Sirens blared. Fire swallowed people up whole. Water trickled down my face as I looked up, smoke billowing in the sky. But I’m getting ahead of myself

Tomorrow is going to be the day, Ramsey will hand over the promotion on a silver platter, decorated with golden ivy.

I checked my phone one last time, maybe he’ll text me in the morning. I laid my head back on the pillow and curled up into a ball.

The air was freezing in the apartment, but the AC wasn’t working, so not much I could do. I had a mound of blankets on top of me but no matter what I did, the cold air would seep through. But finally after a couple hours of restless sleeping, my eyes shut and slowing breathed.

My eyes burst open. Panic spread throughout my whole body. I jumped up.

Wait no what am I doing? Why am I so scared? I calmed my breathing and looked through my bedroom window. I could see it all. Smoke gushed up from the North building.

I fumbled my phone in my hands. I texted Ramsey as fast as I could.

We worked in the North building, but I didn’t have to come in until later, but Ramsey had already been there for an hour.

I texted him asking if he was OK, and what was going on. No reply. Oh god I thought.

I jumped from my bed and slipped on some sweatpants. I ran down the flights of stairs and out the apartment complex’s front gates. I could see the smoke everywhere. It consumed the sky. One cloud at a time.

Calm down Ari. It’s fine, he’s fine. I thought to myself. I round the corner and was basically sprinting now. I knew this morning felt off.

How would I have known that the building was on fire though? Thoughts races through my mind, I didn’t realize where I was going until I tripped over someones shoe.

The lady didn’t move a muscle. No sorry, no nothing. She was staring at the towers. When I got up I coughed and realized the smoke was traveling alarmingly fast. And the lady was covered in black ash, and had burns on her face and arms. I looked at the towers.

“What happened?” I asked to no one particular.

“A plane, it- it hit the tower,” Someone muttered from the sidewalk.

He shot me a worried look. I turned back to the towers. A small black spot started coming towards the South tower. It came closer and closer, until the wings shaped themselves, the sound of the engines roared. It teared through the sky.

My ears were ringing people were screaming. I could hear my heart pounding, faster, and faster. I was on the ground, knees were scratched and bleeding. My elbows had rocks buried in them. I heard sirens blaring. People were running and screaming everywhere

“The South tower has been hit!” The man from the sidewalk screamed. He grabbed my hand and helped me up. Apparently I had been trampled, the guy said as soon as it happened people were pushing and screaming and jumping over others to get away from the towers.

“What’s your name?” He asked. His hand was placed on both sides of my face shaking me awake

“Uhm-“ My eyes burned every time I opened them. “Ariana.” I said. Smoked fell down my throat and I choked trying to get it back up. It stung my lungs.

Paramedics and fireman from all around rushes to the scene. They sped past us, since we were alive and could walk, we could live. They were there for the real danger, and the people that were closer to death.

The man held his hands wrapped around my head, he was saying something but my ears were still ringing. My vision was blurry, and I couldn’t read his lips. The ringing went in and out, as well as the screams and sirens.

I finally got ahold of myself, the man gripped my hand and began running down the street. I couldn’t breathe nor run. So I just let him drag me along.

We stopped at a little cafe that had hundreds of people surrounding it and few inside. We could still see the towers. We had to have been there for a couple hours, because when I looked out the buildings began to crash down. It began to rain. It trickled down my face, before I saw nothing.