story8598.xml

story8598.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-10-29

It ws my second day of high school. I was sitting in the library and some kid ran it and yelled "Yo the World Trade Center is burning." Not beliveing a word of it, I continued working. On my way outside, I saw tons of people on the corner looking up the street, to where just across the Hudson River, the World Trade Center buildings looked like two giant burning cigars. Wait a minute, I just left my dad while getting off the PATH train at Exchange Place. He would continue the train ride until the WTC stop. I knew he worked in the building in front of it; World Financial Center(Merril Lynch) was where he worked. I was thinking everythings gonna be fine. I sat in Latin class and my dad appeard in the doorway. He was ok. But this didnt mean that everyone else was. We spent the rest of the day encouraging students who had parents or family in the towers that they would be ok. And then the unimaginable happened. I sat on the top floor of the building in my school and watched the North tower collapse; an image that I will never forget. Well it turned out one of my good friends fathers, made it out ok. But on the long descent thorugh Jersey City and back to Kearny, I would only discover that the pentagon had been hit. I went home that day and just watched the news. That night I went to a friends house to watch a movie; to help clear my mind. It was when I got home that I found out that my Godmother's nephew Chrisopher had been in the 92nd floor of the North tower and had not been seen. In the coming months he was soon prnounced dead. However my dad, who took the PATH train to the WTC stop everyday excpet one for 25 years was just greatly haunted. He worked right behind the towers in One Liberty Plaza and eventually in the World Financial Center. THe image of seeing bodies jump from the burning towers that he had the pleasure of looking at since they were built was simply too much for him. He tries to pretend sometimes it doesnt bother him, but I can tell its taken its toll. I myself was involved in the New York City Skateboarding scene, and after looking through tape after tape, I finally found the tape my friend made of the WTC at night and the grace it offered the city. I will never forget that haunting day till I die