nine-eleven ♡ h.s.

nine

C H A P T E R         N I N E

09:42am — Harry

Susan wants to take a break. Harry and John want to keep going. All of them are tired and their calves are hurting and burning from the long and hard way down to floor seventy-three.

 The staircase is clean apart from a few broken lamps that fell down due to the shaking of the building when the plane crashed into the tower. But suddenly John stops and Harry almost runs into him.

 "Maybe I should go upstairs again and inform the others that walking down is possible without much trouble. I mean, now after we went down they could follow us." John suggests.

 "Don't you think you're wasting time? We don't know what will happen next. This building...a plane crashed into it. I know it should be capable of sustaining but...it takes too long to go all the way upstairs again, convince them to come with you and then come downstairs again." Harry explains and keeps ignoring Susan who is mumbling something under her breath.

 "You think they don't deserve to be rescued? If they knew that it is possible—"

 "Of course, they deserve to be rescued but so do you, so does Susan and so do Amy and I. Everyone in this building deserves to come out alive and they will. Firefighters will rescue them. That is not our job. Our job is to get out of here now." Harry says and he knows he sounds like an arse to some people but he has to be realistic.

 Only because someone said this building is prepared for plane crashes, they don't know how true that statement is. So if this building collapses and they are trapped inside because they wanted to rescue a huge group of people, they are dead and so is this group of people that went upstairs instead of downstairs.

 "And now go, John, we need to get out of here." Harry encourages him and John nods.

 Nothing exciting happens on their way down. Aside from Susan complaining and her heavy breathing there is nothing audible in the internal staircase. Every floor looks the same. A grey door with huge black letters on it, grey walls and grey stairs. But they can't allow themselves to slow down.

 However, all of a sudden John stops again and when Harry appears behind him he realizes why. On floor sixty-six is a concrete wall instead of the next staircase to get to floor sixty-five. There is a door to enter floor sixty-six but no stairs to go further down.

 John yanks the door open and the little group quickly enters. Filing cabinets are lying on the floor, desks and chairs are moved around and the carpeted floor is slightly stained.

 "Oh my god what happened here?" Susan says when she sees the discoloured carpet in front of the elevator.

 "A fireball went down here," Harry explains and points at the inside of the elevator. The huge metal door is missing, "Everyone who stood in front of an elevator is now..."

 "Dead," Susan finishes his sentence quietly, "This is horrible. So many dead people."

 For a whole minute they all stare at the discoloured carpet and the empty elevator. Each of them is thinking about something different. Harry is thinking about Valerie and how badly he wants to see her and hold her and tell her that he loves her.

 "Okay, go, go." Harry suddenly impatiently says and starts walking down the corridor to get to to the other internal staircase. They don't have time to wait or to grieve for people they never knew.

09:45am

 A ringing noise interrupts the silence that obtains the presence of the small group. It takes Harry a minute to realize that it is his phone. Quickly, he takes it out of his pocket and slows down.

 "Harry, we don't have the time to stop." John tells him.

 "But it's my wife," Harry says desperately, "I can run and talk to her."

 "We need to hold our pace."

 "Okay, I'll try." Harry says and keeps running down the stairs. Amy is since floor sixty-six on John's arm. Harry presses the green button and sighs when he hears Valerie's voice.

 "Harry, oh my God, you're still alive."

 "Yes, we've passed the worst. About four floors are burning but it was passable. We are now on floor forty-eight but if we keep going like this we...we could...," Harry breathes heavily, "We could...be out...out before ten o'clock."

 "Okay, I'll call the ambulance that you are coming. How many are you?" Valerie yells into the phone and only now Harry realizes that there are sirens in the background and loud talking, crying or screaming people.

 "Are you...?"

 "Yes, I'm near the World Trade Center. I couldn't...I couldn't wait at home." Valerie explains and sounds choked.

 "Are you safe there, Val? Are you keeping a distance to the towers?" Harry asks her, worried that she might be to close and could be hit by pieces of the tower that are falling down.

 "Yes, I am. The police has cordoned off the area. No one can get too close to the Twin Towers," Valerie explains and tries to sound as calm as possible, "But how many are you?"

 "Four, we are four," Harry tells her and then looks at Amy, "I love you, Valerie."

 "I love you, too, Harry. But you need to get out of there so I'll hang up now. I'll see you in fifteen minutes, promised?"

 "I don't know if—"

 "Promise? Don't you dare give up, Harry. Don't you—"

 "I promise." Harry whispers and after they exchanged "I love you" once more, Valerie hangs up.

 Sprinting downstairs doesn't take as long as sprinting upstairs and it is not as exhausting. Susan threw her shoes away a few floors earlier so she has a better grip on the banister and the wall so she won't slip. The small group takes several steps at a time and not even a minute later they are four floors lower than they were before.

 The promise Harry gave Valerie incites him to go even faster. Even Susan started to sprint a bit faster than is good for her. Her heavy breathing is the loudest of the small group and on floor twenty-nine they need to take a short rest so she can use her inhaler.

 Harry takes Amy back on his back and agrees to John's offer to take her on floor ten back. Harry gives his daughter another kiss on her dirty hair. Amy doesn't deserve to go through all the stress they have to go through right now. No five year old should experience this. No scratch that, no human being should experience this.

 "We're...almost...there." John yells and Harry doesn't know whether he wants to cry or laugh. They all are out of breath and their legs hurt. Harry takes a look at his watch. It is 09:53am and they are on floor six. Amy is back on John's back and it didn't seem possible at first but they run even faster as if their life depended on this sprint.

 And they don't know it does.