"Seven Minutes After" by Julio Alvarado

Head-eyes looking forward, mouth shut, arms straight to the side with clenched fists, heels together standing erect is the position of attention. I stood at this position sweaty fisted and nervous. Twenty other recruits and I waited to swear on defending our people of the United States of America. After the ceremony was over I walked to where the television was located. I was simply pacing around the lounging area, while I waited for further instructions to fly to San Diego’s Marine Corps Recruit Depot. Gray smoky fire emitted from the tall tower and I stopped on a dime, frozen to the view. The newscaster said that a plane flew into the building. A scene from an action movie came to mind, of a suicide pilot flying a white plane headed towards a busy crowded city. It was really happening, a building on live television was on fire. There were no oohs or ahs heard in the background. Only pale, sad, angry faces and confused distorted expressions were present. Out of the corner of my eyes, I looked at the recruits around me and could see sorrowful, sour postures. Everyone was stuck in a fixed position like flies on shit waiting for orders on what to do. Our line of sight and hearing was pulled by an unseen magnetism coming from the tube. Terrorized by the events unfolding we wallowed in disbelief to the scene.
Expectations of what would happen next, then boom! The second twin tower was struck, like lightning abusing a strong massive tree. After its collision, the plane united with that building similar to dust thrown at dirt. My mind was asking itself, “Did a plane full of passengers just vanish into that skyscraper?” Chicago Military Entrance Processing Station was like the silence of a midnight gloomy cemetery. The towers stood at attention while crying out for help, just before collapsing uniformly one after the other. It looked like a controlled demolition was taking place. Images that I have not forgotten as if my brain kept them stored in an infinite library.

I swore to defend my country, this beautiful land that I was born into. The flights were cancelled and none of us flew to boot camp that day. Nothing went according to plan. Some of the recruits had asked me if I was having second thoughts of enlisting. It seemed that they were afraid. That day was the first time I had seen a plane crash into a structure, humans jump out of buildings, and two towers crumble to rubble on live broadcast. I had sworn in about seven minutes prior to the impact of the first tower and there was no turning back now.