Writer's Block: 9/11
I was on my way to the office on Church Street... less than 1/2 mile from the World Trade Center.
I was still on the #1 subway, stuck just outside the Chambers Street station, when the second plane hit. The conductor only told us that there had been an explosion at the WTC, and our train was going out of service at the next stop. As it happens, that was station closest to my job, and the delay had me running late. So I just ran up the stairs to the street... completely unprepared for what was waiting for me on the surface:
The Chambers Street Station for the #1 train was only about 1/4 mile from the North Tower... facing the side where the plane impacted. Less than 5 minutes had elapsed since then, so there wasn't that much smoke yet... and I swear that I saw what was left of the tail section of the plane through the hole before the smoke became too thick.
My initial reaction was to go back on the subway and get as far away as possible... but I knew my family was going to be worried sick about me, as they knew I worked near the WTC. So instead, I walked the three blocks to my office building so I could call my family and let them know I was OK. Indeed, I found out that one of my sisters thought that I actually worked *IN* the World Trade Center -- she was in hysterics until I called.
All of my co-workers (as well as myself) were in a state of shock, with no idea of what to do. One by one, though, each of us decided to get the hell out of there and go home. I had just reached the street myself when I heard a sound like a freight train... and I saw the South Tower start to collapse. The crowd began a panicked mad rush, and for a few seconds I feared I would be trampled. When things calmed down a minute later, we couldn't see anything of the WTC site through the dust cloud.
Emergency personnel started ordering people to disperse and go home... though in my case I had already decided to do just that. The thing was, the subways had now been shut down. Having no better plan, I figured I'd walk north to Grand Central Terminal and take a train home from there. As I walked I forced myself not to look back at the WTC site... and I only broke that rule once, when I heard onlookers around me cry out about 30 minutes later, as the North Tower collapsed.
I reached Grand Central around 11 AM, but discovered it had been closed as part of the security lockdown. I went to a nearby computer store because I knew they had a payphone I could use to call my family again -- the payphones on the street had up to 30 people each waiting to use them. The store staff were kind enough to let me stay and rest in their break room for the next several hours while we watched the news coverage on TV. Around 3 PM, they announced that the trains were running at Grand Central again... and that's how I got home.
I called up family one more time, and I e-mailed all my friends. I let them all know that I was alive, home and safe. Hell, I wasn't even scratched!
It was only then, after I had made it home in one piece, that I started sobbing like a lost child over what I had witnessed...
I was still on the #1 subway, stuck just outside the Chambers Street station, when the second plane hit. The conductor only told us that there had been an explosion at the WTC, and our train was going out of service at the next stop. As it happens, that was station closest to my job, and the delay had me running late. So I just ran up the stairs to the street... completely unprepared for what was waiting for me on the surface:
The Chambers Street Station for the #1 train was only about 1/4 mile from the North Tower... facing the side where the plane impacted. Less than 5 minutes had elapsed since then, so there wasn't that much smoke yet... and I swear that I saw what was left of the tail section of the plane through the hole before the smoke became too thick.
My initial reaction was to go back on the subway and get as far away as possible... but I knew my family was going to be worried sick about me, as they knew I worked near the WTC. So instead, I walked the three blocks to my office building so I could call my family and let them know I was OK. Indeed, I found out that one of my sisters thought that I actually worked *IN* the World Trade Center -- she was in hysterics until I called.
All of my co-workers (as well as myself) were in a state of shock, with no idea of what to do. One by one, though, each of us decided to get the hell out of there and go home. I had just reached the street myself when I heard a sound like a freight train... and I saw the South Tower start to collapse. The crowd began a panicked mad rush, and for a few seconds I feared I would be trampled. When things calmed down a minute later, we couldn't see anything of the WTC site through the dust cloud.
Emergency personnel started ordering people to disperse and go home... though in my case I had already decided to do just that. The thing was, the subways had now been shut down. Having no better plan, I figured I'd walk north to Grand Central Terminal and take a train home from there. As I walked I forced myself not to look back at the WTC site... and I only broke that rule once, when I heard onlookers around me cry out about 30 minutes later, as the North Tower collapsed.
I reached Grand Central around 11 AM, but discovered it had been closed as part of the security lockdown. I went to a nearby computer store because I knew they had a payphone I could use to call my family again -- the payphones on the street had up to 30 people each waiting to use them. The store staff were kind enough to let me stay and rest in their break room for the next several hours while we watched the news coverage on TV. Around 3 PM, they announced that the trains were running at Grand Central again... and that's how I got home.
I called up family one more time, and I e-mailed all my friends. I let them all know that I was alive, home and safe. Hell, I wasn't even scratched!
It was only then, after I had made it home in one piece, that I started sobbing like a lost child over what I had witnessed...