I was in MLK middle school when it happened. I forget which grade exactly, 7th or 8th. I never even knew anything was wrong but I did find it odd how subdued all the adults were. The principle made an announcement but I didn’t understand really. It wasn’t until I reached my math class that it finally hit me how serious the situation was.

Mrs. Kemble used a micro-phone to speak her classes during lessons because she didn’t like to raise her voice. I never cared for her much because I thought she was strict, therefore, I didn’t like her. She announced to us that a plane crashed into the World Trade Center and later the Pentagon.

She was crying.

She told us how much of a tragedy it was and said she wasn’t going to teach that day. We watched the news all period and that’s the first time I really saw what happened. They replayed the video clip of the plane crashing into the building over and over. If you looked close enough, you could see someone actually falling to their death. Mrs. Kemble’s crying over the micro-phone was what I remember most.

She was crying so much and looked so heart broken. I wanted to say something, anything to help her feel better.

I never said a thing and neither did my class.

I still dream about that. Sometimes, I flash back to that moment in math class with Mrs. Kemble and her tears every time 9/11 comes up or the day passes by. It always makes me feel uncomfortable to think about and I never talked about it.