10 years earlier...

by - Sunday, September 11, 2011

I was at my grand-parents, using the new email address I created with my aunt, Alexandra.

I heard this silence.
I know you can't hear silence but this is the sort of "sound" you don't like to hear.

My aunt and uncle were in front of the TV.
The first tower just got hit.
I remember not asking any questions, just watching as the images flashed past on the TV.
It was horrible, it was surreal.

My first thought was: "how can they let that happen?". It wasn't directed at anyone, I was asking the world.
How people can be so cruel, how can they just destroy so many lives? What about the people on top of the buildings? Where is the military?

Those questions still filled my mind when four days later, I went to Paris to get my interview to spend a year in the USA as an au pair.

10 years.
I still can't believe how bad this was. How terrible and devastating it's still is for lots of people. How it affects everyone who can remember 9/11.
The images still haunt me, they're strong, fixed in my mind.

When I arrived in New York City six months later, the only thought I had was of the people who were still living there and seeing the scenery everyday. I was wondering how they did.
We went on a round trip in the city and went to see where the Twin Towers used to be. The bus went silent and everybody was looking at the fences where thousands of notes, drawings and pictures were hanging.
Some took pictures. I don't remember if I did. I just knew this was a moment where this same silence was haunting me again.

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