9/11 Short Stories

The man’s eyes grudgingly opened to a blinding and distorted light staring back at him. A soft intangible whisper could be heard that slowly increased in volume as his eyes start to focus on his surroundings. He came to realize he was lying down, and saw two people talking in the hallway, as his focus became clearer, he was able to distinguish their features. With her back toward him, he saw a short lady in a white uniform, talking in an unpleasant tone to the man facing him. “I don’t care, we’re wasting precious time, and it is of the most important that we speak to him NOW.” The man, in comparison to the lady, was huge. His dark black suit and dull tie screamed both uniformity and authority, his appearance was of middle age. As their exchanges

“I couldn’t handle it David, when I found her I couldn’t handle it.” “When I saw her like that, my entire being shut down.” He put his other hand to the still painful wound on the side of his head. It was still very sore, upon putting his hand to it he could feel it throb in this thumb.

They talked some more, all John could remember was that he had awoken, with an intense unsettling feeling and a wound on his head. His fingers ran along his wedding ring as he recalled the events of yesterday; John could not locate his wife. He had searched every room in his house. A chill ran through his body; he had not yet searched the basement. With shaky hands and one final yell of her name, he opened the door peering into the darkness beyond the stairs.

John saw a glimpse of her body on the floor of the basement just at the bottom of the steps. His hand trailed the wall in search of the light switch as he called out to her again but she would not answer. With a flick of his the light turned on; a knot formed in John's stomach at the horror in front of him. Tanya laid there motionless with her body face up on the smooth gray concrete floor, the dangling light at the bottom of the stairs illuminated her body as though she was on a

He was genuinely disgusted that his case had become such a mockery. The thoughts were interrupted by loud sound of the breaks on the bus as it came to a screeching halt. John motioned the elderly man to get on before him, which he did with a thanks. Carrying the briefcase, he stepped in, on his way to the station.

It was a short ride, the hospital only being five minutes away from the police station. He had to walk a block over, apparently McDonalds and Taco Bell made for a better bus stop. John hurriedly jogged his way to the building, wasting no time to get to work at the New Wolf Police Station. When he entered the building the noisy commotion of a seven AM police station on a Monday came to a halt. He was getting stares, everyone had heard of the awful news and the bandages that covered parts of John’s head didn’t help.

John ignored them, shuffling past the desks of the first floor to make his way to the second floor to David’s office. Its size was luxurious and away from the commotion, but at the same time weirdly by itself. John walked in, closing the door, and walked toward David with a stern look. “Captain, I’m ready.” The captain sighed, clasping his fingers together on the silver metallic