Beckett Mark and Anthony Ramos had known each other their whole lives-- born two weeks apart, growing up in the same Brooklyn apartment complex, and sharing weekly visits to the local bakery together. The two children were bonded at the hip, one nev...
and all the struggles in my life they teach me how
*~*~*~*
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
*~*~*~*
OCTOBER 12, 2001
Fear, anxiety, chaos, and grief seemed to hang in the air of New York in the autumn of 2001. In mid-October the events of the previous month were still fresh in everyone's mind and the city still had far to go in attempt to recover from the horrors of September eleventh. Not only the city but the country as a whole were still shocked by what had happened that day. Citizens still clung to hope that their loved ones were still out there, alive, despite not having heard from since before the towers fell.
The image of the planes hitting the towers was still fresh in everyone's minds all around the country and world. The flames from the jet fuel eating away at the metal of the building. People from the floors above the crash falling through the sky, choosing to take the deadly escape of jumping from the tall structures rather than waiting to die within the flames and rubble. The cries of pain from those lucky enough to escape the buildings before they fell. The heartbreaking sight of the towers collapsing in on themselves, sending clouds of thick smoke and soot rushing over the city's streets. There wasn't a single part of that day that didn't still haunt the city's streets. The hundreds of missing person flyers littering storefronts and streets, each one a sign of desperation from another family-- desperation for love to overcome the horror.
However, on October twelfth it wasn't the tragedy from a month earlier that hung over a small street in Bushwick, Brooklyn. There was still a sense of sadness in the air but for the small group of residents assembled on the street it was centered around the packed car and moving truck idling by the curb.
Soft chatter flowed easily amongst the older members of the group as sad smiles tugged at their lips. If anyone had asked Holland Mark a few years earlier that if she ever saw herself leaving the New York to return to her hometown she would have easily said that there was no chance in hell. The fair haired woman had come to love the state, especially the borough of Brooklyn that she had come to call home for just over a decade. Though it might not be the safest of areas to live in, Holland had never felt as 'in place' as she did there, like she belonged. She had grown content with the small apartment she shared with her family. It was the place where she brought each of her children home from the hospital and where they had taken their first steps. The friends she had made there had become her family and she had never thought of leaving them behind, she never wanted to. Sadly, life had different plans in store for her.
