Birds chirped overhead as I strolled through the park. I gazed at the trees and their beautiful colored leaves. Yup, Central Park is the perfect place to be on a warm, late-summer day. In the distance, the ring of an ice cream truck jingle bounced off the walls of buildings.
I waited for the children to clear away from the side of the road, then made my way across the street. A taxi stopped for me when I signaled. After paying the fare, I pressed the elevator button to take me to the 36th floor. I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. About 10 minutes later, I heard the zoom of airplanes above my apartment.
I heard a noise like a bomb being fired, then a horrible crash. Thinking about what could possibly be wrong, I turned up the volume to drown out the noise. But a few minutes after that, a news headline came across the screen:
" Chaos is running through New York City right now. The Empire State Building is being burned down as we speak. Please get to an area at a safe distance. Officials blame this on--" I killed the power and sat there speechless for a minute, then came to my senses.
I raced to the fire department, which was just around the corner, and got on my suit. If you were wondering what I was doing there, I am a volunteer firefighter, as well as my regular job of being a doctor. Anyway, even though I had a day off, I got in the truck with my coworker, Sydney.
We rushed to the scene, where huge flames were spilling out of the building, as well as billowing clouds of smoke. They looked like a dark gray blanket being blown with air, and they scared me. But I had to do my job, so I told Sydney to raise the ladder to help put out the fire with a hose. I raced as fast as I could in my heavy gear across the parking lot as more firetrucks and ambulances pulled up with their wailing sirens.
I started to help people out of the flaming building, when I saw a flash of yellow on one of the floors. It was a person! As it was my job to do this kind of thing, I stepped into the flames to go rescue him. I tried to avoid falling pieces of building, but it was pretty hard.
I finally got to the floor, and after almost a half hour of searching, I found the man. He was terrified, and had a couple of burns. All of a sudden I heard a creak, and I realized that the building's structure was weakening. I signaled to Sydney from one of the broken windows to raise the ladder to our floor so we could climb out.
We all got down safely, but even though I knew there had to be more people in there, there was nothing I could do because the Empire State Building was reaching its final moments. No matter what anyone did, the building wouldn't make it. I silently wailed inside my head because I felt useless.
One hour and one million gallons of water later, the ashen remains of the Empire State Building lay at our feet. The ambulances and fire trucks were starting to pull away, and unharmed people and shocked passerby stood in silence. People started sifting through the charred rubble to see if they could find anything or anyone that survived the fire.
I still wonder, who would do such a terrible thing, and why?
I waited for the children to clear away from the side of the road, then made my way across the street. A taxi stopped for me when I signaled. After paying the fare, I pressed the elevator button to take me to the 36th floor. I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. About 10 minutes later, I heard the zoom of airplanes above my apartment.
I heard a noise like a bomb being fired, then a horrible crash. Thinking about what could possibly be wrong, I turned up the volume to drown out the noise. But a few minutes after that, a news headline came across the screen:
" Chaos is running through New York City right now. The Empire State Building is being burned down as we speak. Please get to an area at a safe distance. Officials blame this on--" I killed the power and sat there speechless for a minute, then came to my senses.
I raced to the fire department, which was just around the corner, and got on my suit. If you were wondering what I was doing there, I am a volunteer firefighter, as well as my regular job of being a doctor. Anyway, even though I had a day off, I got in the truck with my coworker, Sydney.
We rushed to the scene, where huge flames were spilling out of the building, as well as billowing clouds of smoke. They looked like a dark gray blanket being blown with air, and they scared me. But I had to do my job, so I told Sydney to raise the ladder to help put out the fire with a hose. I raced as fast as I could in my heavy gear across the parking lot as more firetrucks and ambulances pulled up with their wailing sirens.
I started to help people out of the flaming building, when I saw a flash of yellow on one of the floors. It was a person! As it was my job to do this kind of thing, I stepped into the flames to go rescue him. I tried to avoid falling pieces of building, but it was pretty hard.
I finally got to the floor, and after almost a half hour of searching, I found the man. He was terrified, and had a couple of burns. All of a sudden I heard a creak, and I realized that the building's structure was weakening. I signaled to Sydney from one of the broken windows to raise the ladder to our floor so we could climb out.
We all got down safely, but even though I knew there had to be more people in there, there was nothing I could do because the Empire State Building was reaching its final moments. No matter what anyone did, the building wouldn't make it. I silently wailed inside my head because I felt useless.
One hour and one million gallons of water later, the ashen remains of the Empire State Building lay at our feet. The ambulances and fire trucks were starting to pull away, and unharmed people and shocked passerby stood in silence. People started sifting through the charred rubble to see if they could find anything or anyone that survived the fire.
I still wonder, who would do such a terrible thing, and why?
This story is very similar to something that happened in real life.
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