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Kaylie clutched the half eaten soft pretzel in her tiny hands, staring innocently at the others aboard the plane across her mother’s empty seat. A man smiled at her across the aisle, and she smiled back. She paid no attention to how peculiar the man was acting as her attention returned to the pretzel held so tightly in her hands. Her face still blank, she ripped a pieace of the pretzel off and placed it in her mouth.
When the pretzel was finished, she clapped her sticky hands together and grinned at her mother, Jenna, as she sat down in her seat. Jenna gently wiped off her five year old daughter’s hands with a napkin before she buckled their seat belts.
The floor began to shake. The pilot’s voice came over the intercom, announcing that they were taking off. Jenna relaxed against her seat, keeping an eye on Kaylie as she always did. Kaylie screeched her pleasure at the sensation of take off, bouncing in her chair. This was her first time on a plane.
A hand rested on Kaylie’s shoulder, and she looked up into Jenna’s eyes. Jenna shook her head gently, and Kaylie slumped against her seat, beaming.

Kaylie slept for most of the ride. The man across the aisle kept checking his watch. His hand kept checking his pocket, as if he was afraid that whatever was in there would disappear. Jenna watched him curiously. The man’s eyes widened when he saw her and he quickly turned forward once more, staring at the back of his seat. He didn’t look at her for the rest of the flight.

Just as Jenna was finishing her soda, there was a scream from the back of the plane. She turned, spraying her pants with the last few drops of the drink. A man was standing at the back of the plane, holding a gun. The man across the aisle leapt to his feet, pulling a gun from his pocket as he did so. The gun was pointed at Kaylie.
Jenna shifted to shield her daughter as Kaylie screamed, drowning out what the two men were saying. Kaylie grabbed her mother’s arm and held on so tightly Jenna was surprised it didn’t break. The man that had sat across the aisle went into the cockpit as the other continued to shout threats to the now panicking passengers.
Many people screamed, including Kaylie, when the plane made a sharp turn and began heading east.

After a while, Jenna saw the twin towers, coming at them quickly. No, she decided, they were heading for the towers. The plane was going to crash. There was no way they were going to make it out of this alive. She turned and held Kaylie very close. Kaylie hugged her and buried her face in her mother’s shoulder.
“I love you,” Jenna whispered.
Somehow Kaylie heard.
“I love you too, Mommy,” she said.
They held each other, mother and daughter, as the air roared with speed and the planes approached their destination.
Then there was a great jolt. The plane crashed through the wall of the World Trade Center. They heard the shattering of glass and the crunching of wood and metal. Then everything went black, and they knew no more.

This entry was posted on September 14, 2006 at 10:51 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.