story820.xml

story820.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-06-23

I was starting my internship in Midtown that day. I live in Jersey and I was taking the train into the city. It was really my first experience going into the city and working by myself, so this was supposed to be a big day for me. At around 8:35, I remember looking at the towers, thinking how beautiful they were and that I would like to work there someday. I never expected what happened next.
We had just pulled into the Newark station on the NJ transit line at around 8:40. As we pulled out, I looked at the one tower and noticed smoke billowing out. I had no idea what was going on. My first instinct was "It looks like the incinerater is lined up perfectly with the one tower, that's strange". But then, as the train kept moving forward, I realized for sure that it was no incinerator. The tower was actually on fire. Everyone on the train started to speak and wonder what was going on. I didn't realize the intensity of the situation then. I figured that it was being taken care of, because I noticed helicopters flying around it.
When I got into Penn Station, I just thought to myself, "Everything is ok, I'm sure the situation has been taken control of." I got to Times Square, and I noticed the footage of what was going on was different from what I saw. The other tower had been hit!! I couldn't believe my eyes!! I was so shocked. Times Square was in total standstill. Everyone just paused and looked up at the screen. It was so freaky. I didn't understand what was truly happening. Then I got to the cafeteria of where my internship was located, and I watched ABC news. All I remember hearing was Peter Jennings saying "This was a planned terrorist attack. It must have taken them months and years to plan something like this." I was in shock!! My body just became overwhelmed with fear and panic. I was never as scared in my life as I was that moment.
I then heard a beep from my cell phone. I had just gotten a voice mail message from my sister. She told me that I should get out of NYC right away because they had closed all the ports getting into the city. I look back and thought, I should have left then and there. But I didn't want to get in trouble with my supervisor and leave, so I waited for her to show up. I then sat with other interns and told them what i saw on the train. It was then that another bulletin came on the screen. The Pentagon had just been hit!! At that point, I really thought it was the end of the world. All I could think about was that I wanted to go home and be with my family. I wouldn't reunite with my family until much later that day. This was only the beginning of the worst day of my life thus far.
As they were talking on the news, all I could say to the other interns was that I wanted to go home. My voice was shaking and I was ready to cry, but I didn't. I just knew that I had to get out of there. Then, they showed the clip of the first tower collapsing. Everyone in the cafeteria was SCREAMING!!! I never experienced anything like it. Just thinking about it gives me chills. A few people ran to the phones, and I can hear them saying "My friends in there" or "so-and-so is in there, I have to find them". I took the elevator down to the lobby, and in the elevator was this guy who was panicking, trying to get out of the building. All he kept saying was "I have to get her out! I have to get her out!" You don't know what to say to someone after a moment like that. I didn't know what to do.
I ran back to Penn station trying to catch the 10:43 train. I kept thinking along the way "Why did this have to happen? What's going to happen next?" I needed to get on that train and back home, safe with my family. Just as I got on the train, we were all ready to leave and get out of New York. I let out a sigh of relief and said out loud "Thank God". As soon as I said that, an announcement was made. The conductor said that everyone has to get off the train and that they need everyone at Ground level. I felt like I was being thrown into a pit of poisonous snakes. I was so scared at that point. My family had no idea where I was now. None of the cell phones worked. I waited on line to use a public pay phone for an hour and a half, trying to call my sister and my family and tell them I was alright. While on line, I was being briefed about other updates. Here are some of the things I heard (Some true, some definitely false) "The second tower collapsed. Four more planes are hijacked and they are headed this way. A plane fell in Pittsburgh. They won't open Penn Station for two days." I was ready to go insane. I didn't care what I had to do to get back to Jersey, but just getting there was my objective at that point. The fighter jets began flying overhead, and my first instinct was that it was another plane coming after another part of New York (At that point, I was near the Empire State Building, so I was even more scared).
The police closed off all the streets and made announcements on the megaphone. The first announcment was that the Staten Island Ferry was open and it was the only way out of New York. I remember asking the policewoman, "How do I get there"? "Walk", she said. I walked a total of over 200 blocks that day. I had relatives in Staten Island, so I figured I'd be safe with them, at least. As I walked downtown, I managed to get signal back on my cell phone. It was then that I spoke with my uncle to direct me around lower Manhattan, for I had no familiarity with it whatsoever. I only knew my way around Midtown. As I walked down, I walked past St. Vincent's hospital, where they were bringing in all the victims. It was a madhouse. I still had my ear to the reports on the radios of the people walking in the streets. YOu would be surprised about some of the things they were saying at that point. I couldn't listen anymore. It just got me more scared than I was, but you couldn't help listening.
As I got to canal street, the smoke became thicker, and I started to feel the dust. I remember wiping the sweat off my forehead and feeling dust and grain. I looked at my hand, and it was grey. I was beyond the point of overwhelmed. I was ready to accept death, because I did not know what was going to happen next. I just thought that I would be stuck there and have no way to get out.
The time was now 2:30, and my sister calls me on my cell phone. She tells me that Guiliani opened Penn Station again and to get over there as soon as possible (Mind you, I was at Canal Street when I found this out.) I had to race uptown again and get on that train. Nothing was stopping me. When I finally got on the train, I was a sardine. There was seriously no room to move. We were all squeezed together. I was so happy now that I was leaving NY. I then checked my voice mails, which I wasn't able to do before. They were all from family, thinking that I was dead because I didn't respond to their calls. That was the second freakiest moment of my life, having someone think you're dead and leaving you a voice mail. The first moment is obviously being in the city during this turmoil. I finally got home at 5:30, and I just cried. I couldn't stop crying for the rest of the day. In fact, I didn't sleep that night. It was a living nightmare that took me a long time to get through. I still think about it everyday. Those poor people that suffered through that. It's so horrible to witness something like that. It took me a long time to finally watch the footage on TV. It sure feels good to talk about it, though.