It isn’t until Derek is in English class, studying Hamlet, listening intently to his teacher, Mr. Hamblin, as he reads from the play, that he hears the two things that change his life: first, two airplanes have crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, and second, Lindsay is missing.
Gone. Disappeared. No one can find her.
The airplane thing doesn’t affect him that much. At least not immediately. Not until he starts to hear the whispers around the school, the kids all talking about it. There is a low rumbling noise throughout the hallways. And this bothers him. It feels like an imminent disaster. Derek then passes the cafeteria where someone has set up a TV and he sees the planes crash over and over. He hears the reporters shouting. His classmates are silent. That’s what is t
