The Tragedy

tower collapsing; heart thrashing

9:31 AM.

Everyone is still in Ms. Sera's classroom, watching George Bush's speech from the news.
At this point, we're all sobbing out eyes out because of everything that had happened in less than 2 hours. Plane 1 hit the north tower, then there was a plane 2 on the south one about 15 minutes later...we just couldn't take it. Even Ms. Sera is crying.

I never thought, in a million years, that the state that I live in, the city that I live in, heck, even the United States, would experience a serious terrorist attack. All schools everywhere in the states have been closed and everyone has been sent home, but of course we have to stay here because we're close to the attack.

Why can't we go home? I'm sure our parents want to know if we're okay, and I'm sure we all want to know if our parents are okay. I know that I do....

"You okay, baby?" Ally whispers, rubbing my back. I shake my head and continue playing with her fingers. "You can still cry, you know, no one's gonna judge you," she whispers. I shrug and look up at her. "I don't feel like it anymore," I whisper back. She just sighs as I go back to twiddling with her fingers. She knows it's a nervous habit, but it's not like she can help it...and neither can I.

Truth is, I'm not even holding in any tears anymore. I mean, I know there's a lot more to come but right now, I have a distraction and that distraction is Ally's fingers. I'll do whatever it takes to get my mind off of the situation right now, and if this is it then so be it. She understands.

The speech is about to finish, in about maybe, 10 minutes? I hope it does, honestly. Hearing the president talk about something as heartbreaking as this is really tough for all of us. Seriously, we all have our heads down or we're looking away. It's obvious we don't wanna hear about it. Mr. President, can you please just shut up already?!

I sigh and stop twiddling with her fingers for a moment to lay my head on her shoulder. "I'm tired," I mumble. "Then close your eyes and try to think of something happy." Ally softly grabs my hand and gently rubs it with her thumb. I don't respond, I just do as she says.

______

I wake to the sound of a long, loud noise, followed with loud screams emitting from outside. They're so loud that it's not even hard to hear. What the hell is happening?!

I stand up from my seat and open the blinds, not caring about Ms. Sera's instructions of not to, and I gasp. I can feel everyone else in the classroom stand up and run over to where I am and they all gasp, also.

Tears brim in my eyes as my I start hyperventilating.

The south tower is collapsing. It can't be, I don't want it to be, I don't—I can't...if the south tower is collapsing then the north tower might, too. I can't let that happen. I can't. I need to do something.

I bite my bottom lip as I turn around and push through the crowed of students, gasping for air as I walk to the teacher's desk.

"Ms. Sera, can't we do something?!!" I yell at her, and before she can even respond, I continue. "We need to do something, if the south tower is collapsing then the north tower might, too, and I don't want my family to be dead! Hell, they might already be dead. I just need to get out of here, I need to do something—" "AUSTIN, I know it's hard to stay enclosed in a school when many are put in danger, but it's only for you and everybody else's safety. My family lives very close to the World Trade Center and as much as I would love to call them to see if they're okay, I can't because I have to keep you all safe. Keep your girlfriend and all of your classmates as safe as you can because let's be honest, every one of our families are too far for our help, so we have to help who's close to us right now. Do you understand me?" She yells back.