9/11: Factual Account and Personal Narrative

It was a completely normal morning, as normal as it could be in New York City. Mothers made breakfast for their children and prepared them for school. Single guys had their morning workout, and a lot of people were on their way for work. At 8:20 AM, everything started to change. The air traffic controllers were having an extra look on Flight 11 – it looked like it was being hijacked. At 8:46 AM their theory was confirmed, and Flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. The nation was attacked by terrorists. All the news channels flocked to the area, and everyone else was watching TV – all the people in America were holding their breath. At 9:02 or 9:03 AM, Flight 175 crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center. At 9:59 AM, the tower collapses, and the second at 10:28 AM. Many brave and innocent men and women died. Some died because they were trapped in one of the towers and some because they tried to save other people. America learnt a lot about heroes that day.

Part two – picture number five.

It all started like a normal beautiful morning. I have two kids; they are twins, and three and a half years old. It is usually me who take them to kindergarten, but today I had an early meeting, so my husband did that this morning. I work in an office in the south tower of the World Trade Center. When I woke up, I felt like something was wrong, but I packed away the idea because I often get that feeling when I am going to a meeting. I am not that good at speaking in front of people I don’t know. It is a problem I have been struggling with for a long time, but my job makes it a lot better. That is also why I wanted it so much. It gives me a lot of money for my family, I like the people there, and it helps me with my social problems. My meeting started at 8:30, and it all worked out well in the beginning. I was supposed to draw things on a board, but another department had borrowed it, so I just sat down and explain what I had to. I felt like I heard a sound, like when my son destroys his LEGO-house, just bigger. But I was so busy talking, that I just forgot it. Suddenly, everyone stood up and walked to the window. I was confused, and afraid that I had said something wrong. But when I turned around, I was in shock. Thick smoke was filling the air and it looked like it came from the north tower. I saw paper flying everywhere like beautiful white doves. The only difference was that this wasn’t beautiful. Flames, smoke and screams came from the big hole that seemed to be made by a big airplane. At that point, everyone in the room was completely quiet. I could not even think and I could not even move. Everything turned into a great confusion. How could this happen? Were all the people in the building aware of what had happened? That kind of thoughts came through my mind. Suddenly I saw a man. He was falling. I don’t know if he had jumped or what he was doing. But my eyes followed him. All the way down. At a moment I found out that I was thinking some very weird thoughts. Music was playing in my head. It looked like he was flying. Then it felt like he looked at me, right in my eyes. Deeply. And my thoughts were interrupted. What took maybe two or three seconds felt like a lot more. It felt like it was in slow-motion. Then I heard a big noise, and everything was shaking. I realized that the same thing had happened to the south tower, and I was in that tower. Now I did not knew if I were going to see my beautiful twins and my beloved husband again. My world fell apart. And then the chaos began.