Memoir: In Memory of 9-11-01
By Kim J. Lagos
Note: The story below is based on a memoir told by the fictional character 'Felix", of the tragic events of September 11, 2001.
From his chambers he was woken abruptly by the rolling crash of several dissonance chords. He couldn't quite distinguish what it was, but his first instinct was to draw his curtains and find out its origin. From his haven of peace and safety, he uncovered a mask of thick churning black smoke which had now defaced the World Trade Centre and Twin Towers, to name but a few of New York's foundations now in ruins.
Like the many below his feet, he wanted to run but couldn't. His body paralysed from the shock, still unable to comprehend the current situation an unable to conceive the further chaos to come. All he could do was stand and watch through transfixed eyes trapped between the transparent barrier which lay between his sanctuary of dreams and his very nightmare unfolding before him.
For a while he stood there motionless.
Anything he heard had now become neutral; the several screams of civilians, the crashing of the city's architecture collapsing, even sirens in the distance all became a low humming noise to him. It was monotone.
If you asked him to describe it, to him it would be like knowing you're staring at an object for no apparent reason where your mind is left to wander in a complete random mental state when you realise that it has no purpose to you whatsoever. That's the moment you 'snap out of it' and become fully conscious of the situation occuring.
Once he realised this, he rushed outside his apartment to help those crying for help and it no longer became monotone.