After 9/11

Stine Brynildsen
Sep 14, 2001
3 min read

Dear diary,

Today is 14. September 2001, it`s a sad day. I can’t explain my feelings, it all feels so black. I could never believe that this would happen. I`m so lost right now. The last days have gone so fast, but at the same time so slow. Everything feels like a marathon, but I`m running in slow motion. My brother. My best friend. He was always there for me, and he always took care of his little sister. The date was September 11. A horrible day. Nothing can explain this tragedy and I remember this day so well. Someone told me to write down my thoughts, because I don’t want to speak to anyone. All I want is to forget, but I can’t. I don’t think my brother deserves that. He meant everything to me, and now some cruel, hateful men have taken my brother away from me.

Everything was good that day. I was outside the World Trade Centre at the north tower with my friend. Everyone around us seemed happy and did their daily routine. I had just bought a cup of coffee, when I saw a shadow that stretched down the tall buildings. At the same time I understood that something wasn’t right. A second later, we all heard that big noise and people were confused. I got so scared, and I didn’t understand anything, but then I heard people starting to scream and children cry. I moved my eyes upwards and I could see smoke coming from the north tower. “An airplane has crashed into the tower!” I heard a woman scream. Immediately I started to cry. My brother was inside that building. I couldn’t think clearly. I started to run as fast as I could towards the building, but a man stopped me. My brother was in that building and couldn’t believe what had just happened. I tried to call him, but he didn’t answer. My dad called me and was so scared. He screamed to me that I had to find safety. I have never cried so much before. People were in panic and nobody knew what they should do. I thought that this could never be worse than it was. After a few minutes, we all heard the new bang. “What the hell? This isn’t happening,” I thought.

A new airplane, a new building and a lot of screaming. I can’t explain what I saw. It was so horrible. People from the two towers jumped down from the building in panic. I saw their body hit the ground. I will never write or think of that again. My thoughts was just a black hole. When I saw people falling down, my only hope was that it wasn’t my brother. He never picked up his phone when I tried to call him, and this made me sick. I remember that I couldn’t understand what was going on. I thought everything was an accident, until the second plane came. This has to be something more than an accident. I ran down the street together with many other people. I had lost my friend and I was alone in the crowd. I could feel the ground shaking under me, and the north tower started to move. “It`s falling,” people screamed. In that moment I saw things in slow motion, it felt like I wasn’t alive anymore. Paper, smoke and pieces of the building felt down from the sky. A big smoke covered the street and the huge pressure destroyed the windows. All that was in my mind was the thought of my brother. Something hit me in my head and I fell down on the ground. I closed my eyes and hoped that this was just a dream.

Someone shouted to me and I had to open my eyes. Injured people lay in the street and everything was a mess. “Oh, my god, my brother”. I grabbed my phone and I saw there was a missed called there. It was my brother who had called me. At the same time, I could hear someone behind me. My dad. He cried so much, and I understood that my brother was gone. This wasn’t an accident. The twin towers got hit by al-Qaeda terrorist from Saudi Arabia. Many people lost their lives and in total 2,998 people were killed. My brother was one of them. Osama Bin Laden led these attacks and I hate this man so much. He has destroyed my life and nothing will bring my brother back. The date is 14. September 2001, a sad day for me, and a sad day for many other people. Not only this day is sad, but from 11. September all the days will never be the same again.