Part 235
Sarah heard the final call for passengers for her flight but she was way too sick to leave the bathroom. ‘Damn,’ she thought. ‘I’ll just have to catch another flight. I’ll have to get a message to Danny though.’
After cleaning up, Sarah came out to find Raoul standing by the bathroom door waiting for her. "I take it Danny went on."
"Yeah…he took our stuff too."
"I need to get a message to him to let him know we’ll catch a later flight."
With Raoul, Sarah went to the desk and asked, "I’m suppose to be on that flight with a friend. Is there a way for me to get a message to him?"
"Sure, we can call the pilot."
"His name is Danny Lee and he’s in first class. Tell him that Sarah and Raoul will catch up with him in LA."
The lady made the call to the pilot and then Sarah went to the counter to get another flight to LA. Unfortunately, there wasn’t one until almost three that afternoon. She bought the tickets and then went to find someplace to get comfortable and wait the almost six hours before their next flight.
As she sat down, she pulled out her cell phone and tried to call Howie to tell him what had happened but got the response, ‘The user you are trying to reach is currently unavailable or out of range’. Sarah never realized how much she would HATE those words nor did she realize what the next thirty-six hours held in store for her. She put her phone away and started looking over the music Howie, Kevin, and AJ had done for her.
It wasn’t more than a couple hours after Sarah’s missed flight that all hell broke loose in the airport. Security appeared out of nowhere and people who had already bordered their flights were being ushered off again. Sarah and Raoul looked around to see other airport personnel in a state of panic and confusion.
"I wonder what’s going on?"
"I’ll go check," said Raoul.
Sarah glanced over at a television nearby and saw the horrific site. She sat staring at the site of the first tower collapsing. Her first thoughts were of Howie as she watched the replay of the second plane hitting the tower. She knew he would be going nuts so she attempted to call him again. This time though, before Sarah could get the phone out good, an airport security guard snatched it from her.
"Hey! That’s my phone!"
"I’m sorry ma’am but no cell phones are to be turned on."
"But I need to call my husband. He’ll be worried about me."
"Again, I’m sorry, ma’am. I’m just following orders."
Sarah had been around security enough to realize that something was wrong. "Is there a bomb threat?"
"No, no bomb threat. Just watch the news and you’ll understand."
"Can I have my phone back? I promise not to use it in the
building."
The guard handed Sarah her phone back and left her to watch the news. As soon as
he was gone, Sarah turned her attention back to the screen and that was when she
learned that it was HER flight that had hit one of the towers.
"Oh MY GOD!" gasped Sarah.
A lady sitting near her asked, "Are you okay?"
Sarah pointed to the television. "Look at the news."
"I’ve seen it. They say the two flights…"
"Two?"
"Yes, there were two flights that hit the World Trade Center. Anyway, they
say the flights originated from here."
Sarah was pale and NOT because of the morning sickness. She should have been on that flight and Danny was. ‘Oh, GOD!’ she thought. ‘What the hell is Kellie going to do now? And Howie? What is he going through? I’ve got to get to him…let him know I’m okay.’
The lady took Sarah’s arm, "Miss…are you okay?"
Sarah shook her head, "No! I have to reach my husband. I have to let him know I’m okay."
Pulling away from the lady, Sarah made her way to the ticket counter where there was already a crowd of people. Sarah glanced at the boards for the airlines. They were showing ALL flights cancelled. Reaching the counter, Sarah learned that nothing was coming in or taking off from ANY airport in the country but no explanation was offered. She got her refund and pushed back away from the crowd.