9/11 ~ A Story of Susan -by Yesenia

It was September 11, 2001. Out my bathroom window,a blue sky kissed the New York skyline. I was in my bathroom doing my makeup when I heard my daughter ask, "Mom, can I go to the dance?" Sasha said it in a nice way, but that wouldn't change my answer.
"You are not going to the dance," I said.
"Why?" my daughter asked angrily.
"Because I have to go to work and I can not pick you up,"I said.
"But Aunt Lizeth can pick me up," Sasha replied.
"NO!! You are not going to the dance and that is my last word," I said. It was hard for me because she always argued and never listened to what I said. It has always been like this with Sasha; I try, but she doesn't.
"I hate you!" Sasha said to herself stomping her feet.
"EXCUSE ME?? What did you just say?" I asked.
"You heard me," Sasha said, with that defiant head shake that make me want to kill her.
I walked towards the door mumbling, "You are in so much trouble when I get home." But I knew it was just going to be another fight.
"Bye," I said and Sasha did not answer. I just kept walking to my car. I was already tired and it was only 6:30 in the morning. This was a normal fall morning. It seemed like we had a fight every morning.

I drove to work, toward the North Tower. I was a secretary on the tenth floor and had been working there for five years. I arrived early that morning - too early, 7am. Already at that time there were many people in the building, but not nearly as many as would fill it later in the day. I got to work early because I had lots of work to do. At 8 am, I was caught up in my work, and I had started my normal day. I was really into my work when I heard a thunderous noise outside. Curious, I looked. A plane was flying by. Everyone in our office was looking out the windows and wondering why a plane was flying so close to the tower. "I have never seen a plane in Manhatten?!" I said to my boss. Nobody knew why it was there! And, it was flying so low, too low.

Boom!

The plane crashed into the top floors of the North Tower. I felt the building shake, and smoke seemed to immediately fill our office. I thought I was going to die right there. As I ran to escape from the building, I heard many people were calling for help. I wanted to help them, but I was trying to save myself. Instinct pulled me toward the stairs, away from the pleas for help. I was running down the stairs without thinking. I had reached the second floor when I heard a loud rumbling. Only later would I find out this is when the tower started falling down. I didn't slow down, I just wanted to get out.

It was all happening so fast. Suddenly, my daughter popped into my mind. I knew that she would be worried about me if she had seen this on the news. The building shook again and I fell down, and I couldn't breath because all of the smoke. I thought, I am going to die. But just as suddenly I thought, I will not die. I will not leave my daughter alone. At that moment I didn't care about the fight that we had had that morning. I knew that I would change if I got out of this building alive. There would be no more fights or anger, just happiness. So I had to get out, but how? Everybody seemed to be screaming and crying, but I soon realized that I was on the first floor of the tower; I was almost out! It was then I saw something coming towards me. I felt as though the entire building crashed down upon me.

The next time I opened my eyes, I found myself in the dark. I thought I was dead, but then I coughed. I coughed again, and then realized that I wasn't dead, but I was hurt. I screamed for help.

Finally, a firefighter found me. I wasn't dead, but I was hurt really bad. I had broken a leg and a arm. My body was covered with blood because of all the cuts that covered every inch of me. He picked me up, but even though he was trained to help me, I couldn't help thinking that we weren't going to make it out. All I wanted to say to my daughter was, "I LOVE YOU." Some way I had to tell her that. But how? I didn't know then that all the phones lines were dead, so I couldn't call her, and she couldn't call me ether. I kept trying to reach for my phone, but my arm wouldn't move. I wanted to get out of the building quickly so I could call my daughter to let her know that I was OK. I knew I was OK. In my heart, I knew that I wasn't going to die; I couldn't. That's when the firefighter leaned down and said, "We are almost out of here. Hold on!"

I'm Safe! I thought when I saw light right in front of us. We were coming out of all of the smoke, and like a dream I saw my daughter and my sister running towards me. I couldn't believe it, my daughter was crying. I had never saw my daughter crying for me; in my heart I knew that she had changed, too. The firefighter put me in the ambulance, and my sister and my daughter jumped in. We all drove to the hospital together. I got to the emergency room and a lot of nurses gathered around me. They took me to a white room, and the doctor put me to sleep. When I woke up that night, my sister and my daughter were in the room with me, each one holding one of my hands. We were together in the dingy green room, my daughter asleep next to me in a blue rocking chair. My sister asked me, "How do you feel?"

I answered, " I am OK...now."

The doctor came in, and he told me that I had a broken arm, broken leg, and five broken ribs: three ribs on the left, and two on the right side. My daughter woke up, and she asked me, "Mom, are you OK?"

I answered, crying, "Yes, I'm OK."


"I LOVE YOU," she said.


I answered with a smile, "I LOVE YOU, too." It's ironic, tragedy has a way of bringing people closer together.

THE END!

By ~ Yesenia