story4023.xml

story4023.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I woke up that morning on 9/11 and noticed how beautiful the weather was. I also noticed I was running a little late. I live in Brooklyn so I knew I had to leave quickly because the commute takes at least 50 minutes. As I got on the train things seemed normal. It was about 8:30am. I got on the Q express at Brighton Beach Avenue and started reading the Wall Street Journal. When I arrived at Dekalb Ave. I saw this young girl get on the train. She was a normal looking Black American but she had this strange look in her eyes. Suddenly our eyes met and then she looked away very quickly at others on the train. She then screamed out, "did you hear what happened, a plane crashed into the world trade center!!!" At first I thought she was crazy, then it hit me that it was the World Trade Center. Those buildings are tall and it was quite possible that an accident could have happened. I panicked! My girlfriend Cristina was in WTC2 working for Morgan Stanley on the 73rd floor and for all I know she could be dead. I ran upstairs out of the subway at Dekalb. Ave to the street level dumping my newspaper in the garbage. As soon as I got to the outside, I saw people running. Everything was moving so fast. I ran towards the Brooklyn Heights and as I got closer and closer I saw people crying. Then I saw the smoke. Then I saw the buildings on fire. There were flames shooting out and spreading down the building like termites. I completely forgot about everything around me and called Cristina at work. The phone was busy. I tried at least 20 times to get through within those few minutes while walking towards the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge. As I was dialing and dialing and getting closer to the bridge the view became more and more clear on how bad this was. I didn't know what was happening. I was hoping it was an accident but deep down inside I knew it was a terrorist attack. I thought my girlfriend was dead. I ran to the Manhattan Bridge with one thing in mind...to find Cristina. I knew I was okay and my family was safe because my brother worked uptown and my parents lived in Florida. My only concern was Cristina. Suddenly as I was continuously dialing to reach Cristina, Roxanne, and schoolmate of Cristina and mine?s called me on my other line on my cell phone. She said that Cristina was ok, she spoke to her and she told me that Cristina wanted me to meet her at her Grandmother's house on the lower east side by Ave. D and E 10th Street. When I got to the Manhattan Bridge, a cop had stopped me from crossing over. I said I had to get through. He told me he couldn't let it happen, the city was shutting down and it was dangerous for me anyways. I told him to listen to me and said that my girlfriend is over there and I am going to get her, you can arrest me, you can do whatever you need to do, but if it was you, you'd want me to let you go get her. He just grimaced at me and then grinned and pointed his arm towards the other side. When I was running over the bridge I had the perfect view of the situation. On my left were the towers I grew up looking out at from my parent?s bedroom window at home. I used to use them to tell me where in the city I was and where I was going. They were burning up in a thick black evil smoke. I would be lost with out them as well as if I were to lose Cristina but at this point I knew she was alive so I was a bit relieved. I still had other friends I was worried about like Michael Losardo and Danielle Lim and others. As I was staring at the towers while running over the bridge I saw a train pass over just to my right. I saw people looking at me running and I saw them looking at the towers burn while they were pressing their hands and faces and chests against the train doors and windows in horror and panic. The emotion was very present then. I thought I was in the middle of a movie. It just wasn't real. It could not have been happening. When I got over the bridge to the other side the cops over they?re just looked at me in a trance probably thinking why would I be coming into Manhattan when everyone else was leaving. I ran straight to Cristina's Grandmother's house and as soon as I got there screamed up to her window "CRISTINA, CRISTINA...? I saw her peak out and she came running down the stairwell and we hugged each other harder than we ever did. The rest of the day was just anxiety provoking. The Towers fell soon after I arrived at her grandmother's house and we just wanted to leave. Cristina's Dad worked by the courts downtown and he met us at the F train station by east Broadway. We hopped on and I spent the next three days with Cristina and her family. It was horrible for everyone and I will never forget the day I almost lost someone very important to me. Unfortunately, I lost others who were not only important to me but to the City of New York as well. NYPD, FDNY, EMS, PA Cops, WTC workers and Employees. They all contributed something to this city. Safety, security, financial and economical contributions. We all lost something that day. Now I think we have to spend the rest of our lives finding a way to fill the void. I know I never will!