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Chapter 3

The room, no, the whole building shakes. The smell of smoke chokes my lungs. I’m standing before I even realize my worst nightmare is coming true.

“Mom! Brandon!” I yell choking on the polluted air.

“Libby! What’s happening?” a voice trembles and coughs. Brandon. I run towards the voice of my little brother. Covering my mouth and nose with the hem of my shirt. I open the door where Brandon stands trembling. He gapes and points at the glass behind me. As I slowly turn around I watch the replica of this building get smashed into by a plane.

“Run Brandon!” I scream through my shirt. We run down the hall to the stairs. I feel the door, it’s scorching hot. I open it anyway and get a no-glass view of the city through a wall of flames. “Run Brandon” I shriek again and as I slam the door shut and run down the hall to the fire escapes that will lead us to the roof and away from the stairs that would lead us to our death. We follow them up to the roof and see that we aren’t the first to arrive. Dozens of people are gathered atop the burning building.  All screaming, no, not all, some are praying.

My mother is probably worried about us. She probably went down to the cafeteria for lunch while I was asleep and Brandon was roaming the hall. I refuse to believe the alternative. I can’t even think the word.  Maybe this is hopeless. My fear of heights is not as great as the fear of Brandon not growing up, and me not learning to put up with him. I sob and feel my eyes sting. I pull Brandon into an embrace and we stand there not moving, both crying.

Someone screams. I see a body fall. I cover Brandon’s eyes and close my own not wanting to see the rest. Then there’s quiet. Did they survive? Were they caught by one of those net thingys that firefighters use? No. Screaming fills the air again. I know whoever it was that jumped didn’t survive the fall.