story5834.xml

story5834.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-12

The morning had begun just like any other, nothing much to worry about. When my store first got word of the first plane hitting the towers, there was concern, but most thought that it was just an accident. Perhaps a small plane with an untrained pilot, but that's all. Being in a mall, I walked down to the local electronics store to see what the news had about the accident, when I saw the second one hit. I was stunned. I found myself wondering if what I had just saw was real. I could hear the excitement and confusion in the reporters voices and the stunned looks on the faces of those who had joined me in the store and then I realized that it was real. Everyone stood quietly, watching the tvs, wondering what would happen next.
I ran back to my store and told everyone what had happened. Everyone stood in disbelief. We turned on the news channel on our store radio and listened in amazement. Then we heard about the Pentagon. Worry then set firmly into my mind. What was next? Then we knew. The first tower had fallen. I couldn't believe what I had heard. My mind flashed back to only a few years earlier when I had the chance to visit the towers. To see thier immense size, even being able to look down from the 78th floor. Which was pretty high by my standards.
I ran back to the electronics store and noticed the crowd had grown. It was then I saw the replay of the first collapse. Everything went numb.
Friends of mine who live in NY had always joked after the 1993 bombing what would happen if the towers ever fell. Unbelievably, we were now witnesses to the horrible answer.
Everyone around me spoke of hope that everyone got out. Some prayed. Most stared at the TV in disbelief. Then the second tower fell. Everything went silent. Suddenly for everyone, it was real. Information about the Pentagon, NY and a plane in Pennsylvania, all began to sink in. Word came over of flights being grounded. Businesses closing. Schools being let out. I then ran down the mall to tell everyone in the store to go home. I relayed as much information as I could as everyone grabed thier things and shuffled out. The mall was empty, not a single person could be seen.
As I raced home on Interstate 95, a section that is usually heavy with traffic, there was barely a car on the road. Signs were posted that the New Jersey turnpike was backed up for miles, New York (only just over 2 hours away) was virtually closed. As I listened to the radio, who was using the Emergency Broadcast signal (something I thought I would never hear used in my lifetime) I glanced into the sky and got chills as I noticed how empty it was. A section normally heavy with flights going to Philadelphia, was now empty.
As I got to my home, I turned on the TV and watched the horror over and over again. Absolutely horrorified at what I was seeing. I prayed for those lost and for those who were going to help and I wondered how we could ever get past such a terrible event.
I watched the news long into the early morning hours, wondering how life would be the next day. How I could return to work with the images of the towers so vivid in my mind. As I returned to work in my mall, I was walking back to my store from the mall's coffee shop when, since there was virtually no one in the mall at the time, I heard the mall's radio system playing Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind." Suddenly it was all put in perspective. I paused for a moment, said a little prayer and went back to my store and proudly displayed our American flag over our front dry erase board which read: "We pray for those we have lost in the tragedy of September 11th and those who are risking thier lives to help. God Bless America."