story10150.xml

story10150.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-10-01

I woke up as my sister was leaving our shared appartment to go to class. As she left, I turned on the TV to watch the morning news, since my classes did't start untill noon. I watched the last commercial break I would see for days and then, still groggy, sat transfixed as CNN began it's breaking news coverage. I remember seeing the second plane on the screen a split second before it hit. At that point I remember standing up and grabbing the phone. My instincts were to call my mom & dad, but I realized I had no way of reaching them since they were on vacation in Europe. We had just moved to Washington weeks before and realized there was simply no one I could call.
As I watched, I became more and more alarmed. The FBI was investigating "foul play." All tunnels & bridges were closed. A commercial plane had been hijacked. One of the planes was an American Airlines 767 from Boston. As each of these chilling messages appeared on the breaking news banner across the sceen my heart beat faster. Aaron Brown, CNN's extraordinary anchor, announced a "significant fire" at the Pentagon.
At this, I began to feel real fear. This was no longer just alarming, it became personally threatening. As initial reports came in, rumors of a fire on the National Mall were reported. I felt like I was living in a giant target. I decided to go get my sister from class, but it took me forever to get out the door because I kept stopping in front of the TV. I remember thinking "if this is terrorism, it's worked. I feel terrorized." I walked through our lobby and saw people crowded around a television, unable to move, just as I had been upstairs. As I walked outside I was not prepared for what I would see. There was total gridlock on the streets and I realized that thousands of people were trying to leave Washington. It looked like a movie but I remember repeating to myself this is REAL.
Through a stroke of blind luck, I ran into my sister on the street, almost literally. Someone had interrupted her class and said "the Pentagon & State Department have exploded. We're at war." She immediatly ran for me just as I had for her. Together we watched both towers fall. Debating about whether or not to leave Washington. We decided that if one more attack happened here we'd leave. Thank God that did't happen. I will never forget how scared and alone we felt. Phone lines were down. Our parents out of the country. We were in a city both new to us, and under attack. Since then we've had to deal with anthrax as well as the sniper attacks. While both were terrifying, in a way we had been toughened by the horror of 9/11, strengthened somehow by it too. I no longer think about leaving Washington. I will stay in defiance of the terrorists, anthrax killers, and snipers, who want to instill fear in us all.