A beautiful fall day suddenly turned into tragic. I was in Junior High at Carroll Gardens Community School in Brooklyn when it happened. I was only 10-years-old and my sister had walked me to school about a hour before. September 11th 2001, is a day that I will never forget.
This was my second week of junior high and I was excited to be attending a new school and meeting new people. My earth science class soon turned chaotic.
I remember one of my classmates screaming that the building was on fire. We all rushed to the window and could not believe what we were seeing. As we watched, horrified, we saw a plane crash into one twin tower and the other tower was on fire. Smoke and fire filled the air.
We sat in silence for awhile. We walked into school that day as innocent 10 and 11-year-olds, but we did not leave as such. The rest of my time at school that day was a blur. All I remember is my family coming to get me.
Our walk back home was unbelievable. My junior high school is located in Brooklyn Heights, which is about 10 minutes away from Manhattan. As we walked, we were bombarded with debris and smoke.
Papers, notebooks, and shards of who-knows-what were flying everywhere. It was hard to see and breathe through all the smoke. My family and I were terrified.
By the time my family and I arrived home, the buildings were beginning to fall. I did not understand what was going on. Some many unanswered questions.
We turned on the radio to get the news of what was going on. America was under attack. The Twin Towers and The Pentagon had also been attacked, we learned.
The days that followed September 11th were grim. Outside my apartment building, smoke and debris still lingered. Papers and shattered glass was everywhere.
What I was seeing was unbelievable. When the tower with the antenna fell, we lost our reception for local television because we did not have cable at that time. For many days we did not have anything to watch and the radio, newspapers and our neighbors were our only sources for the news.
My mother kept me home from school for over a month. She was afraid to let my sister and I out the house. We only went to places in our neighborhood. No one knew if we were going to be attacked again. September 11th 2001 changed my life forever, a part of my childhood died that day. The happy little world I lived in was in shambles. I could no longer walk around carefree.
Thursday, September 11, 2013 marked the 12th Anniversary of the September 11th 2001 attack.
Whenever I am home in Brooklyn, I take time to glance at the big empty space in the sky.
Kariefa Underwood is a senior mass communication major from Brooklyn.