10.10.02 - 10:41 pm

it was late morning and dozens of eyes sat fixated forward. the teacher was narrating his lecture like an episode on the history channel. his words crept around the room, drawing the attention of what seemed like every student. from behind, i could feel the sunlight and blue cloudless skies. a slight breeze whispered its way inside and over my shoulders. my ears filled my imagination with talk of egyptians and canals and 2.4 tons of dragged limestone and an airplane somewhere above. a four door sedan with its emergency break on, being dragged over 15 miles from where they were carved to where they were stacked 400 feet high. unbelieveable. the airplane was getting closer.

the teacher continued as i hastily scratched out notes to remember but then stopped. i paused. i traced my eyes over the last word i had written but wasnt reading it. i was listening.

the noise of the airplane hadnt subsided. it had increased. it wasnt flying away it was flying....lower. i looked up and noticed the silent class. heads were frozen, half cocked and poised in attentive listening. the teacher had stopped and paused as well, his mouth slightly open, waiting to finish the last syllable of his word. the noise increased. more and more shrill it became, i could hear each individual rotation of the blades. my chest was heaving, struggling to pump enough blood to my flight or fight response. i shallowed my breathing so i could continue to listen, trying to focus where the noise was headed.

this building or the next.

the engine noise became the only noise audible. i stopped my breathing.

then it began to fade. rapidly the noise shifted from terrifying to soothing as it vanished over the horizon. simultaneously all the hearts resumed at once and breathing gradually shifted from heavy to muted. slight laughter. quick relieved glances in every direction. brian reached over and grabbed my forearm jokingly. my heart refused to stop pounding. as the teacher quietly shared a story about entire auditoriums during the 1940s going silent listening to which building german V2 rockets were falling toward, i heard mr blonde saying, "now that was really exciting."