9/11 Again

[woof]

I wrote this after there had been discussion in another thread about going back in time to a previous age. I asked what it would be like to relive 9/11 knowing what was going to happen. Here's where my imagination took me over the course of 3 hours:


The blaring alarm woke Will up from his dreams. He smacked his clock radio, shutting the alarm off, then pushed the button that turned the radio on. He wanted to hear how the Wings’ game had ended last night.

“Those are your scores for today, I’ll be back with sports on the twenty-twos and fifty-twos of every hour, here on NewsLife 860,” the sports reporter said. “Back to you Mike.”

“Thanks Robbie,” the radio station’s anchor said. Will grimaced. He’d have to ask someone at school how the game had turned out. He had money riding on it. “Now let’s check in with weather,” the anchor continued. “Susan, how’s today going to look?’

“Well Mike, it’s going to be another beautiful September day,” Susan said. Will looked at the radio. September? It was November 17th. He knew this because he had a major test in his grade 11 biology course. “Lots of sunshine, highs in the mid-70s, and this will continue tomorrow, but the day after, the 13th, will get cloudy with a chance of showers.”

“The 13th?” Will repeated. “Wow, what is going on in that station?”

He pulled back the covers on his bed and nearly jumped in shock. His body was smaller- all the muscle tone, which he had accumulated from hours in the gym, was gone. He noticed that his hands were definitely smaller as well as he moved them up his now-hairless torso. “What the…” he muttered. He looked around his room. The walls were light green, instead of the beige that they had been when he’d gone to bed the night before. Posters of Pokemon, James Bond and Christina Aguilera hung around the room, despite the fact that Will had not been interested in them for years.

“What on earth?” he asked aloud. This wasn’t making any sense.

Will ran out of his room and into the bathroom. He flicked the light on and looked in the mirror. “Oh-” he gasped. He was about six inches shorter, his face was paler and less defined, and his hair was less than an inch long and bleach-blonde. “I-” he started, but the words couldn’t come out of his mouth. He took a deep breath, as it hit him. “I’m younger,” he breathed, now realizing that his voice was higher-pitched.

“Willy, come on down and get breakfast!” his mom shouted from downstairs.

I must be dreaming, Will thought to himself. He walked back to his room, opened the drawers and pulled out some clothes. No surprise- they were smaller than what he was used to. But they fit.

Once dressed, Will made his way downstairs and into the kitchen. There was his mom, looking slightly younger, feeding his brother, who was definitely younger. “Better hurry up and eat,” his mom said. “You don’t want to be late for school.”

“No…” Will said slowly. “I don’t…”

He sat down in front of a bowl of cereal and started eating, but his mind was not focussed on the food. This had to be a dream. But it was so realistic, not the least bit surreal. Then again, what other possibilities were there? Had he travelled back in time? That wasn’t a possibility at all, mainly because it wasn’t possible. Will looked at his now-baby brother. Well, if this was time travel, at least he hadn’t gone too far back, like to a baby. His clothes may be a bit smaller, but he wasn’t wearing diapers- that would have been awful.

“Morning everyone,” Will’s dad said as he walked into the kitchen, carrying the newspaper. Will perked up. He remembered hearing somewhere that when dreaming, any text the dreamer looks at will change at each glance.

Will jumped up from his chair and ran to his dad. “Can I see the paper, just for a second?” he asked, grabbing the sheets.

“Sure Will,” his dad said, letting go of the newspaper.

Will looked at the headline on the front page, turned his head away, then looked back at it again. “Oh God,” he gasped. The headline was the same, but that was no longer Will’s main concern. Right above the headline was the date.

September 11, 2001.

“Is everything okay Will?” his mother asked.

“This… today… it…” Will couldn’t make it come out. “Do you know what today is?” he finally asked his parents, both who had concerned looks on their faces.

“No…?” his mom said. “Honey, what are you asking?”

“Today,” Will said. His heart was pounding. “September 11. Does that mean anything to you?”

“Well, it’s been three months since your 13th birthday,” his dad said. “Do you have a test today?”

“Are you feeling okay?” his mom asked, putting her hand to his forehead. “You don’t have a fever, but you seem… not normal.”

No kidding, Will thought to himself. “I… I’m fine,” he lied. He looked at the clock. 8:03am. The World Trade Centres would be attacked in less than an hour. The planes were already in the air. There was nothing he could do.

“We better get you to school then,” his dad said. “Do you want to finish your breakfast?”

“No,” Will said. “I’m not hungry.”

Minutes later, Will was sitting in his dad’s car as it headed towards his middle school. “Did you hear the Wings won in overtime?” his dad asked.

“Great,” Will stated unenthusiastically.

The car arrived at the school and Will got out. “See you tonight!” his dad said.

“Yeah,” Will said. “See you after the world changes.”

His dad laughed. “The world is always changing,” he said. He drove away, and Will felt arms wrap around him. He spun around at saw Erin, his ex- well, technically, his current girlfriend.

“Hey Willie!” she said.

“Uh, hi,” Will said. Why he had dated her was beyond him. Though rather attractive, she was clingy and annoying, though it was understandable, since her father had been killed in the 9/11… “Oh no,” Will blurted out.

“What is it?” Erin asked, still holding him.

“Your dad…” Will said. “Where is he?”

“He’s at a business meeting in New York,” Erin said. “It’s exciting, they’re meeting in the World Trade Centres and…”

“Oh…” Will said. He grabbed her in a tight hug.

Erin laughed. “Willie, what is this about? Does this have to do with your e-mail from last night?”

“My e-mail?” Will asked.

“Yeah, you sent me an e-mail saying you wanted to talk to me and had something important to say?” Erin asked.

It took Will a split second to remember. The first time around, he had broken up with Erin minutes before the planes had killed her father. He didn’t know why he was back here- whether this was a dream, or time-travel, or something else- but he wasn’t going to make that mistake again. “Yeah,” he said. “I want to let you know… that I love you. And I want to be here for you.”

Erin giggled. “So dramatic!” The bell rang. “C’mon, let’s get to class.”

The two walked to class. Will looked around as he walked. Everything was normal. Everyone was happy. The world was a good place. That was about to change.

Will paid no attention in class- he just watched the clock. As it hit 8:46, he sighed and shook his head. Plane #1 had hit. “Is there a problem, Will?” his teacher asked. “Do fractions make you sad?”

The rest of the class laughed. “No,” Will said plainly. He went back to looking at the clock. 9:03. Plane #2 had hit. 34 minutes later, the Pentagon had been hit. No one else in the class knew. No one else in the world knew what was going on.

Will put his head on his desk and felt tears forming in his eyes. He wiped them away and looked at Erin. He knew it was the last time she would be happy for the next year.

As lunch was approaching, the PA system cracked on. “May I have everyone’s attention,” the principal said. Will, who had placed himself next to Erin for this exact moment, grabbed her hand and held it in his. She looked at him and smiled.

“…earlier today, just hours ago, terrorists hijacked several airplanes,” the principal continued. “They crashed these planes into the Pentagon and into the World Trade Centres in New York.”

“Oh my gosh,” the teacher said. Erin grabbed Will’s hand tighter.

“Both towers have now collapsed, and rescue crews are trying to save people from the wreckage.”

“My dad…” Erin gasped.

“The Federal Government has asked all schools in the nearby states to close down for the rest of the day, as part of a safety precaution,” the principal said. “That includes this school. Buses have been called in, and all students will be going home in five minutes. Your parents have been informed about this.”

Some of the kids in the class cheered, which angered Will even more. “I’m sure your dad is fine,” he whispered to Erin, even though he knew it was a lie.

“Yeah,” Erin said in a shaky voice. “He must be.”

The bell rang, and Will and Erin, flanked by hundreds of other students, walked out of the building. “Erin!” Will turned and saw Erin’s mom standing next to her SUV.

“I’ll talk to you tonight,” Erin said. “And let you know if my dad got hurt or anything.”

“Yeah,” Will said. He saw his dad’s car on the other side of the parking lot. “Let me know.”


The two departed, and Will ran to his dad. “Looks like you were right about the world changing,” his dad said as Will got in.

“Yeah,” Will said.

“This is just crazy,” his dad said. “America is under attack. Who knows where else those terrorists could hit?”

“Probably no where else,” Will said.

“We can’t know for sure,” his dad said.

Will said nothing as the car drove out of the parking lot.

* * *

It was 12 hours after the second plane had hit, and Erin hadn’t phoned yet. Will was not the least bit surprised- it would be a few days before she would come back to school.

“…we will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms.” President Bush’s address to the nation was on pretty much every single channel.

“I wonder if we’re going to go to war,” his mom, who was sitting on the living room’s couch with Will and his dad, said.

Will smirked for a second. “Probably,” his dad said. “I’m just so glad we’re being led by President Bush. He’ll know what to do.”

Will’s smirked reemerged. The president finished his address and Will’s mom shut off the TV. “Okay Will, time to go to bed,” she said.

Will nodded. He’d been living this day in its entirety, but still had no idea how or why he was here. What he did know was that he was tired. He ran up to his room, got ready for bed and then climbed into his covers. “This is all too weird,” he said to himself in his dark room. “Too weird…”

He closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.



November 16, 2004:


Will walked out of his American Politics class with his friend Matthew. “Pretty interesting class, huh?” Matt said.

“Yeah,” Will laughed. “I enjoyed Mr. Sterner’s rant on how 9/11 was an inside job.”

“I really wish he’d stop talking about that day,” Matt said. “It was so traumatizing for me. Just thinking about it makes me relive it.”

“Yeah, but you relive it knowing what happened,” Will said. “I mean, I think it’d be rather interesting to go through that day again, but knowing what we know now.”

Matt shrugged. “If you say so. I’d prefer it never happened.”

“Hmmm…” Will said. He was lost in thought.

[Connor92]

Wow, woof! Great, great story. This is a topic that truely interests me, and if you wanted to write a longer, more elaborate story, that would be absolutely awesome. You really have a knack for writing, keep it up!

[BabyGrizzy]

*claps* Finally! A non-*B/DL story! Great writing skills, I enjoyed how you separated the lined between quotes, made it a lot easier to read. Good story, in my opinion.

[baseball4life]

Great job woof, this is a great story indeed. Please keep up the good work!

[woof]

Thank you all so much! I thought putting a non-*BDL-story about an extremely sensitive issue would be risky, but your praise and compliments make it all worth it! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Connor- Knowing that this topic interests you, I'm glad you think I did a great job. That's all I'm going to write for that story, but I could write a different, longer, more elaborate story about 9/11. There certainly are limitless things that can be written about it. We'll see.

Thanks again guys!

[Todd]

I thought you did a good job writing the story.