The Fallen Towers Lay Silently in My Body

Photo by Olga Subach on Unsplash

I was teaching first period English on 9/11 when suddenly the phone rang.

It was the nurse and she asked me to tell Kaitlin Murphy to pack up and head to the office because her mom was picking her up. That seemed odd — it was so early in the morning.

I held the phone in my hand while the nurse held on, called Kaitlin’s name and said, “Pack up — your mom is here to…