826CHI Volunteer Photo Book: My World Project - Part 3: BENT BUILDINGS

BENT BUILDINGS, Photo and Story by Kalina Fleming-Lopez


The chills went through my soul when I remembered the buildings and the people. What they used to be. And, I knew that everyone was now gone.

Even so, they stand in a place where no one stands, with me.

I remember the childish days of concerts, of happiness – before I was left behind. I can still remember the gray skies that turned white that day and how the buildings bent back and fell.

And, I survived, in the mist of it all. The buildings did not fall on me. They fell on the people around me, all across the world, and I remember how the trees almost ran away. The crashing and screaming of all the people who didn’t want it to end.

For them, it did, though their presence, their blood, still lingers here.

The sky now has changed to a color that is pink, like my bedroom used to be – toxic pink.

Destruction came over the earth the day the buildings bent back. The day all humankind got its punishment for ignorance.

That was a moment I’ll never forget, part of history that only I can write.