The Twins' Downfall
by Casey Parsons
by Casey Parsons
The absolute silence, time almost like it was standing still. The streets of New York as busy as they’d ever been, but everything seemed to move in slow motion, the cars, the people, the changing signs, the flying birds. You’re in a frame of time of which you’ll never forget what you’ve seen, the magnificence of all of the people, the tall skyscrapers, the bluest sky you’ll ever see. It seems like nothing in the world matters at all, you are completely invested in this moment, one you will remember till the day you die, the people screaming, running, hiding. The cars speeding, crashing, the smoke so thick you choked on it. You are witnessing the most brilliant moment of your life, one that almost no one else will get to say they saw, you can feel the heat of the burning steel and concrete from the ground. The smoke now covered every inch of the city, the ash, the dust, it was in your eyes, your mouth, your nose, your ears, and even your skin. But, it’s not just dust in your skin. Shards. Steel shooting out from the smoke piercing every inch of your skin like fiberglass in insulation. This is just the South Tower….
You’re standing motionless, breathless, but not by choice, you’re choking on the smoke, dust, ash, and tiny pieces of debris that are flying through the air like nano bullets. You wait a few minutes and regain mind processing what just happened, you look up to see one of the the towers disappear in smoke, fire, and dust, it took a few beats for you to realize what really happened, but you instinctively moved forward, towards the wreckage. As you walk along the shattered sidewalk caked with dust and ash you look left, right, up, down, everything with the exception of a few inches in front of you is blocked by a thick smog, the screams of people seem distant, the constant, piercing ringing in your ear blocking almost all noise from your hearing.
Your mind is bouncing everywhere, how did the tower collapse? Who collapsed it? Did anyone survive? Why am I going toward the building? Did anyone I know get hurt from this? Almost a half hour passes by, and in the middle of another bouncing thought you see nothing but black. You open your eyes, how long has it been, a few seconds? You try to stand up, but you can barely sit up. You use your arms to hoist your body upwards so you can see better, the smog was even thicker now, a large burning steel blade of shrapnel seared its way into your left leg and cauterized itself into you, but you don’t feel it, you just stare at it.
As you stare at the burning chunk of black metal you see concrete and steel I-beams half melted and half shattered all over the ground, people are running away and to the wreckage of the iconic twins. One person trips, another runs past them, another tramples them, and one helps them up and gets them back to running. A car turned the corner, going too fast and taking a knife sharp turn, flipping, the car begins to barrel roll across the street, it was a taxi, maybe, the smog made it hard to tell for certain and your eyes watered and burned from the the damaging mixture of the smog.
You look down at your bloodied wrist to see if your wrist watch had survived the ordeal and you could see how long it has been, but against your hope the watch is just as shattered as that car you just watched tumble. You feel your body tingling, as if you were encased in a vibrating chair and it was at the lowest setting, it was the numbness from the pain, and the extreme amounts of adrenaline coursing through your body, which is also keeping you from screaming in absolute agony from the injuries you’ve sustained. You finally feel the hand of another person graso your shoulder. At first you did nothing and just ignored the hand on your shoulder, but after a few beats you looked up and saw a man, no, three men, or was it four? It’s hard for you to remember. Two of the men each took one of your arms and picked you up slinging your arms over their shoulders and they began to carry you out of the debris field and away from the broiling heat of the blazing inferno that was burning jet fuel and melting steel. You warily look to the left and right to look at the running people, then blackness.
You wake up again, something is on your face, it feels weird, it covers your nose, mouth, and chin, and you move your eyes back and forth, there’s a blurry blue, blue something to your right and a blurry blue something else to your left. You decide to look down, the giant shrapnel is gone, but, wait, where’s your foot? Did you pass out? Where have you been? How long has it been? You soon again see nothing but black.
Once more you awake from your deepened sleep, you don’t know it yet, but it has been four days since the iconic twins fell. Your best friend was sat in a chair next to your bed, asleep. That weird thing is still on your face, your breathing is, it’s less painful now, but it still burns a little, a feeling that you’ll never forget or get rid of. You can’t see much, your vision is blurry, you’ve never seen the world like this, usually you see everything clear as clear can be, but now the only thing clear is your that thing slightly peeking into your view as you look down. A doctor comes in and tells you what had happened he tells you that you’ve lost your left leg from the knee down, you just have one question in mind, who the hell did this?
You’re standing motionless, breathless, but not by choice, you’re choking on the smoke, dust, ash, and tiny pieces of debris that are flying through the air like nano bullets. You wait a few minutes and regain mind processing what just happened, you look up to see one of the the towers disappear in smoke, fire, and dust, it took a few beats for you to realize what really happened, but you instinctively moved forward, towards the wreckage. As you walk along the shattered sidewalk caked with dust and ash you look left, right, up, down, everything with the exception of a few inches in front of you is blocked by a thick smog, the screams of people seem distant, the constant, piercing ringing in your ear blocking almost all noise from your hearing.
Your mind is bouncing everywhere, how did the tower collapse? Who collapsed it? Did anyone survive? Why am I going toward the building? Did anyone I know get hurt from this? Almost a half hour passes by, and in the middle of another bouncing thought you see nothing but black. You open your eyes, how long has it been, a few seconds? You try to stand up, but you can barely sit up. You use your arms to hoist your body upwards so you can see better, the smog was even thicker now, a large burning steel blade of shrapnel seared its way into your left leg and cauterized itself into you, but you don’t feel it, you just stare at it.
As you stare at the burning chunk of black metal you see concrete and steel I-beams half melted and half shattered all over the ground, people are running away and to the wreckage of the iconic twins. One person trips, another runs past them, another tramples them, and one helps them up and gets them back to running. A car turned the corner, going too fast and taking a knife sharp turn, flipping, the car begins to barrel roll across the street, it was a taxi, maybe, the smog made it hard to tell for certain and your eyes watered and burned from the the damaging mixture of the smog.
You look down at your bloodied wrist to see if your wrist watch had survived the ordeal and you could see how long it has been, but against your hope the watch is just as shattered as that car you just watched tumble. You feel your body tingling, as if you were encased in a vibrating chair and it was at the lowest setting, it was the numbness from the pain, and the extreme amounts of adrenaline coursing through your body, which is also keeping you from screaming in absolute agony from the injuries you’ve sustained. You finally feel the hand of another person graso your shoulder. At first you did nothing and just ignored the hand on your shoulder, but after a few beats you looked up and saw a man, no, three men, or was it four? It’s hard for you to remember. Two of the men each took one of your arms and picked you up slinging your arms over their shoulders and they began to carry you out of the debris field and away from the broiling heat of the blazing inferno that was burning jet fuel and melting steel. You warily look to the left and right to look at the running people, then blackness.
You wake up again, something is on your face, it feels weird, it covers your nose, mouth, and chin, and you move your eyes back and forth, there’s a blurry blue, blue something to your right and a blurry blue something else to your left. You decide to look down, the giant shrapnel is gone, but, wait, where’s your foot? Did you pass out? Where have you been? How long has it been? You soon again see nothing but black.
Once more you awake from your deepened sleep, you don’t know it yet, but it has been four days since the iconic twins fell. Your best friend was sat in a chair next to your bed, asleep. That weird thing is still on your face, your breathing is, it’s less painful now, but it still burns a little, a feeling that you’ll never forget or get rid of. You can’t see much, your vision is blurry, you’ve never seen the world like this, usually you see everything clear as clear can be, but now the only thing clear is your that thing slightly peeking into your view as you look down. A doctor comes in and tells you what had happened he tells you that you’ve lost your left leg from the knee down, you just have one question in mind, who the hell did this?