The Oval Office ✓ (Book One)

Chapter Thirty Four

Lauren's P.O.V
                                  20 years ago

With all three of us working now and his brother helping out when he can, we're safe from eviction. Living in a neighborhood within walking distance of New York City does have it's benefits; you're still close enough to the city to walk to anything you need to walk to or take the subway, and you don't have to pay city housing prices- though it is still exorbitantly expensive. The house, which is his mothers is almost falling apart- the neighborhood run down, but it's home. Much, much more of one than the nicer house I grew up in. My own family was barely a family- his mother basically adopted me without signing the legal paperwork.

Today is expected to be a historic one, at least in New York. Today, Kyle will be sworn in to his school-board seat, having defeated an opponent that ran unopposed for over twenty years. Normally a school board election wouldn't even be close to a big deal- but this is New York City we're talking about. An eighteen year old who just graduated high school, having no college degree yet- just took the seat of a seventy-four year old with a PhD. It's almost too good to be legit.

I stand now, in front of the bathroom mirror, doing my best to make the only dress I have look professional, yet I still end up looking like a tent. Every penny we have goes towards paying the bills, so we won't  be able to afford anything extra until after Kyle's first paycheck- which'll be significantly larger than the ones any of us are getting now. As an FBI intern, I only get paid about fifteen thousand a year. Enough to pay my part of the bills- but nothing more. It's not like I can work on anything to get myself a pay raise yet- not until after I've got my bachelor's degree, clearance, and certification.

  Now, the only things I'm allowed to do are regular intern things- the stuff nobody else wants to do but has to be done; cleaning the office spaces, fetching coffee- fetching suspect files from other departments to deliver back to my boss. I'm never allowed to look at or take the files anywhere I'm not instructed to- if I do I could be fired and permanently banned from any FBI building.

"You can borrow one of my old work dresses- I used to be Mayor Williams's assistant." I barely noticed his mother standing in the doorway.

"You worked for that son of a bitch-"

"Yeah, yeah I know. I quit when he asked me to snoop around in his opponent's finances during his second run. Come on, I've still got most of my clothes." She leads me to her closet, pulling out one of the nicest dresses from the back. You can tell from the tag on the inside that it's secondhand, but the dress itself looks brand new.

"Thank you." I say.

"Get dressed. Family members have to be there in thirty minutes." Crap. I strip off my old dress, zipping up the one she's let me borrow as quickly as possible. I brush through my hair, spraying the strays into place, and slip on my nicer pair of shoes.

With twenty minutes left, his mother and I walk to the closest subway, taking it right into the middle of the city where the school board's building is. His mother takes her seat in the back, and I join him in the line of three board members that are being sworn in today. "I'm sorry." I whisper.

"It's fine." He says. "I'll be sworn in last."

I try to push my stage fright aside, standing in front of well over a thousand people. I watch as the senior board member swears in the two in front of us, trying to ignore the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. The past week has been almost too peaceful. Somethings coming- I can feel it. A sitting member of the board looks distracted as he glances at the small tv in the lobby nobody's paying  attention to, his face twisting into a look of shock, confirming whatever it is I just felt. "Ma'm? Ma'm?" The senior board member gets my attention. "Please hold the bible." I snap out of it, taking the book from him.

"Please repeat after me." The board member says. "I, Kyle Wells- do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of office of school board member according to the best of my ability."

"I, Kyle Wells- do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of office of school board member according to the best of my ability."

"Board Member Kyle Wells-" he shakes his hand. "Welcome." There's the obligatory round of applause, then as I'm about to go sit down and he's about to take his seat among the board members, somebody's family member audibly gasps.

"A plane just struck the World Trade Center!!" She yells. Shit. Shit shit shit fuck. My first instinct is to run outside and look along with many others, as we can see them from here.

"Oh my god-" I put my hand over my mouth. Smoke billows out of the tower just a thousand yards away, and as people within viewing distance begin to get the news, they flood onto the sidewalks. Some stand still for minutes, unable to really do anything about it, but as a second plane strikes, screams erupt through the crowd. I may be stupid, really stupid, but my first instinct is to run straight towards it.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Kyle grabs my arm.

"There's got to be somebody in there that needs help. I'm not taking my chances."

"So let the officials do their jobs. You don't always have to be a hero." He begs.

"No." I say. "But I am going to be a good person- even when I don't have to." So I start running straight for the towers. When I get too close, a firefighter tries to hold me back. "Get the fuck out of my way."

"Ma'm, we have firefighters and law enforcement getting everybody out. I can't let you go in there." He says.

"Is anybody helping the people up there?" I say, pointing to the floor with a plane lodged in it. "Cause if not, you aren't doing your fucking jobs."

"It's no use." The firefighter says. "The top floors are burning. By the time anybody gets up there they'll be completely engulfed. Everybody else is being evacuated."

  I barely hear him speak after that. All I can focus on is the bodies. The people jumping. "Lauren!" Kyle finally catches up to me. "Lauren what the fuck- oh my god."

  Seven. Seven so far. Then there's a disturbance- a rumbling noise from one of the buildings that sounds almost like a warning. Time doesn't seem to move at all- even with people  running away from the building, until Kyle snaps me out of it by basically dragging me with him. I look back for just a second, and that's when the collapse starts.

  We're obviously far enough away to avoid being crushed by the building- not enough to avoid flying debris though. My survival instincts kick in, my eyes settling on the nearest door- which I nearly dislocate Kyle's shoulder rushing into. We watch, along with thirty other terrified people, as a skyscraper we've grown up walking past every day our entire lives falls. From the way it happens, if anybody's still in there- we can tell there'll be very few survivors.

  I step closer to Kyle, putting my arms around him as I watch, silent. "Well-" he says. "The next few days'll probably be.. interesting."