The Miracle

It was a typical brisk September morning as the alarm went off at 7am. Laurence wasn’t normally an early morning person but today he was going to spend the morning. His dad, Christian worked in a law firm based on the second floor of the South Tower in the world trade centre as for his mom, Mary was a teacher in a school for autistic children. As Laurence started to get dressed he could hear his dad attempting to sing in the shower shaking his head Laurence walked over to towards the calendar hanging behind the door crossing off today’s date Tuesday September 11th 2001 only one more day till his 11th birthday.

Laurence quickly finished getting dressed then decided to go see his mom before heading downstairs. Knocking softly on the door Laurence saw his mom, who was already awake smiling and softly rubbing her stomach. “Morning mom” Laurence smiled. His mom looking up smiling “Don’t you look smart” Laurence blushed a little. “Looking forward to being a big brother” placing her hands back onto her stomach. Laurence nodded as his mom noticed it was almost 07:30 “better not keep your dad waiting” Laurence just smiled “I’m very proud of you sweetie” with that she gave Laurence a gentle kiss before lying back on the bed. 

Just before they left Christian gave Mary a gentle kiss telling her he had his pager if she needed him just as they left the house the midwife turned up to check in on Mary as she was due any day now. After bidding her a quick hello they both got in the car making their way down the street. Laurence was always fascinated by the back drop of the city, glancing up into the sky he could see nothing but clear blue with a few clouds. After a few more minutes they drove over the Brooklyn bridge Laurence again fascinated by the structure and the architectural history, not to mention the views you can see. “Beautiful isn’t it” His dad smiled “Just wait till later I have a surprise for you” giving Laurence a smile then a wink before turning his attention back to the road as they continued their journey.

Back at the house the midwife had helped Mary get dressed and made her way down the stairs. They were busy discussing what plans they had for that morning when all of a sudden Mary felt a sharp pain followed by her water finally breaking. The midwife quickly acted calling 911 informing them of the situation before turning her attention back to Mary. “It’s alright help is on its way” holding Mary’s hand ensuring her everything will be alright around 07:55 the paramedics turned up knocking at her door waiting to be let in.

Just as the paramedics were knocking at the door Laurence and his dad were just arriving outside the World Trade Center. Laurence glanced up at the scale of the building before heading inside Laurence following his father. As the got off on the 2nd Laurence saw a middle aged woman the lady looked at Laurence then at Christian before saying “Good morning Mr Williams, can I help” Christian smiled “Oh it’s ok thanks Beth, I’m just hear to drop off these case files before showing my son around the place” with that she sat back down and continued her work. 

Laurence patiently waited for his dad to finish what he had to do and after 10mins or so his dad switched off his laptop looked up smiling “So bud, you ready to see a proper view of the city” Laurence looked at his dad confused but nodded his head following his dad out of his office making their way back down to the lobby but instead of leaving Laurence followed his dad into another elevator which meant only one thing, going back up. As they waited Laurence saw that this was an express elevator as it opened they stepped inside and pushed the button for the 100th floor. 

While Laurence and his dad were making their way up to the 100th floor Mary was being helped into the ambulance closely followed by the midwife who had Mary’s hospital bag ready to go. They arrived at The Brooklyn hospital centre at 08:25 as Mary Was being taken in she asked the midwife to page her husband and inform them of the situation. Unaware of what was going on at home Laurence and his dad were enjoying the amazing views of the city and because it was a clear day Laurence could see for miles. Smiling softly his dad put his arms round him “See told you it was a view worth seeing” Laurence was lost for words then all of a sudden he caught the glimpse of what Seemed like a plane “Dad” knocking on the window “take a look at this”. His dad came over glanced out the window saw something that looked like a plane in the distance “ I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about” a little unsure he walked over to a viewing scope hopefully to get a better view just then his pager went off. 

Making him jump a little Christian called out “Son, we’ve got to go” Laurence still unsure on what was happening sat up “what’s wrong” looking confused “Looks like today’s the big day” showing him his pager with the word “BABY” on the screen. Laurence smiled grabbing his coat as the headed back towards the express elevator and began making their way back down to the bottom. Deciding to hail a taxi cab and after a few minutes one finally stopped “Brooklyn hospital centre please, and hurry” closing the door behind them. “Where’s the fire” the cabbie joked “It’s my wife, she’s gone into labour, so I need you to hurry please” the cabbie nodded in response putting his foot down. Laurence glanced at his watch it was 08:40 “I hope we don’t get caught up in traffic” His dad put his arm round him “don’t worry we will get there soon, you moms in good hands” within a few minutes the managed to clear the city and was heading towards Brooklyn bridge. 

As they were in the bridge there was a sudden bright flash that came from behind them Laurence his dad even the cab driver were curious what just had happened and within seconds think black smoke appeared which seemed to be coming from the city. As they reached the hospital there’s a lot of movement but they managed to make their way inside to the reception. The nurse behind the desk said that Mrs Williams had gone into labour and if you wanted to go in, now’s the time. Christian turned to Laurence “Stay here ok, not sure what’s going on but got to go help your mom, ok” Laurence nodded making his way into a waiting area where everyone was gathered around the television watching what at first Laurence thought was a movie till he saw the words “BREAKING NEWS” on the screen. Laurence kept watching the television as they showed a live pictures of the trade centre with thick black smoke coming out from it with the words now saying “BREAKING NEWS” with a subtitle “World Trade Center Disaster”. 

As this was going on the doctors was telling Mary to give one final push and within a few seconds of pushing a her baby appeared safe in the doctors arms. After cutting the umbilical cord, cleaning and weighing the newborn the doctor glanced at his watch stating time of birth 09:03am before carefully handing her back into Mary’s arm “Congratulations on a beautiful baby girl” smiling. At that exact moment Laurence still watching the television when then showed another plane flying into the World Trade Centre, this time hitting the other tower. Unsure what to say or do he then after a few minutes Laurence heard his name being called. Raising his hand the nurse asking him to follow him as there was someone who would like to say hello. As Laurence followed there were people ether watching the television or busy on there phones. Still unaware of what was happening around him and after putting on protective clothing he was taken into the recovery room there he saw both his mom, dad and new baby sister. Calling him over his mom asked “What do you think” Laurence smiled and replied with just one word “Perfect”. About 09:30 a doctor came in to inform them that they were going to be moved into another part of the hospital due to an emergency. As they followed Laurence began to tell his dad what he saw on the tv screen and the fact that smoke was now coming out from both of towers. 

Once they were settled his dad looked at Laurence asking him to wait here for a little while before going to investigate for himself. Just after 10:00am Christian returned looking like he had just seen a ghost or something Mary glanced up seeing Christian in shock.“Is everything ok sweetie” Christian just stood there not sure what to say. “Chris, what happened” Christian walked over to Mary’s side holding her hand “ The towers, they’ve been hit, both of them” Mary looked at him still unsure what Christian was going on about he then went in to recap what Laurence had said to him and what the latest news reporter had said on the television including the fact he just witnessed one of the towers collapsing.

Mary now in shock and on the verge of tears held onto her newborn “Oh god, I hope everyone’s ok”. They all just held each other in silence until a nurse stopped by to see if they were ok. Both Laurence and his dad had questions, lots of questions but the nurse didn’t answer them instead she just looked at them saying “Don’t worry, when we have each other, we have everything” she was just about to leave before turning back “By the way have you thought of a name yet”. Mary looked at her newborn in her arms then at Laurence and finally her husband Christian before saying just one word “Angel”.