nine-eleven ♡ h.s.

three

C H A P T E R        T H R E E

08:44am — Harry

 Harry's thoughts keep going back to his daughter who is waiting outside for her father to spend with her. Amy has to be bored out of her mind. He knows she would have had more fun if she had stayed at home but he wanted to show Valerie that he tried to be a better father. He really tried, not only for Valerie's sake but also for Amy's.

 They both mean the world to him. He could not imagine his life without either of them and seeing both of them happy is everything to him. So it hurts even more to see them not happy, and that is because of him. Harry is never home and that hurts them.

 And when he comes home, Valerie is angry with him and she has every right. Harry is angry with himself. He promised her to be a good father and husband but he is neither of it. Harry promised to not leave her alone with Amy and that is exactly what he is doing right now.

 Aimlessly, he turns around in his swivel chair to look through the panorama window. The other huge tower of the World Trade Center arises from the ground and is directly in front of him. His office is at the north side of the South tower. The rest of his view are other skyscrapers and on the ground are cars to be seen—mainly yellow cabs.

 But suddenly, out of nowhere, Harry's eyes threaten to fall out of his eye sockets as he watches how a huge explosion happens in the other tower. A strident and deafening sound fills the silence in his office and in whole downtown Manhattan. A bright flash of lightning quivers through the pale blue sky and then there is just thick, black smoke coming out of the North tower.

 Panic grips him and he feels like he is being choked by someone. Harry doesn't know what to do or why this happened or what even happened. Maybe he was day dreaming. A horrible day dream. Or is this real? Can this even be real? No, such a things happen in action movies but not in real life. Things like this don't happen on a normal Tuesday, a day that is supposed to be like every other day.

 Harry keeps staring at the North tower opposite from him. His jaw has dropped slightly and his mind is blank. What is he supposed to do now? He should stand up. He should stand up and go outside. He should check if Amy is okay.

 And that's what he eventually does. Harry gets up stiffly. His mind goes through the scene over and over again that he has seen minutes ago. Harry opens the door and sees Susan sitting on her computer. The only question that appears in his mind is: Where is Amy?

 His assistant sits just like Harry sat seconds ago. Turned around in her swivel chair, Susan stares out of the window and watches black smoke coming out of the hole that the explosion created. He doesn't know where the explosion came from. There suddenly was an explosion and then a huge, ugly hole in the North tower.

 "Susan," Harry says with a low voice and Susan winces, "Susan, have you seen this?"

 "It's snowing," She says in disbelief, "Look, Sir, it is snowing."

 Harry watches and sees little grey pieces coming down from the sky. But it can't be snowing. There are no clouds on the sky. There is just a thick cloud of smoke. And then Harry realizes that the little snowflakes are burning and he knows it is paper. Paper is coming out of the enormous hole of the North tower which is burning because of the explosion that happened not even a minute ago.

 "It's paper, Susan. It's burning paper, not snow." Harry explains her while he looks around for his daughter, "The explosion...North tower—My daughter...where is...," Harry rambles and runs his fingers through his thick, curly hair, "Have you seen—There was...an explosion...—What is going on..I mean, there was an explosion in North Tower...there!"

Susan clears her throat and knows she has to stay calm so her boss can be calm, too. No matter what both of them just saw, "Sir, are you okay? Do you want me to bring you a glass of water?"

 "Where is my daughter? Where is my Amy?"

 "Sir, I'm going to get you a glass of water now." Susan says again, a bit more stern than before and walks into another room and leaves her boss alone.

 A loud speaker's voice interrupts his train of confused thoughts, "According to information received the North Tower has been crashed by a passenger plane and as long as we have not figured out more details, we act on the assumption that it was an accident. Please stay calm and at your working place. There is no reason to panic. Thank you for your attention."

 Monotonously, Harry walks with stiff legs and arms back into his office. His mind is racing, his heart is thumping and his head is aching. Harry closes the door and a quiet voice inside of his head tells him, that leaving the foyer was the wrong decision.

 Because he left too many times.