I didn't expect to see my daughter to be a firewoman but here she was. In the back, sitting here with us, playing Poker. Her twin brother Jeff, was a businessman. He would bring her here to the fire station in Manhattan and then go off to work. At times, I wish their careers were vice-versa. That Jordan would be the businesswoman and that Jeff would be here, trying to beat us in Poker. But how would that make me look. I was also a woman.
My husband died in a fire at our house after saving Jordan. Jordan had no fear but she did try to go back to save her father. She was only seven but she managed to get him out. But it was too late. She dragged a dead body.
Jordan was scarred from that memory and whenever she saw fire, she threatened to take it out. Jeff was worse. He had recurring nightmares. I could tell their father's death was what made Jeff give up his dreams of being a fireman of when he was young. We moved closer to Manhattan so I could get my kids to let go of that memory. I just pray that every day, they don't have to experience it again.
"Mom, it's breaktime. I'm going out to eat." Jordan announced
It took me long to realize that she actually beat me and my partners. This girl meant business.
I watched her get up and a wave of fear came over me. This was a regular day. Just like every other day. But somehow, I still felt like something bad was going to happen.
"Bring your walkie-talkies and make sure to have your material nearby. We don't know what might happen."
She got her stuff and went out with her friends. I don't know why but I felt like I had to say something. I felt like I was going to lose her. I ran to her and hugged her.
"Jordan, please be safe. I love you."
Her body was firm and she was trying to my grasp off of her. "I love you too, mom. Don't worry. I'm a big girl now."
I saw her walking. She was heading towards the direction of the Twin Towers. They stood up like giants hovering over the other buildings as if the were a king and a queen. I remembered seeing them for the first time with my dad who also worked there. I would always visit and look out the windows and go down to eat with them. I soon realized Jordan was going to pay her brother a visit. It was Jeff's breaktime.
The towers reminded me of them. Even though the towers were twins of course, I always noticed how one tower from a sort of angle looked taller than another.
I checked my watch. Jordan probably had made it in. She was probably on the elevator getting to his office or going to meet him at the restaurant. Knowing Jordan, she would be too impatient to go get her brother at his office on the 91st floor. She might go all the way to the restaurant which was on the 107th.
I went to go back inside the fire station until I saw a plane. The plane was flying fairly low. By the time it would depart from the airport, it would have risen a lot of higher. I hoped the pilot was planning on going higher or he could end up crashing into the building. I squinted my eyes.
Flight 11
I hope someone was notifying the tower about the pilot's strange flying. The plane turned a little bit. Maybe the pilot was going to go around the building. But no, they didn't. I couldn't move. That was the North Tower.
"We have a code red! I don't know-whatever it's called!"
It was Jordan. She sounded worried.
"There is a plane. It looks like a plane from American Airlines. I think it's Flight 11. It's a Boeing. Oh shi-"
She was cut off the moment the plane hit the tower. This was all happening in slow motion. Smoke was coming out of the building. Whoever that pilot is, I hope he turns in his grave!
I got everybody ready and headed for the buildings.
"Mother Bird to Chickadee. Can you hear me?"
"Mom, there's fire everywhere. Come quick. Please help!"
She was crying and then everything went silent.
"It could be just an accident," said Ryan, our chief. " I never seen anything like it! The towers have been attacked before. Yeah, it could be just an accident."
His son, Jake, stayed quiet on the way. He was to be my son-in-law. I knew Ryan was being delusional. It didn't matter what anyone said. This was no accident.
We got to the building and went to evacuate everyone. Everybody stared in awe at the destruction of the North Tower. We could solve this. I know we can.
"Mother Bird to Chickadee! Can you hear me? Mother Bird to Chickadee?"
There was no answer. Jordan was not answering. I was getting scared.
"It looks like the plane hit the 93rd floor and a few more above." said the chief. "Everybody move in. We cannot afford to lose lives!"
I went in evacuating people but mainly looking for Jordan.
"Mother Bird to Chickadee! Are you here?"
"Chickadee to Moth-moth-moth-er bird. I-I-I got every-every-ev-thing un-un-der control."
"Jordan, get out of here now! That's an order! Get out of the building!"
I went up the stairs looking for more people and than I saw her. She was carrying a man on her shoulder. I took the man from her and we ran away from the fires that engulfed his office.
"Where is Jeff?" I asked
"I went to wait for him on the 70th floor"-Thank God-" but he hadn't made it. I think he's still in in his office!"
"No Jordan. You are not going back!"
Too late. She already went to go get him. I made it outside with the man and left him with the paramedics.
"Did you find Jordan?" Jake asked me
"She went to go back-"
"And you let her?! We should go back..."
He was focused on the South Tower. I turned around to him and looked at it. The South Tower was still intact but the rushing plane said otherwise. I squinted my eyes on it. This showed no sign of turning. It was Flight 175.
"It's an attack..." I whispered
The plane hit the building, threatening to slice it in half. I looked around frantically. I had to get Jordan and Jeff out of here. I went to go back in the building but smoke filled the air. I put on my mask and managed to get into the building. I found some people to evacuate but I desperately wanted to find my twins. I came out with some more people and looked out for Jordan walking with her brother. I saw the silhouette of a figure coming through the smoke. It was wearing a mask but wearing a business suit.
"Jeff!" I hugged my son, tightly. I looked over his shoulder for his sister to come.
"Is Jordan behind me?" he asked "Is she?!"
"No Jeff. She's not."
He got out of my hug and looked back at the buildings. "She promised she would come back. She said for me to go on and that she'll be right behind me."
"Where were you?"
"I was on my office's floor and then went to see a few friends three floors down. I saw the plane coming from a far distance so I decided to take the emergency stairs. I was trapped for a few minutes somehow and then she found me. "
"Where did she tell you to go on?"
"At about the sixtieth floor. She told me not to look back. I heard an explosion and a scream when I ran."
Tears started going down his cheeks. "Mom...look."
I looked at the South Tower otherwise known as the second tower. We watched as it collapsed right before us and then the cloud came after us. We ran to some building until we could find an alley. We hid in one, crouching. The smoke did hit us but it was worse in the road.
We tried to find a door inside a building and managed to get inside it.
"We have to wait for the smoke to settle." I advised
"No, Mom. We can't. We have to get Jordan."
"Honey, she will be fine." This I didn't believe myself but I needed hope. "You have an asthma problem. We can't let you go out there. It will kill your sister."
"What?! Is this disaster not enough?"
He took out his phone and read a text message. He dropped the phone.
"Jeff, what is it?"
"The Pentagon got hit. It was before the Second Tower fell."
Dad....he was visiting that day.
The smoke started to settle and I went to go get Jordan. A lot of firemen were missing and a lot were coming. Chief was out there, ordering people around the buildings.
"Has Jordan come back?"
"No, but Jake went to go and look for her."
My heart dropped. How could he be so casual with letting his son go off in the building but then again, his hands were shaking and his eyes threatened to water.
It was 10:15.
"We got reports in that there has been yet another attack. It seemed to be heading for the nation's capital. It was set out for San Francisco but was hijacked. But it has landed in Pennsylvania."
My heart dropped. This was both a homicide and a suicide.
It was 10:27 and the kids never got back.
"We have to go after them!"
"Okay, men let's g-"
Too late. The North Tower already started to fall.
No,no,no
"Jordan!" I started running towards the building but the guys held me back.
"We got to evacuate! Let's go. Georgia, please try to understand. Put on your masks everybody. It's coming towards us."
The smoke cloud nearly engulfed us and it shook the fire trucks.
I cried and prayed for the safety of my daughter. A knock came outside the firetruck. It was Jeff. I quickly got him in and I whimpered on his shoulder.
"Georgia, I think you need to go home." said the chief
"No! I must know if my daughter is safe!"
"Georgia, the tower collapsed."
"But she could be there! She could have made it out somehow."
"Georgia, try to be reasonable"
I wouldn't dare listen to this crazed man. I regretted the day I said yes to Jordan becoming a firefighter. I regretted buying her the hats and dressing her up like one for Halloween. I regretted giving her training for any fire that could happen when I was not available. Why couldn't she become a businesswoman?
"You regret the fact she became a firefighter." Jeff said. I didn't answer. "Mom, if she wasn't,she would have been in that fire. I know you wanted her to become a businesswoman but it's not her. At least, we have memor-"
"Don't say it. She is not gone!"
"Mom, we can't-"
"She is fine. My baby girl is fine!"
Tears kept coming out and we stayed inside the fire trucker for a good amount of hours. Later on, at around five, 7 World Trade Center had fallen. I watched as buildings got demolished and I waited to see my Jordan, coming to knock on the door of the truck and join us.
Days passed and Jeff and I hung up signs for Jordan and her fiancee Jake. I would never accept the fact that my daughter was dead. She was one who saved lives. Her father was her first one but than she saved his body, not his life. This could not be her last rescue. I would enforce it to be but I just hoped it wasn't at this moment.
"I envy the North Tower." Jeff said one day
"Why?"
"It got attacked first just like my office got attacked. And then the South Tower got destroyed and 56 minutes later, the North Tower got to see it's twin die right in front of it. I envy the North Tower because it got to join it's partner. "
"Don't say that Jeff. She is fine. I know it."
He often got tired when I said this.
I got a phone call from Sgt. Frix who was the chief's nephew. "We found her jacket, Georgia. And other pieces of evidence. We also found her walkie-talkie and a mask that belonged to another dying fireman. We found Jake's jacket too."
I rushed towards the fire department to retrieve Jordan's stuff. Frix gave them to me and gave me a look of pity.
"Uncle Ryan hasn't been to work for a while now. Would you mind bringing this jacket to him?"
"Not at all."
Ryan didn't live too far from the department so I decided to walk and maybe get a pizza on my way back to my car. I saw a person ripping pictures off the wall along with taller one. They ripped the pictures off with fury.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." I said and snatched the pictures off their hands. They were the missing posters Jeff and I hung up.
"This is my daughter and her fiancee! What are you doing-"
The person stepped into the alley light along with her tall friend. I must have been seeing ghosts because before me, Jordan and Jake stood right in front of me. Their wrists were wrapped in bandages and so was Jake's neck and Jordan's legs. The fire must have burned off parts of their clothes. What brought me to tears was the bandage covering the bottom half of her face indicating that she got burned on the face. My beautiful child was no more.
"Mom..." Her voice was muffled
I hugged her tightly but she winced and moaned in pain.
"Did you get to a hospital?" I asked
"Yes, but I told them not to report our survivals. I didn't want to arouse too much attention."Jake explained
"How did you guys escape?"
"I found her on the twentieth floor. She couldn't move her leg. The building started to collapse with us in it but we managed to get out but getting engulfed in smoke. We searched for a hospital getting help from strangers."
I started crying in front of them. Jordan put her arms around me and hugged me, still wincing in pain. I took them home.
Now I lay here in bed, looking up at Jordan and Jeff. They're watching me, with concern on their eyes. I cough getting a sharp pain in my chest.
"Mom..."
Her cheek has a scar on it that's almost in the shape of a heart. Jeff holds her hand. Together, they look like the Twin Towers. They hover over me, watching attentively. They're as magnificent as the the Towers themselves. The day I feared for them to experience had come and yet here they were, as strong as ever.
I heard there was going to be a memorial for the towers but I knew I couldn't go. My time was coming. The smoke had poisoned my lungs and I was not at an age to deal with it. Jordan had gotten immediate help and she was doing fine. I looked back at Jordan and Jeff. They were my memorial and they showed me the pain of that day.
My body started to feel weaker than usual and my eyes grew heavy.
"Mom, no!" they both yelled. "We love you mom. Don't leave"
I know they could do good without me. They were wonderful discoveries in this world.
I could feel their hands holding tightly on mine and Jordan put her head on my chest. I patted it.
I let out another cough and sighed. My pulse was slowing down.
"I love you..guys...too"
They were my Twin Towers.
