The Towers Came Tumbling Down

The plane flew at the towers. People screamed. I watched as the plane made contact with the tall buildings. The blast made me flinch. More people screamed. I stared at the place of impact. People on the streets were either running from or to the tower. Some people just stood in place and watched, like me. I looked around to see hundreds of phones out and recording. Some people were walking out onto the street, asking what happened. Within a couple of minutes, news teams were on the scene. Their cameras pointed at the towers. 

Then everyone started looking around again, jet engines. People looked at the tower and the sky. I looked straight up just in time to see a second plane fly overhead. The second plane flies right into the second tower.

More screams. I look to the towers and see hundreds of people running out of them. Everyone was freaking out, but for some reason, I couldn’t find my voice. I looked around again, “Mom?” I called out for her. “Mom!” I stood in place as I tried to see through the crowd. I got pushed and shoved as people ran past me. I heard the sirens before I saw the trucks. The police, the firefighters, and the ambulance pulled up to the towers. I looked back up and saw the towers aflame.

My urge to run kicked in and I started to panic like everyone else was doing. “Mom!” I yelled but I wasn’t loud enough. No one could hear me through the crowd. I tried to push myself back to the store I last saw my mom in. I was shoved and I fell to the ground. I felt the burning sensation in my hands and knees. I tried to stand only to get pushed down again.

A hand reached out to me and I gratefully took it. I was pulled to my feet and led through the crowd. I tried to see the face that went with the hand but couldn’t. As soon as they had grabbed my hand they released it. I was left alone again. 

I looked around. I was at the end of the crowd. How had they pulled me that far so fast? I looked around for them but saw no one. I didn’t recognize where I was. I felt my fear start to rise and I quickly felt like I was drowning. The tears came and ran down my cheeks. “Mom!” I sunk to my knees just as the world boomed.

The whole world trembled and shook as the towers came crashing down. I stared at the towers, they reminded me of building blocks or dominos. You push one and they all go tumbling after. I felt the impact as the last of the building collapsed in on itself and hit the ground.

No one noticed me as I ran back through the crowd. I found myself soon lost again in a sea of people. I spun around and jumped, trying to see over the thousands of heads. I pushed against the tide. I saw the sign. The sign that belonged to the store my mom was in. I saw her panic outside of the store. She looked frantic and frightened. “Mom!” I ran to her as quickly as I could. “Mom!” I cried out again and again as I got closer. My mother looked up at one of my cries, I watched as she tried to scan the crowd for me. I pushed my way through the final line of people. “Mom!” I ran to her. She noticed me and opened her arms to embrace me. “Daniel!” I felt my mother cry into my shoulder, “Oh, Daniel you are alright!” She put me down and grabbed my hand. “Come, come quickly. We must get you home, Daniel.” I looked up to my mom, “Mom what is going on?” My mom pulled me along the street, “I am not quite sure Daniel.”  I must not have been walking fast enough because my mom pulled me in front of her and picked me up. She walked as quickly as she could trying to get to the car. I wondered, would we even be able to drive? When we reached the car my mom opened the door and put me in my car seat. She buckled me in and closed the door. She got into the driver’s seat and started the car. My mom slowly pulled out and onto the street.

The roads were a mess. People and cars everywhere. It almost would have been faster to walk. Cars were bumper to bumper. Somehow my mom got us through the traffic and back to our apartment. We raced up the stairs and my mom immediately turned on the TV. She switched it to the news channel and sat on the couch, staring intensely at the screen.

The clip of the towers falling played over and over again as the newsman talked over the videos. “Daniel go and play, you don’t need to watch this.” I looked at my mom, “I saw them fall, mom.” My mother turned to me confused. “Daniel? What did you see?” I pointed at the TV. “I saw the planes and the towers. I saw the planes fly into the tops. Then the towers fell.” My mother looked at me shocked. “You saw it all happen?” I wondered if I was in trouble, “Yes.” I said hesitantly. My mother looked back at the TV.

That night I got to stay up late. My mom let me play and watch movies in my room while she watched the news. For the rest of the day, my mom didn’t leave the couch until dinner. She didn’t talk much either. That night when she tucked me in I asked her, “Mom why did the towers fall?” Her answer was simple, “There are bad people in this world Daniel.”

“Did they make the towers fall?”

“Yes.” My mom didn’t say much more. She kissed me goodnight and went back to the couch. As I was drifting off to sleep I thought about the falling towers. “The towers came tumbling down.”