The one with the pink hair in the elevator.
"Hey, can you hear me?" I partially shouted, shaking her body.
"Hmmm?"
"Hello? I need you to wake up right now."
She opened her eyes, revealing large golden orbs. They were red at the bottom noting that she had obviously been crying. Her eyes then lit in recognition.
"You're that guy from before."
"Ikuto. And yeah."
"Amu," she said before turning her attention to the staircase, "There's no way out."
I helped her up and began looking for a way to get out. The distance from here to the next staircase was a little more than two feet down. Looking around, I spotted a pillar sort of thing that had been supporting the higher floor lying down.
Getting an idea, I began to lift of the pillar slightly and made something like a ramp.
"Let's go."
"Where…there aren't any stairs."
When I pointed to the ramp she made some sort of a sigh and followed me.
"I'll get on it first, and then you sit behind me okay?"
"Okay."
When I got on, the pillar began to wobble leading me to worry if it would support our weight. After Amu sat down, the pillar steadied, and we slid down slowly.
The odd thing was we somehow managed to get to the thirty-seventh floor safe and easily. I helped her off, and the two of us we newfound determination began the race down the stairs.
Amu POV
I honestly believed I was going to die. And here this guy comes with the absurd idea of using a pillar as a make shift ramp leading me to increase my chances of dying. Yet somehow, here I am running out of this collapsing building.
Later
"Fifteenth floor!" he exclaimed.
But I couldn't respond like I had been doing previously. Like before, the smoke had filled my lungs and they were on fire.
"…I…c-can't…."
"We're almost there. Hang in there."
"…Ikuto…I…can't."
I stopped and collapsed onto the floor panting heavily. Ikuto stopped and faced me with a worried expression on his face.
"We're getting out of here whether you like it or not."
He moved his hands under my legs and head and lifted me up.
"Hang on."
From there he began to run, carrying my weight as well as I clung onto his shirt breathing heavily. I lost track of time as my vision began to blur. When everything turned black, I wasn't sure if we were dead because the building had finally collapsed onto us, or if we were still running down the maze of stairs.
But then a bright light shined onto my face and I could hear the droned out sound of peoples' voices.
"We're out," I heard someone say and then I couldn't hear anyone or anything anymore.
Epilogue
A Couple Years Later
"Amu will you help me find Saya's pink bootie?"
"It's in the closet."
There was a brief silence before he shouted a quick 'Yay, I found it'. He rushed down stairs with Saya in his arms, a cheeky smile spread on his face.
"Ready to go?"
"Yeah."
I grabbed Saya from his arms and strapped her into her car seat. Ikuto then started the car and we began the fairly short drive to New York from New Jersey. Before long, Ikuto somehow managed to park our car near an empty parking meter which is especially hard to find in New York especially today.
Ikuto unbuckled Saya, and gave her to me. The three of us walked down the street where we met Rima and Nagi near the café the two of us used to go to. Rima rushed towards me, enveloping me and Saya in a bear hug.
"Amu! How are you? I haven't seen you in ages."
Before even letting me respond, she turned to Saya.
"And how are you?" she asked in a baby voice. "Don't you look cute today?"
Saya cooed a response causing Rima to squeal. She was such a sucker for babies.
"Are you two ladies ready to go?" asked Nagi.
"Oh hush. Yeah, let's go."
We crossed the street and walked down the very familiar sidewalk that had been littered with people, fire trucks, police cars and chaos. However instead of the two buildings now, there was a memorial. The very memorial held every year for those who died.
I stopped right in front of where the North Tower used to be.
"See Saya, that's where Mommy and Daddy used to work. That's also where Daddy saved Mommy."
Ikuto stood behind me placing a small kiss on my head.
It's always funny how fate comes around and changes your life around. Before September 11, 2001, I had been another average girl working at the World Trade Center. In all my six years of working on the fifty-third floor I had never once seen Ikuto before. Yet I managed to meet him on the day of the attack. It was coincidence I would think. You could meet anyone at anytime in the world. However I managed to see him once more when I thought I would die.
It's odd how something so tragic and terrible brought me the best thing I've ever had.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah…I'm just thinking back to the day we met."
The End
Did you guys like that? I hope so.
Anyways some facts that I put into this story that you should know.
The person I mentioned in this story several times was Rick. And he was not a made up character. Rick Rescorla was a British man who came to dream about being an American Soldier. After spending some time in Vietnam, he came to New York and was hired in the World Trade Center as security. Working there, he realized that the World Trade Center was such an icon that it could be targeted. He suggested to his supervisors that the garage should be protected but he was denied. And a year later in 1993, the garage evidently was attacked and bombed. After that he began to carry out evacuation plans fearing that one day another attack would be carried out but this time on the main buildings. He even thought that planes might be used to carry out the attack. In 2001, he fears came true, but he had trained many of the people working there on how they should evacuate. On the day of 9/11 he did not think of himself once. But helped every single person in Morgan Stanley's WTC (2700) people out but 13. Those thirteen included twelve other workers and himself.
The second fact is the pillar used as a makeshift ramp. It was used by a man as he and an injured woman tried to find a way to escape the building after the staircase was destroyed.
Enjoy ~
Neko-Meme