9 years ago

9 years ago today, I was sleeping late in my dorm room. My boyfriend at the time knocked on my door and I sleepily answered.

“Have you heard about the Twin Towers?”

“Huh?”

He walked in and turned on our tv. I was stunned.

“This isn’t a movie?”

“No, it’s happening right now.”

I woke up my roommate.

“Aishah, wake up. You need to see this.”

Boyfriend tells her, “Planes crashed into the Twin Towers today.”

She stares at us in disbelief and thinks we’re joking. “Shut the fuck up.” And then she went back to bed.

Boyfriend at the time sat on my bed and we held hands in silence as we watched.