The day the World Trade Centre fell
10A3/Cousework/Original Writing/HK/B303/Ruairi Hipkin/06/10/2008 The day the World Trade Centre fell It was as if the world had stopped, I happened to be going into work, in the South Tower of the WTC, and I was running late, I realise now that, if I had arrived at work before the towers were hit, I would not be able to tell my story. I had to have breakfast on my way to the Towers, so I stopped at a restaurant just two streets away from my office. I sat on the terrace; the owners had the radio blaring, and I enjoyed my breakfast. Suddenly, the customers all around me started
screaming and pointing up into the sky. I looked, and almost dropped my teacup in horror – there was a plane flying at top speed into the North Tower of the WTC. The music on the radio had gone. It was replaced by an announcement; it said: “There is a plane flying…flying…toward the World Trade Centre…oh my god! It’s going to crash into the Tower! It has crashed!” It was dreadful! I saw the plane go nose-first into the North Tower, and remain there. Then slowly, as the customers around me started screaming and yelling for help, the Tower began ...
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screaming and pointing up into the sky. I looked, and almost dropped my teacup in horror – there was a plane flying at top speed into the North Tower of the WTC. The music on the radio had gone. It was replaced by an announcement; it said: “There is a plane flying…flying…toward the World Trade Centre…oh my god! It’s going to crash into the Tower! It has crashed!” It was dreadful! I saw the plane go nose-first into the North Tower, and remain there. Then slowly, as the customers around me started screaming and yelling for help, the Tower began to fall. The fire depot was there, and, from what I heard later, those who were on the top floors didn’t have time to get out, many casualties had resulted because of that plane which landed in the Tower. Everyone in the restaurant stopped and stared; everyone (as far as I know) stopped and stared. It was as if the world had gone quiet. The owners came out and chivvied us away, apologizing profusely, but said that they were closing the restaurant. I didn’t know what to do, I wandered around, battling with myself whether I should go in there, or not. I started to walk towards the office, because I knew that if I was quick, I could grab a file and be out of there before another attack…if there was going to be another attack, struck. I got to the doors of the South Tower, presented my ID, and was told that because of the collapse of the other tower; I would not be allowed in. I started back to the subway station, meaning to go home. As I was about to enter the station, the screams and cries of “Oh my god!” erupted again, with people pointing at the South Tower, yelling “A plane’s just crashed! A plane’s just landed in the South Tower.” I turned and looked with horror; some of my colleagues were in there, colleagues that I knew well, a trainee whom I had known very well was in there, I sobbed at the amount of lives lost on that warm Autumn day.// We all shuffled away, there were announcements in the subway stations that, because of the loss of life, the subways were to be closed at 10:00, and that the last trains would depart at five to 10. I caught a train and headed for Brooklyn. Once I was home, I switched on the radio and listened to more horrid attacks: on the Pentagon in Washington DC, and how some hijackers had tried to hit the White House. We all grieved for the dead, including those who had valiantly fought to regain control of the airplane destined for the White House, and crashed it into a field near Shankesville; they all perished because of the crash. All the shops had closed, and all the banks, in short, everything had closed as a sign of respect for those who had died. Word count: 595
