9/11 Short Stories

Meanwhile, Hulga lay in the loft of the barn, and due to the lack of vision correction, she struggled to discern the amount of fingers she was raising an arm's length away. Her optical deficiency was beginning to give her a throbbing pain just behind her eyes. The paralyzing ache gave rise to such agony that Hulga had no choice but to shut her eyes and get some rest.

“Come here, look,” she would say, her voice trembling with every syllable, “we received an encrypted letter from Langley.”

Joe now stands alone looking up at the house, an overnight bag in one hand and his nap sack on a stick in the other... He walks up the old stones steps, noticing pieces crumbling apart... 'This place is old alright... Just what the doctor ordered'

Out of the darkness, rivers of brilliant light and color began to flow all around her, as if a dam holding back a rainbow had miraculously burst. Then she heard the music... a melody so beautiful it tugged at her very soul. It was as if the euphony clothed her in an impenetrable blanket. She felt warm. She felt safe. Uncontrollably, tears welled up, the hymn gripping her heart, and she was forced to squeeze her eyes shut and instinctively her body curled into a protective ball.

Nothing was heard, only the water droplets that drops from the crack ceiling. Making a small puddle on the ground, having mice roaming around the place.

I wasn’t ready for that. BAM! It hits us again, this time more forcefully, like it is trying to hit us. BAM! It is absolutely trying to hit us. BAM, BAM, BAM, SCREECH, I hear the tires of the large truck stop against the black pavement.

Red light, bright as the midday sun, flared into existence. It began to flicker and waver. Small tongues of flame spread their reach, jumping from the floor onto the nearby curtains. It began to pick up the pace as it consumed more and more like a starving creature. In seconds, it had spread to all the curtains that spanned across the room-length window. Smoke filled the air, giving the walls a fine layer of ash and soot. In the bed opposite the window, a girl rested her head. Her eyes flashed open as she breathed in the heavy tang.

Obtrusively,the thunder bellowed outside and the roaring sound filled the small room like rock music to a broken soul.Amongst the thunder, raindrops could be seen ebbing down the windowsill forming undecipherable miniscule shapes and later sinking down in the wall to gather at the edge.

She took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes while emerging from the damaged spacecraft. Vibrant green grass awaited her along with trees all around and the smell of fresh rain dropping from the sky above. Raegan took a moment to wrap her head around what she had just experienced. It was only supposed to be a mission to collect data about the rings of Saturn. She was aware she went through something queer, something scientists said had only been a theory not yet proved. A wormhole; a fold in space. Raegan didn’t quite know where she was. All she had been aware of was that something went unplanned, which caused her to crash into a planet, perhaps in a distant universe. Anything could be possible in the infinite abyss we call space.

It all began with a simple phone call one night after dinner. “Bark bark,” Robert hollered up the stairs, “bark bark bark bark.” Which I could only assume meant “Number Seven, it’s for you. It’s Hugo, and she sounds pissed.” As I came down the stairs to pick up the phone, I was not motivated to go on another “adventure” after the last few times. I was tired and had looked forward to a nice quiet evening at home, not another stupid adventure with Hugo.

“I'm coming, Im com..” says Jack as his voice fades off. Sarah and I stop running to make sure Jack was okay. I saw that he had stopped.

My mom drove me to school, filling the car with an awkward and unbearable silence. The only noise was her thumb tapping the steering wheel and the annoying clicking of the signals. Since I am on punishment, I'm not allowed to have the luxury of Megan driving me. To make this car ride a little bit less awkward, I turned on the radio and blasted up the volume to the highest notch.

I didn't know what to say to him. My mind was empty. I couldn't tell whether he was sad or angry. It was difficult for me to interpret his emotions. He was not the kind to sew his heart on his sleeve. Yet, I saw tears streaming down his cheek whenever he was all alone. I felt bad for him, for the boy whose parents had died in a storm.

“Sorry, It’s my first time on a date, so I don’t know what to say, sorry” I apologise.

A panicked yelp rang out in the distance, followed by a screech of tires. The women continued walking, only a few casting a wondering glance towards the noise. The church bell was ringing, merry as we exited the church and the wind blew gently. My mother and father engaged the locals in conversation, eager to know more about the island we were on, Nui Tapu Tapu, a place only really known because of the tsunami damage it took on in September 2009. “What is that?” I asked my mother, as I pointed to two men dragging something black behind them. Yet before she could answer, I figured it out for myself. A strange pit formed in my stomach as I watched them drag a young dog behind them. “That must have been what caused the screech earlier.” My mother