In Fall of 2001 I was supposed to resume my co-op internship at Mars inc but did not due to a problem with paperwork. I had to work fast with the co-op office to find a new job. Luckily I was able to find a job working in NYC and my first day was September 5th. After two days of taking the 7:30 train I found that I could take the 8:05 train and still get to work before 9am. My father suggested that I take the earlier train in case I missed the early train I could take the later train but I decided against it because I valued my sleep more.
I remember waiting for the train on September 11th, the weather was perfect and there was not a cloud in the sky. I grabbed the 8:05 train and switched over to the PATH in Hoboken. There are three PATH tracks in Hoboken and during morning rush hour two of them are used exclusively for the WTC line. As soon one train filled up, the doors would close and the train would pull away and before the other train was full a new train would arrive. I once read that 250,000 people a day used to commute through the trains at the WTC and I can believe it. It was a sea of humanity moving like fluid over to the business capital of the world. Since Hoboken was the first stop I was able to get a seat and quietly sat out my commute reading Clive Clussler's Raise the Titanic in the corner.
At the WTC stop nothing seemed unusual at first, I remember the smell of diesel fumes but thought nothing of it because I was in a train station. There were several flights of stairs and escalators to get to the lobby/mall and then a short walk to the "Tower Lobby" for WTC1 where I worked on the 95th floor. Walking up the first flight of stairs some homeless man was running down the stairs in the other direction saying someone "set off a bomb." I didn't really give it serious thought considering the source and journeyed on. The lobby/mall of the WTC had many twist and turns and it was easy to get lost but I figured out that as long as I did a 180 once I got to the top of the last escalator and walked straight it would take me to the tower elevators. When I got the top of the esculators that day I knew it wasn't going to be a normal day. The mall was filled with white smoke but not enough to be blinding. I figured someone must have set off a pipebomb at one of the stores, I guess the bum was right, and then I turned to go to the tower lobby but it was cordoned off. I assumed the incident happened between here and the lobby and that I should try to walk around it.
After a couple of twist and turns I ended up in the tower lobby only to find elevator maintenance guys standing there along with the cops. That's when I decided to go grab breakfast somewhere and not go up 95 floors on elevators in need of possible repair. It turns out that I was in the wrong lobby anyway so I wandered out of the lobby for WTC2 and back into the mall. I started looking for a way out when I saw a crowd of people coming down the hall. They were moving fast but not running & screaming. I remember thinking whatever is chasing those people I don't want it chasing me, maybe it's a gunman of some sort. I saw cops standing sentry and helping the crowd. A lady got tripped up and the cop nearby helped her up. Things kind of seemed under control. I turned down another hallway and saw signs for the Subway but decided to head outside and hit up the Burger King across the street for something to eat instead.
When I got outside the first thing I noticed was the ground was covered all around with office papers.That's when someone said or someone told me that a plane had hit the building and I looked up to seeing a whole floor or two engulfed in flames. I knew a plane once hit the Empire State Building by accident so I assumed a similar situation; the impact site was on the other side of the building so I had no idea it was a 757 or any plane of significant size. My company at the time, Marsh inc, occupied floors 92-99 so I tried to quickly determine if the flames were coming from around there but it looked lower than that. Standing there with my head craned back starring at this surreal scene, that was from a movie and not from real life, I was not alone.
It was difficult to look away but I realized that any debris falling from that height could be very harmful so I walked away knowing that the image would always be with me. I figured that three or four blocks in any direction would be good enough for safety so I just started walking away with my back to the WTC. As I was walking I started looking for my company letter head on the papers on the ground without success which relieved me. Maybe my co-workers would be okay, maybe the fire would be put out, and while there will be on the scar on the building that would be fixed.
And then I heard the most awful sound, it sound like a someone took a dozen steel girders and snapped them like twigs. I decided to start running but it turned out I was already running. Due to the fact that I didn't see anything I could only assume the top of the tower had toppled over and was now heading to the ground. I quickly tried to the math in my head to determine how far I would have to run and how long it would take for the top of the tower to reach the ground. I was pretty certain that this was the end for me and that whole life flashing before your eyes thing happened. It's funny though, it's not really everything only the peaks and valleys, all the unimportant stuff gets tossed out and this it was it, the book's end. Still trying to figure out how much time I had, I was multiplying the number of floors by the height of an average commercial story when I realized that enough time had passed that I wasn't going to get crushed.
I decided to keep running because running away from danger felt pretty good and there really wasn't much else I could do. The problem was that I didn't know where I was running to. I looked around and a lot of other people were running too so I decided to ask someone where they were going. I tried to find someone who wasn't consumed with panic but had a determined look on his face. I found a guy and ran next to him, I asked him where he was going and if I could run next to him. He said he was going to the Staten Island Ferry Station. He said the sound I heard was a second plane and it had hit WTC2. Now it was quite clear it was no accident. We got to the ferry station and we talked some more, he told me he actually saw landing gear from the first plane on the ground and that he saw the second plane hit.
At the ferry station, someone in a pick up truck was listening to the radio so a large group of us gathered around his open window to listen. The radio said they were several planes that weren't reporting in and they couldn't determine if they were hijacked or not. At the same time we were all trying to use our cell phones to get in touch with our loved ones. We ended up showing our phones to each other and it became obvious that none of us could get signal. We actually passed our phones around as if someone had some magic touch to make them work.
The ferry was not at the dock but someone said it was on the way after the cops were done going over it with bomb sniffing dogs. From where we were we couldn't see the towers but we could see the big tower of dark smoke in the sky. Soon the ferry arrived and as I walked over to get in line I heard the metal snapping sound again, I went to start running again but I had no where to run. I looked over towards the East River to see if I could jump in and swim somewhere but there was only jagged rocks.I assumed that a third plane had hit a third building and that I was standing on a giant bulls eye and the attacks would never end. Everyone quietly and calmly starting getting on the ferry and I followed. I sat down by the window and looked outside; the whole boat was surrounding in light smoke with ash floating around in it; I imagined that it is what volcanic fallout is like. The boat pulled out of the dock and we were underway. Still looking out the windows I didn't understand how the pilot can see where he going but I assumed he's done this route enough time he could "do it blindfolded." Looking around I noticed some people put on their life jackets and I decided to do the same because, hell, it kind of made sense.
About ten minutes out, the smoke cleared and I could see the Statue of Liberty glowing in the sunlight. I realized that it could be destroyed at that very moment and I wouldn't be very surprised. It seemed like everything was under attack. Right after that my phone rang and I looked to see it was my friend Mike calling. I quickly answer and was worried about losing signal or the call being dropped. I didn't let him talk much and I just told him that I was ok and to call my parents to tell them I was ok.
The whole time previous I felt awful that my parents didn't know what was happening with me and if I was ok. The fact they didn't know worried me greatly and once I talked to Mike I felt almost relieved. Now I could start trying to figure out how to get home from Staten Island
Part II
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