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Invaded.. (500 words, first part of a longer story..)
First chapter of a story I've been working on.. What do you think??
Everyone saw the aeroplanes before the first bomb hit. I remember looking up to the sky and shielding my eyes against the sun. I could see a dark shape, almost silhouetted, between the glinting glass and steel of the office towers. It was too low for a passenger jet, and from the deep rumbling sound its engines emitted, it couldn’t be a jet fighter. Instantly I thought of the video footage of 9/11 that our history teacher had played for us in class all those years ago. I remembered thinking when I saw it that a city skyline and an aeroplane were two of the most common sights in this world, yet they do not belong together in the same scene. The same was true of that morning.
More and more people heard the increasing sound of the plane’s approach, and others began assuming the same position as me; necks craned upwards with one hand over their eyes and a bewildered look on their faces. There seemed to me at first to be no imminent danger, as the aircraft was obviously not flying low enough to hit the building. My attention was diverted to a second, smaller shape behind it in the distance. I squinted, and after a few seconds identified it as a second aeroplane. Then I spied a third, and a fourth. In the next minute or two, I counted no less than fifteen shapes on the sky’s horizon, each one growing larger by the second. I jerked my head to focus my attention on the first craft. It was nearly directly overhead, and I could clearly see it was a military plane. Not one of ours either, unless they had introduced a new carrier since I completed my national service.
By now, everyone in the street was staring at the early morning sky, occasionally glancing questioningly at others on the ground as if seeking an explanation to this unprecedented scene. I however, was retreating to the subway. I’m not sure why I did it; no-one else seemed to fear this aerial display, but to me it felt ominous, and I didn’t like it one bit. I started down the steps, and my line of vision was level with the road when the building in front of me exploded.
The noise was deafening, and I threw myself forwards to escape the shards of glass and metal that propelled themselves in all directions from the tower on the opposite side of the street. As I tumbled down the remaining flight of steps, there came a momentary flash that bathed the street above in a brilliantly white light; so bright that despite being below ground, it blinded me temporarily. When my vision had returned, the lights of the subway had flickered out and I was lying in the darkness.
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