September 11, 2011

I was on the train to meet my favorite uncle Jerry. He lives in NYC. My name is Ashlyn, and I am 10 years old. Every year I go to New York by myself to visit my uncle.

A few hours later…”Uncle Jerry!” I called out to a man. I found my uncle, and we drove to his house in New York. It was 5:00pm, and I was tired from the train ride (as it had taken 5 hours) so we decided to have an early dinner, and sleep early, so we could wake up early, and go out to the city. Little did I know that the next day would indeed be a day that I would never forget, just not in the way that I had expected. 

The next morning, at 10:00am, I found myself up, and ready in Times Square. We shopped, and explored, and then we decided to go to the World Trade Center for lunch. I ordered and just as I was about to bite into my grilled chicken, I heard a deafening noise. A loud BANG! I looked around in bewilderment, to see if anyone else had heard the sound. Apparently they had, because people were turning their heads to every side, trying to figure out the source of the sound. Just then, a large shadow fell over the restaurant, I looked up in fear to see an airplane, flying incredibly low, so low it was scraping buildings as it passed by! My eyes widened, and so did Uncle Jerry’s. THE PLANE WAS GOING TO CRASH INTO THE TWIN TOWERS! My brain was all mushed up and my brain was panicking, I didn’t know what to do! My worst fears were confirmed as the plane crashed into the towers. CRASH! I could hear people screaming, their hands on their head, running for their life. I thought of the many workers in the towers, whose life could be at their end. As of now, the Twin Towers were falling, the 1,368 feet tall towers were crumbling down, and the top had caught fire! I looked at Uncle Jerry in alarm. “Come on Ashlyn, we have to get you out of here as soon as possible!” I nodded my head vigorously, eager to get out of there.

As soon as we got out of the restaurant, my uncle grabbed my hand, and led me to a nearby bus stop, now there was rubble all over the ground, and dust was forming in the air. I coughed- the dust was choking me, my eyes were burning, as if they had caught on fire. I could hear people screaming, the bangs of rubble hitting the ground. My uncle instructed me to stay here, while he went somewhere. “Where are you going?” I croaked out. But his expression told me everything, he was going into the towers! “NO” I shouted. But he charged on anyway. I ran after him, but that must have been the wrong thing to do, because just as I was about 15 feet away from the crumbling towers, a piece of the heavy rubble fell on my head! Everything around me felt dizzy, and I fell to the ground,  suddenly, everything was pitch black, and the last thing I remembered was my Uncle screaming my name.

One day later… I opened my eyes to find my mom hovering over me with a worried expression on her face in a strangely quiet room. I fully opened my eyes and realized that I was in the emergency room. I tried to think back to why I was in the emergency room and remembered the previous day’s happenings. As soon as I remembered, I whipped up on the bed into a sitting position. My mom immediately asked me what had happened and I told her the whole story. During our discussion, she told me that a piece of rubble had fallen on my head and had left me with a swollen head. She also told me that my Uncle had called her,, and the ambulance. But there was still one question burning in my mind: Where was Uncle Jerry?  But, my mom must have read my mind, because the next thing she said, was exactly what I was about to ask. “And as for your Uncle, well, you may as well see for yourself” my mom said with a troubled expression on her face. I looked around the room, expecting to see my uncle on the hospital bed next to me, but he wasn’t, in fact, there wasn’t a single person on any of the beds next to me. I looked at my mom, confused. She gave me a watery chuckle, and said, “Not there, there”, she said pointing to the TV, which I hadn’t realized was on, until now.

I looked in the direction of the TV, and saw that the news was on, and the newscaster was showing pictures of the “thing” that happened yesterday. There were pictures of fires, people screaming, and planes crashing into the Twin Towers. I shuddered. But that wasn’t the thing that caught my full attention. I stared at the screen in disbelief. It was my Uncle, on TV! The newscaster was talking to my uncle about the “thing”` that had happened yesterday, but something was different about my uncle, something that I couldn’t quite place. I looked at my mom, confused (once again!) She had her hands cupped on her face, I could tell that something was clearly wrong. I looked back at the TV, and saw the change in my uncle. He was missing…a leg! I sank down into the bed. I Didn’t know what to do, or say. So I remained silent. 

2 Weeks Later…”Hi Uncle Jerry!”I called out to a man on crutches. He grinned, and limped over. He came into the house, and my mom started to cry. He opened his arms, and my mom went in, for a big hug, I joined in too. We were 1 big happy family, no matter what!