Trifecta: Week Ninety-Four/Atrocity


  
Welcome back, Trifectans!Th
Welcome back, Trifectans!
Trifecta: Week Ninety-Four
 Welcome Trifectian,
I decided once again to add to things into one. This week marks the 12th anniversary of 9/11. A fellow Trifectian asked what were we doing during the attacks. I decided to answer her question while also participating in the challenge.

This week word is Mask


a : a protective covering for the face
b : gas mask
c : a device covering the mouth and nose to facilitate inhalation
d : a comparable device to prevent exhalation of infective material
e : a cosmetic preparation for the skin of the face that produces a tightening effect as it dries 

My contribution is a 333 word snip of that day, simply called Atrocity



I had worked a long sixteen hour shift the day before, the day that will live in infamy,and was looking forward to a long day of rest.  I was asleep when the sound of loud banging startled me awake.

It was my sister banging and yelled through the door. “Turn on the TV!”
  I stirred pissed, “What!”
 “A plane flew into the Twin tower,” she screamed.  
Her words were implausible, but the panic in her voice had me grabbing the remote. “What channel?”
“Every channel!”

The tube showed the first tower engulfed in smoke and flames, people staring bewildered. The commentator talked about the fire department and police, but like the others I gawked at that burning building. “What happened,” I asked, jumping out of bed to open the door.
“They don’t know.” 

 We sat in the den stun watching the events unfold.
  “No one knows what’s going on?” she said.
  I kept my eyes on the television, flipping from station to station reading the tickers. Each had different information, she was right it seemed no one knew what was happening. I kept it on CNN they had people on the ground.

Moments later, the unthinkable occurred. A second plane struck, the horrific scene of two ragging infernos made the world gasped in horror. Reports of more planes more death, scenes of people jumping from windows, and ashen- faced heroes tore at my soul. 

Hours passed and so did the towers, one by one; they fell down like children blocks.
 “Oh my God!” My hands covered my mouth, a mask against the loss of life, while listening, reading and seeing people running from the falling buildings.

There weren’t any sounds, no birds singing or car horns, nothing. It was like the earth felt our loss, when the commentator said, “This was an Act of Terrorism.”  
My heart ached at the lost of life, the suffering and pain of mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers.
Those words echoed in my mind as I wept.


Welcome back, Trifectans!
Copyright © 2013 Glynis Rankin

6 comments:

  1. Chilling recount of how you experienced the day. So appropriate that you posted this on the anniversary. I live in the west, so I was driving to work when the nightmare began. I followed radio reports in disbelief the entire day.

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    1. Hi Janna,
      I hadn't plan to post anything at all. But while I was reading other posts, one asked use to comment about that day. So I decided to share my experience with so many others on this day of remembrance.

      That had to have been hard to hear things unfold over the radio. It's amazing that it never occurred to me that there were people who hadn't actually watched the events. But I can imagine people getting the news how ever and whenever the could.

      Thank you Janna for adding your story.

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  2. Like Kennedy's assassination, we will always remember where we were.

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  3. I was in the city that day. I'll never forget. Thanks for sharing this with us.

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