9/11 Short Stories

All these words, worming their way through to his brain. Writhing in his thoughts. Screaming out at him, lashing him with their venomous burdens. Each word causing him to sink further into the darkness. He cursed at them, cried out at them. They were real. This was reality. In these moments it seemed impossible for anything else. It was an endless void with which he was trapped. Edges of black circles his vision, sinking in slowly to the center of it. He could see the blue sky fading. "No!" was the scream. This was not their's and for a second there was a pause before they resumed. He could see her, right there in the diminishing view. God, she was beautiful. She shouldn't have come back. She always came back. He could have almost smiled in

Her. She leaned her forehead against his lightly, her eyes remaining open. His only focus. "Hear my voice. Let everything else fade but my voice. Let it etch forever in your memory as I speak the only words that will ever come to matter in my existence. I love you" She said with such sincerity it seemed it seemed to shatter all else. Nothing those voices had done or had of him could withstand that. There was nothing that they could take of him now. He was free and it was as thought time began once again. Somehow his mind was his own again. He wasn't dead, he wasn't finished, he was free. His hand reached out for her, brushing over his cheek. He couldn't speak a word. He was raw to life. These were his real first moments. The horror was behind him and would never again plague

"You are free now, my love. This burden you have carried for us is lifting away. And now that you know, now that you have me...you must let me go" she spoke, the truth still ringing clear in her voice. Her gentle eyes turned sad. He shook his head. "No" his raspy unclear voice uttered. "You are the only one I every loved. You are the only one I ever will love" he begged, taking her hands in his. She shook her head, the sad smile still haunting her expression. "You will love again, many times and I know one of them will be as true as you could ever hope" she assured him. She brought him to his feet along with her, their hands still intertwined. "Let me go" she whispered, a voice more clear than any he would ever hear after that moment. Tears stung his skin like acid and fogged his vision. He blinked them clear, he needed her face etched to his memory. He would never forget. "I love you" he promised before his hands went slack to release her's. She slowly lost solidity, fading away into transparency. The last thing he ever saw of her was her eyes. The eyes that had shown him truth. The eyes that had set him