....continued from last entry....
I couldn't believe what I had just heard.
I looked around the cabin. Even though none of the passengers were panicking, you could cut the tension in the air with a knife.
I was afraid to look at Mike. I couldn't face him after I had just finished lecturing him on how flying was the safest way to travel.
We landed in Dayton Ohio within 1/2 hour of the pilot's announcement. And within seconds of landing, Mike was on a payphone letting his mom know that he was ok. There was no way that his mom even thought we were in danger....so I was frustrated and irritated that he left my side. I was still confident that there was nothing to worry about, but if there was, why wasn't Mike protecting me?
My thoughts were interrupted when suddenly I heard my name being announced over the speaker system. Who knew I was here?
I ran to one of the check-in counters. The attendant handed me a phone.
"Leo! Are you ok??"
It was one of the secretaries from our office back in Toronto. I was very confused. Even though most of the world had known what was happening in New York by now, we in the airport still had no clue.
After assuring her that Mike and I were ok, I asked her what was going on.
But before she could answer, something caught my eye.
"Never mind. Finish looking for the others. I'll call you later".
I hung up the phone and walked slowly towards one of the restaurants in the airport. There, in the bar area, was a crowd of about a hundred people staring blank faced at the TV.
I made my way up to the front of the crowd and stood beside 2 pilots. I looked up at the screen, and watched plane #2 hit one of the Twin Towers in New York.
I gasped ......and my eyes filled with tears.
For the next few days, we were stranded in Dayton, Ohio. Flights were grounded, and every other means of transportation was impossible to secure.
Mike and I ended up finding a hotel to stay in while we searched for ways to get home.
We were both in completely different states of mind. While Mike panicked and worried about how to get home to his parents, I sat on the bed in a state of utter sadness watching hours and hours of coverage of the tragedy that had just occurred. I still couldn't believe that this had actually happened.
I cried for days. I cried for the mothers who lost their children. I cried for the wives that lost their husbands. And I cried for the firefighters who risked, and lost their lives at the mere chance that they could save another.
We had soon learned that our American Airlines flight was probably targeted by the terrorists as one of the planes to hi-jack. Apparently the terrorists were looking for larger planes traveling from the East coast to the West coast.
I couldn't understand why so many people had lost their lives ....and yet my life was spared.
After 3 days, we had finally found a rental car that needed to be returned back to Toronto.
As we drove home, images of the terrorist attacks replayed over and over in my head. As I sat in silence, Mike went on and on about how he would never fly again and how unsafe the world was. As he spoke, he pushed the "lock" button on the rental car to lock the car doors. He told me that "we were driving in an unsafe neighborhood". I looked at the speedometer. We were driving 110 kms/hour on a highway. Unless someone jumped onto our car from a bridge above, there was no way we were in any way "unsafe". But I didn't want to comment. I just leaned on the side of the car door and went to sleep.
When I woke up, we were home.
I slowly climbed out of the car and walked to my door. I heard Mike following close behind.
When I stopped at the porch, I turned to look at him. He put both of his hands on my face and kissed me. We looked at eachother for a few seconds.
We both knew.
He whispered, "I love you. I'll call you later" ....and walked back to the car.
I sat down on the porch and watched him drive away.
The next day we broke up.
After 9/11, I knew that things would never be the same with us.....and with the world..... ever again.
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