I was there. I was there when the whole thing happened. So was my little sister, and so was my best friend. That was the day that changed my life forever.
3 DAYS BEFORE…
“ Hey Aria, Sabrina is working a shift at the World Trade Center in the restaurant. Want to go in and say hi?” I asked.
“ Ya sure. Why not?” replied my younger sister.
We just left home and started wandering around. My little sister was 10 and I was 16, so even though I was older by 6 years, she still loved me and liked to hang out with me. It was so early, that we still looked like zombies, but we wanted to go say hi anyway. We walked into the North Tower. We took the elevator up to the 97th floor, and as we walked out we didn’t realize that it was already 8:45 AM. We were just about to walk in when there was a big crash to our floor. I saw bits of a plane everywhere. My sister!
“ ARIA!!!!! Are you ok? Where are you? ARIA!!!” I was so scared I felt like I was about to pass out.
“ Rose, it’s ok. I’m ok. Don’t worry. Just a little bit bruised.”
“ Oh thank god. What happened?”
“ I don’t know, I think a plane crash. Actually into a couple of floors.”
“ Oh wow. Oh my gosh! Sabrina! Do you think she’s ok?”
“ I hope so”
I started walking trying to make my way and find the restaurant but I got so lost. Aria started to catch up, but then stopped immediately.
There was a body. Dead one. With one part of a plane in the middle of her chest. It was a worker. No. Someone, but I don’t know who. It was just there. IN the middle of the floor. Aria started crying so hard it was like her eyes were pouring out. I held her tight in my arms. We walked across a pathway. It was like a hallway in construction. We walked all the way down till we saw Sabrina. She was on the floor covered in blood. I cried. I cried so hard that we both Aria and I held each other in our arms, holding tight and getting through it. We picked up her body and dragged it all the way back. We were still crying. Then we realized that we had to get out of here. We heard a big crash about an hour later. I was so glad I had my phone to tell the time, but I couldn’t call or text anyone.
“ Aria, we have to get out of here. We’ll grab Sabrina and go down the stairs and try to get out of the lobby.”
“ Ok,” she replied but was hesitant.
We heard a big crash. It was so big that we tripped and fell. That’s when it happened. Aria had asthma but it never really came to her so we usually never carried her inhaler. I wish I did. She started wheezing. She couldn’t breathe. Then just out of nowhere she collapsed. Boom! She made a thud when she hit the floor. I started to give her CPR, hoping, just hoping that her heart would start beating, but it never did. I tried everything that my dad taught me. I did mouth to mouth. Even that didn’t work either. Then I knew that my life was over. My best friend and my little sister have both just died. I was devastated but I realized that I couldn’t let myself die too. I dragged and dragged both bodies down all the stairs.
I walked out of the building crying my eyes out. As I walk into the street I see firefighters racing towards me. When they got to me they started asking all the questions but then when they realized that I was hurt they rushed me to the hospital.
“NO! NO! NO! The bodies! That’s my sister and friend. Don’t leave them!” I yelled so hard that I thought my lungs were gonna burst.
I get rolled into the ambulance and that’s when everything starts to fade away into nothing. When I woke up I was hooked up to so many things and I saw my arm in a cast. I was so confused. I remember I was with my sister. My sister! Oh my gosh. Is she ok? Wait, she’s dead. Just out of nowhere I just started crying so hard. No one was in there. Not my parents, family, doctors, no one. After an hour or two I had nothing left to cry. My sister and friend were both dead and I couldn’t do anything about it.
After one week I was let out of the hospital and I attended both of their funerals, mad at myself that I let them both die. They both died on 9/11 and I couldn’t save them.
