When they ran out of blankets to give to the homeless, they got on the subway at Alphabet City, finding a place near the end of the crowded car. As the train began to move, Sylvana suddenly felt a foreboding heaviness she couldn't explain. Each moment, it grew exponentially. She put a hand over her heart in an attempt to calm it and her breathing, her brow furrowed in worry. It became almost tangible, nearly doubling her over in heartrending pain.
They got off at Fulton Street. Arrek, concerned for his sister, thought that perhaps her problem had to do with the press of people, the weight of the city that she often had difficulty handling. He held her hand as they exited topside. Then, he knew for certain what it was, because with vision came feeling. They had planned on coming here, but they hadn't realised this was where they now were.
As Arrek and Sylvana approached the area they were silent. Memories of that day flooded back into his mind. Arrek had found out in a café somewhere in the Midwest with his sister. The small TV was switched over to the news as they entered, as the second plane hit. Sylvana gasped and had started to look pained. Arrek had known exactly how she felt.
Shocked and speechless, he had begun to cry. So many questions came. They could never be properly answered. Now he was visiting what used to be of the Manhattan skyline. Now it was a place of death, mindless destruction, a place of sorrow that was now a reminder of all that's bad in the world.
Clasping his sister's hand tightly, they looked out at the rubble, the maelstrom into which thousands of lives had been needlessly thrown. Looking around at the other people assembled there, he could feel the anger that they felt. He could also feel their tears rolling down his cheeks. Two minutes later his own tears joined theirs.
Ground Zero.
Sylvana set herself against the emotion and memories converging upon her person. In a simple café with her brother, glancing up at the news on the television. Seeing the second crash as they walked in. Watching the collapse. Hearing the terror in everyone's voices.
She physically trembled as she steeled her mind against the memories. The frantic attempt to phone friends and family she knew in the stricken area. The looks of horror on both patron and worker alike.
Her brother's words stole through her mind as though spoken from very far away.
His throat was thick as he began to whisper.
"I have a dream. That one day this world will rise up and live up to the full potential of its goodness. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. I have a dream. That one day across the world, as brothers and sisters, we the people of the world will sit down at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream. That the children I will have, will live in a world where they will not be judged by their nationality, but by the content of their character. I have a dream. . . ."
Arrek always carried that speech on his heart. He wished he could have met and supported Martin Luther King Jr. Now though, his dream was different. We are one world, one people, and one nation. Why can't we live together in peace? The answer was only partially there. As long as scum who could perpetrate such vile acts of wanton destruction lived, Arrek's dream could not be fulfilled.
Then came the assault of images and feelings. First the frozen anger revisited her, and the helplessness, followed quickly by emptiness and dispair, rounded out what she'd felt in the first days.
Like a jolt of black lightning, her over-active imagination then played cruelly with her soul, putting her with the people of the towers, of the aircraft. Betrayal, Terror, Determination and, weightiest of all, Death.
She ignored the passers by, barely heard the startled intake of breath from her brother as she slipped her hand from his and fell to her knees. The young woman pounded a fist on the ground before hugging herself. She bowed her head, her bi-coloured bangs falling into her face as she shook violently, as she tried to make herself smaller . . . invisible.
Lighting a cigarette, Arrek looked out again at the place known as Ground Zero. Then he looked to the sky. Now he knew there was more to the universe than he could possibly imagine.
And now?
Now he was part of a team who were willing to put their lives on the line to see freedom reign and an end to lives being taken by bloodthirsty, uncaring, unscrupulous individuals.
Arrek again thought back to that day. He remembered wanting fervently to be in New York. Had he been there, he knew he would have rushed to the scene to help in any way he could. Even if he had known the buildings would collapse before he entered, he would have still gone inside regardless. Arrek was ready to die in the service to life. He would not hesitate. He would be strong.
Somewhere in the hidden place of her spirit she vowed, once again, never to be helpless. She vowed on all that was good and holy to never put her own life above that of others, to defend the truly helpless.
She knew her purpose in life now. Her purpose was to serve, to protect, and to make others' lives worth it all. Her life, she endured. She lived to make others smile, and now she would extend her 'mission' a step further, living to protect them however she could. She thanked God for the tendrils of fate that brought her to the hidden service.
Tears flowed freely now, without hindrance. At that moment, if only that moment, Sylvana was finally able to truly mourn.
The people I see everyday, I will protect them as best I can and beyond my best. There is no more noble a cause, than to lay down my life for a friend, a stranger, a brother, a sister. My actions from this day forth, will prove my thoughts.