My 9/11 Story

This is an excerpt of my diary entry on 9/11/2001:

Today was a day that will be marked in history books. America was attacked. It’s hard for me to even comprehend the reality of it all. It doesn’t seem real.  

I walked into my 3rd period class, History, at around 9:30am. The radio was on, and as I walked in my friend shushed me and said, “The World Trade Center was hit by kamikaze planes.” I was very confused, but listened, not really comprehending the man on the radio. I was thinking about how I hadn’t done my Spanish homework.  

I got my Spanish book out and proceeded to finish my homework. The television showed a clear picture of our president addressing the crowd. He was talking about the attacked, but I worked on my work.  

Then the news flipped to New York City. I stopped my Spanish. There were the twin towers, with thick black smoke rising from the black-topped buildings. It was spreading out and we could see huge holes in the side of the buildings. 

“Breaking News” was that there had been a reported fire in the Pentagon, in DC. It started to seem more real, but also more like a movie to me. 

On the left side of the screen were the twin towers giving off smoke still...they were zoomed in. Suddenly from the tower on the left (apparently the eastern one) came tons of light brown smoke filling the air and then slowly the tower collapsed.  

We couldn’t believe it...one of the twin towers collapsed!  

As we watched the split screen again, the second tower did the same as the first, filling the streets again with dust, it collapsed. Later they showed view of the streets after the collapsing and it looked like a war zone. 

I can’t even comprehend...it’s unreal. 

As I've grown and matured throughout the last decade, remembering this day is more heartbreaking than unreal. I think of all those families who lost their loved ones, and my heart aches. Thank you to all the police officers, fire fighters, the military heros who lay their lives on the line for our safety and freedom.