Author Note: I wrote this a year ago as a tribute to those who died on 9/11/01 and I am uploading this here now as it is the aninversary of that awful day.
It was a normal Tuesday afternoon in Clondalkin and Aidan Turner was relaxing at his home. He had just begun studying at the Gaiety School of Acting but didn’t have a class that day so was having a quiet day at home. But his quiet day was about to be shattered. His phone suddenly rang and when he answered it he found it was his girlfriend Amber.
“Aidan I’m scared. We’re at the World Trade Center and on the Top Of The World observation deck. A plane has hit the North Tower. I’m scared one is going to hit this tower,” Amber said.
“The heck?” Aidan said.
“It’s bad babe, really bad. Lots of smoke and fire. We can see what’s going on from over here.
She sounded really frightened and scared so Aidan began talking softly to her, trying to calm her down. At the same time he went into the lounge and turned on the TV to see if there was anything on the TV about what was going on in New York.
“I don’t want to die babe. I’m only 18,” Amber said.
Aidan himself was just 18 and like Amber had just finished high school. He’d met Amber in high school and they’d been an item ever since.
Amber and her family had gone to America for a holiday and Aidan never imagined she’d be caught up in something like that. He watched in disbelief as the news reports showed a plane plowing into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. According to the reports everyone above the impact site was trapped.
“You need to get out of there. NOW,” Aidan said.
“Ok I’ll call when we are out,” Amber said.
She hung up and Aidan prayed that she would get out safely. He continued to watch the news reports coming in and then suddenly a plane appeared in the sky heading towards the South Tower.
“Amber please please please be heading down out of the building,” Aidan thought.
The plane plowed into the South Tower going through the 78th to 84th floors and exploded in a fireball. Aidan felt his heart lurch as he had no idea where in the tower Amber and her family would have been in that exact moment. When he tried to call her he only got the voice mail so he left a message hoping she’d be able to reply to it. As the afternoon wore on Aidan became more and more concerned about Amber as he waited to hear from her. Then the South tower collapsed and Aidan still hadn’t heard from Amber so he immediately thought the worst. When his parents came home they asked if he’d heard what was going on.
“Yes and Amber and her family were on the top of the South Tower at the time the North Tower was hit. They were making their way down when the South Tower was hit,” Aidan said.
Aidan’s parents gaped. They knew that Amber and her family had been on holiday in New York but not that they were going to the World Trade Center that day.
“They couldn’t have known what was going to happen,” Aidan said.
He was doing well holding it together but he knew Amber’s chances of survival were very slim. Aidan’s mother wrapped her arms around him hugging him close and that’s when he allowed himself to cry. Hot tears spilled down his cheeks as he thought about Amber and what she must have gone through if she survived the plane’s impact. He knew Amber was a believer so that gave him some comfort as he knew if she had perished she was in a better place. It was also possible that she may have led those around her to Jesus if she’d survived the impact of the plane and knew the tower was coming down before it collapsed. He knew that if Amber hadn’t survived he’d see her again someday in Heaven and that thought also gave him comfort. He and his parents continued to watch news coverage of the disaster and watched as the North Tower collapsed 30 minutes after the South Tower had collapsed. Aidan felt close to tears again as he was heartbroken about Amber and didn’t know how he could go on. Some of his friends called having seen the footage and through tears Aidan told them that Amber had been in the South Tower at the time the plane had hit and that he’d heard nothing since.
