The city looked blank. It was eerie and out of place. Black pieces of ash were falling slowly, like snow. Before it felt sunny, and a beautiful day, but now it felt gloomy even though, the sun was still shining. My mother always said, “You always want what you don’t have,” and she’s right about that. I always wanted the city to look new, but now I want it back, it’s strange how people want something new. Why would someone want perfection to change? Now, it was forever changed and we didn’t do it, a terrorist did.

I looked at my mom, and she looked at me, her eyes watering. She loved this city. Most of our family and all three of her children were born here, in this very city. The Triad Building, a sky-piercing building, which was the foundation of the city, is just, gone. It represented our past and our future, but no longer remains. They say 4,000 people were in the building when it fell and an additional 1,000 outside were killed because of it’s fall.

Then, I heard the phone ring, from the living room, and my mom picked it up. After she hung up, she told me that Olly was okay. Olly is my younger brother, and his school got out later than mine and is less than a block away from the Triad Building. Angela, my older sister was in her room, glued to the news about the attack.  She always talked about architecture, especially that building. It was her last year of high school and she had every intent on going to college for architecture.

“Charlie, I am going to pick up Olly, I will be back soon.” Mom called out to me.

While I waited for her return, I decided to think over the situation again. The morning of November 15th, had been a typical school morning, I woke up, ate breakfast, and Angela drove me to school. My school day was just, the way it always was. Angela and I met up at the end of the day and got back in the car, arrived home, were greeted by Mom, and then everything changed. It started with the explosions, at first we thought it was  fireworks, but it wasn’t dark out. As I peered out the window, I saw a red burst of light flow out of the Triad. It was almost as though it was a dam, releasing all of its water, but deadly. Next, I saw people, running for their lives, I was engulfed in the noises around me. The noises got louder and louder and then, BOOM! The Triad Building collapsed. When it fell, it was silent, noiseless for a long time.

“Hey!” said Angela, “Where’s Mom?”.

“Getting Olly” I replied.

When Olly and Mom walked through the door, for the first time ever Olly was silent. This was unusual and later, when Dad walked into the house, he, too was wordless. I had to figure out the answer to my many questions and that’s exactly what I decided to do.

On the next day I decided to see if I could visit the city center.  They’ve mostly cleared out the main road, and apparently reporters would be in the center of the city. As I walked on the main road, flowers sat on the sidewalk, with posters or sheets of paper, with pictures of the people who lost their lives in the attack. On the large billboards I saw a high quality photo of a woman wearing all black taken from the back. In her back pocket hung out a remote, possibly to set off the explosives. They say she disappeared, but how is that possible when 10,000 people were in the surrounding areas?

All I knew was that this terrorist was smart, and she was still out there. I just hoped she wouldn’t  come back and do it again. I looked over at Olly’s school and saw that half of it was in pieces, perhaps that is the reason he was silent when Mom picked him up. The next image on screen appears, and I looked back up at a pale white woman with black glasses. None of the people are running away in the background, which was confusing to me. Did the terrorist make these images? Was this part of their marvelous plan? The news channel said her name was Barbara, Barbara Bond, which sounds made up. To me alliteration always sounds fake. I wondered if this really was her name.

In the following days, we did not have school and stayed in our home. I only ended up getting three words out of Olly’s mouth, while my parents turned into complete chatterboxes. They sat and watched the reports and discussed it all of the time, like some sort of news reviewers. At the same time, Angela invited three friends to stay over, which left Olly and me alone to play games, and do kid things, because if there is one thing I didn’t want, it’s to become a news reviewer.

Still, I overheard the news, and discovered they were closing the city entrances to ensure that no predators could come in. At first I thought it meant we’re trapped, without supplies or support from other cities, and we can’t leave. Once it sank in, I realized that it’s smart to keep everyone in though, so they can find this woman pictured on the screens.

That night I laid in my bed restless, and remembered the attack. I made a map in my mind, as I went deeper into my imagination, my hands began to tremble and my body became warmer. I saw the Triad, I immersed myself into the memories of seeing it every day, peaking above the clouds. My forehead started to sweat, and my eyes began to water, I sat up and forced by brain to snap back to reality.

The next morning, marked one week without that monumental building of our city.  I decided to watch the news with my parents, and it was uneventful, for me at least. I hadn’t watched TV with my parents since I was eleven years old, back then my parents were more enthusiastic with me, and gave me more attention. Now my teenage years were boring, especially as I watched my parents become older, and go to bed before me. I missed that relationship, as I watched them give Olly tuck-ins and wished him a goodnight, and wake him up every morning. Instead I am becoming a lonely and independent adult. I realized in this moment that I missed having a hand to hold, especially when I get scared and the world around me is uncertain.

Later on, I heard footsteps on the sidewalk outside, I looked out the window and saw the woman, the one they say is responsible for the attack. Was this some sort of joke? She looked right at me through the window, her face was the same as those images on the TV, my eyes widened and then, I think she knew. She started banging on the window, as I pulled Olly away and picked up the phone to dial nine-one-one. I spoke to the officer as my whole body trembled, I heard sirens, the glass to the window began to break. I hid Olly, and saw the woman turn as she saw the police cars, she started sprinting away and they shot her.

I burst into tears, as the rest of my family came downstairs, “We heard it.” said Angela. We all sat on the couch together and talked for what felt like hours.

“You did great, Charlie.” Dad mumbled.

Later on I decided to reflect on all that happened and lept into the endless loop of dark thoughts, this time adding things to my map, but the case had been solved, and it was like the movie ended, and there will never be a sequel.

After a week, of sitting, and thinking, I walked back down the main road, feeling much more safe, until I saw a bunch of cones blocking the city center. I walked up to one of the police officers directing traffic and asked “What are you doing?”

“Rebuilding, the Triad.” he replied.

“You mean, an exact copy?” I questioned him.

“Yes” he said happily.

“Officer, you can never go back to the original meaning of the Triad. If you are going to build something here, it needs to be different, after all, it’s time to change perfection, everything changes.”