At 8:46 a.m., Helaina was sitting in her first-period science class. Suddenly, the floor shook and the shelves rattled.
Students exchanged glances, surprised. Helaina thought a truck had popped a tire. But in fact, something terrible had happened. An airplane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers—the North Tower.
Before long, the sirens began. Then, at 9:03 a.m., a second airplane hit the South Tower.
Parents came to pick up their kids—but Helaina’s parents worked too far away to come get her.
She spotted her neighbor Charles and his mother, Ann. “Please take me with you,” Helaina begged.
As the three of them stepped outside, Helaina felt like she was in a disaster movie. Paper and ash rained from the sky, and shouts rang through the air.
Some people stood frozen, staring up at the smoke that poured from the sides of the towers. But Helaina, Ann, and Charles kept moving. They just wanted to make it home alive.