September 12th 2001 dawned like any other day, but like every other person waking up that morning, I knew that some things would never be the same. I got up slowly, combed my hair and brushed my teeth. Somehow it seemed appropriate to begin my day with a morning ritual, even though it was a ritual that I hadn’t practiced for a long time.
I meandered to the dining hall to eat breakfast, and then headed off to the student center to watch TV. When I got there I discovered that half a dozen kids had stayed up all night watching the news. Disappointed, I returned to the dorm and watched cartoons. I stayed awake just long enough to hear someone say that our classes had been canceled again.
I dozed off in the armchair and didn’t wake up until afternoon. I vaguely remember having a repetitive dream that kept irritating the heck out of me. I think I recall something like a drop of water falling into an empty bucket again, and again, and again. It was silvery like mercury and shaped like an angel’s teardrop. I have no idea how I knew what an angel’s tear drop is shaped like: I’m just telling you what I saw.
That afternoon the warm weather broke and a brisk wind swept across campus bringing large fleecy clouds scudding in over the ink-blue sky. By three PM it was dark, lonely, and beginning to rain. I finally got up from my chair and went to look for Andrew.
I walked across campus dejected and bothered by the chilly breeze. Goose bumps were popping up on my arms beneath my sagging sweatshirt. As I got closer to the classroom buildings I saw a squirrel playing with a chunk of stone that was resting on the grass. It struck me as strange that a squirrel would be playing with a rock, especially one that had a familiar blueish-gray tint to it. I knew I had seen that color of stone before very recently, but I couldn’t remember where.
I just shook my head lackadaisically and raised my eyes. My mouth dropped open and my tongue collapsed downward onto my molars. I was so shocked by what I saw that I never got the chance to clamp my jaw shut again and bite my tongue off. The energy drained from me and left me standing there limp and haggard like a statue. But I wasn’t the only statue around. There were two others, and one was lying in pieces at my feet.
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