I was sitting in front of my father’s tombstone on my 14th birthday. He was only 32 when he passed away. The most heartbreaking day of my life. His name printed on the stone, James Smetz. I wish I knew him. He died all because of me. He was working in the north twin tower on 9/11/01 when suddenly, a plane hit the it at 8:46 A.M. He was rushing out of the building when he tripped and fell on top a another worker trying to rush out. He tore his ACL and was unable to get up. Out of the 2,753 people who died my father was one of them. I never had the chance to meet him. Soon enough my mother taps my shoulder, “It’s time to go”. Her soft words makes me cry even more than I already am, I pretend I don’t hear her. “Jessica” she calls again “It’s time to go we are going to be late!”

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    My name is Jessica. I am named after my father James. My birthday is officially one of the worst days of the year. I live in New York City, in the Upper East Side, on Park avenue.  I have one adopted sister named Blake; she is from California.
My mom and dad met at Cartier: he was buying an engagement ring for his now ex- wife. When my dad got divorced he came back to Cartier to return the ring and they started to date.

     The day I was born, he got a call around 8:35 saying he should come to the hospital. When he was going down the stairs the first plane crashed into the building. At around 9:00 he was still not at the hospital. My mom began to get nervous, soon enough a lady rushed into the room with a phone. It was James… He screamed, “I don’t think I am going to make it, I was rushing out of the building and fell. I can’t get up…”. After that moment there was silence, my mom screamed his name over and over again.

      After we went to the cemetery we go to the town meeting. The president is making a world changing announcement, money has no value. This means stores like Cartier, Tiffany, Polo, and David Yurman, ETC… will be worthless. People will no longer be payed.  The less fortunate will now have places to live and things to eat, drink, and wear.
     When the trees turn green the streets are beautiful. Almost no one is living on them. Most “poor” people have apartments. Although, my younger sister is in the hospital. Most people who work in factories don’t work as hard because they are not getting paid. Blake has a Acid Reflux, so her case is much worse than most people. I spend the night in her hospital room and cry, the doctors think she is going to die.
        One day I was sitting in the room with her when suddenly Blakes face starts to turn as red as rudolph's nose. I  scream. And scream. and scream. Finally one of the doctors sprints in, it was too late. Now, her face was as pale as a ghost.
          After two long days it is the funeral, I couldn’t stand it she was only 10. It makes me so happy so many people came to support my family in such an awful situation.  As we say hello to people the funeral begins to start. Half-way through a man i have never seen before, walks in he is wearing a long black coat, holding a black briefcase.The Rabbi starts to talk about my dad, more and more people bawl. A couple minutes later I look at the man, he is in tears. I decide he might be an old friend and turn back to listen. After a long hour of tears, it was time for the kiddush at our apartment. We had bagels, fruit, and cookies. Along with grape juice, water, and coke. All the food and drinks were Blake's favorites.
       We clean up after everyone leaves.  I saw the man in the long black coat admiring the pictures sitting on the piano. He seemed fairly interested in our family.  I elbow my mom in the arm to get her attention. She gives me the “I know what you're thinking” look. She walks up to him and says, “Excuse me who are you?” The man completely ignores her. Then my mom walks up to him and taps his arm…
“Sorry I’m deaf,” he said. My mom writes on a piece of paper who are you.
The man says, “Do you have a few minutes to talk?”
“Um sure,” she replies.
   We sit down on the couch. He starts off by saying, “Your husband, James risked his life for mine.” My mom and I were both in shock. My mom starts to tear up the whole time we thought he tripped and fell on top of another worker. My mom uses the same paper as before. She writes Please continue.
“I’m Daniel, it was um um, 6:00, me and um, James were eating breakfast in the staff room. He was telling me um, all about how his first child was going to born today. I started telling him how my mother was in the hospital with sarcoma, a rare form of cancer.  Um, After there was silence it was very awkward. I broke it,  ‘well I should get back to the office.’ And was both got up and left. At um, around 8:46 when the plane crashed James and I were both rushing down the stairs. Abruptly, I tripped and fell, James took my hand and pulled me up. Um, Um, right after I started to run I needed to get out and make sure my mother was ok. By the time I got out of the building I noticed James was not right next to me. I did everything I could I called, texted, and even contacted you in the hospital-- no answer. After all the bodies were found in the building James was resting on the floor with a pillar up against his face-- the same place where um, um, he helped me up. “
     I am in tears. I cry. And cry for the next half an hour I don’t know what to do with myself. Daniel left to go out to dinner with my mom and I sit home looking at old pictures of  my dad and mom. He looks so happy; he was smiling, dancing, and laughing. I go to sleep for the first time since Blake died, and I dream of the good not the bad, and just hope the future will be better even without Blake or dad.