by Mikaeel Mahmood
Copyright © 2023
Brandon Chavez goes to work with his dad on September 11, 2001 after being suspended from school.
![Brandon Chavez goes to work with his dad on September 11, 2001 after being suspended from school.](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24174856/Screen-Shot-2023-02-16-at-1.56.16-PM-1.png)
Brandon is trapped in an elevator with strangers on his way to the floor his dad works at, so he finds a way to escape.On his way up with Richard, the man he had found earlier, Brandon realized that there was no way up, and his father was most likely dead
![Brandon is trapped in an elevator with strangers on his way to the floor his dad works at, so he finds a way to escape.On his way up with Richard, the man he had found earlier, Brandon realized that there was no way up, and his father was most likely dead](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/16210135/down_105_20180906_rf_1184r-1024x684.jpeg)
Now trying to reach his father, Brandon reaches the 89th floor and stares at the open sky, realizing the 89th floor is gone.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24175337/boy-standing-looking-at-sky-A9GX50-958x1024.jpg)
After a helicopter passes by, unable to rescue him, Brandon finds a man that he had seen on his way to the Twin Towers earlier in the day.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24175423/asdlkfjlkqsdjf.jpeg)
On his way up with Richard, the man he had found earlier, Brandon realized that there was no way up, and his father was most likely dead.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/16210251/hqdefault.jpeg)
Brandon finds a trapped elevator with multiple people in it but the way there is on fire, so the elevator car falls to certain death.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24175653/elevator.jpeg)
Brandon calls his dad from the phone in Richard’s office, and sees a plane crash into the south tower.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24175830/911.jpeg)
Brandon and Richard make it to the 20th floor, and Brandon listens to his dad tell him he will die on the phone.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24175922/boy-crying-while-calling.jpeg)
Brandon and Richard make it to the mall underneath the towers.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24193312/WTC-mall.jpeg)
The mall collapses and when Brandon makes it out with Richard, he sees that the entire South Tower collapsed.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24193404/twin-toower.jpeg)
Richard takes Brandon back to his apartment, and Brandon watches the news coverage and finds out that it’s a terrorist attack.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24193609/911-news-1024x576.jpeg)
Reshmina is an 11 year old Pashtun girl in 2019 whose Afghani village is being raided by American soldiers.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24193744/afghan-village-raid.jpeg)
American soldiers search Reshmina’s village, but at the end her brother Pasoon reveals that it was a trap set by the Taliban.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24193928/us-afghan-search.jpeg)
The Taliban comes to attack, and after the battle Reshmina finds an American soldier injured outside of her house named “Taz”.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24194030/injured-taxz.jpeg)
Reshmina tries and fails to convince her brother, multiple times not to join the Taliban.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24194203/reshmina-and-opassoon-argiung.jpeg)
After her brother refuses to come back with her, Reshmina runs back to her family to warn them that Pasoon is going to tell the Taliban about the American Soldier.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24194500/reshmina-warning-her-family.jpeg)
When Reshmina makes it back to her village, she sees that the Taliban is already there.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24194543/taliban-america-fighting.jpeg)
Escaping into the caves under her village, Reshmina watches as the Taliban fires a rocket into her home.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24194712/blown-up-home.jpeg)
Taz reveals that his real name is Brandon Lowery, and that he used to be Brandon Chavez.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24194817/soldier-taz.jpeg)
Brandon tells Reshmina about why America is in Afghanistan, and how his father died on 9/11.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24194924/brandon-reshmina-.jpeg)
Reshmina sees her brother on a ridge over a valley, and leads her family to him.
![Ground Zero by Mikaeel Mahmood - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/24195040/yung-guy.jpeg)
Published: Feb 14, 2023
Latest Revision: Feb 14, 2023
Ourboox Unique Identifier: OB-1418611
Copyright © 2023