story9201.xml

story9201.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-04-22

I was working the night shift in NYC at the time and would commute through the WTC in the afternoon (going to work) and late at night (coming home from work). My boss wanted me to work during the day on September 10th, so I commuted through the WTC around 8:30am. (I'm so thankful he didn't ask me to come in early on the 11th - I would have been there during the attacks). So, on the 10th, as I was riding up the escalator, I noticed the lighted sign which said "GOOD MORNING! WELCOME TO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER" and there was a big animated sun. I thought it looked weird because whenever I went through there it always said "GOOD AFTERNOON! WELCOME TO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER." After I got off of work (I worked a 12-hour day), I went through the World Trade Center at around 11:30pm. Something was very compelling about the walls for some reason. I was looking closely and touching the advertisements that had been pasted to the walls. Again, I don't know why I was so interested in this - I saw it every day. Little did I know that the very place where I was walking would be destroyed just a few hours later. I went home and went to sleep. At around 11am I was woken up by what I thought was a bunch of car alarms. I kept thinking to myself "those damn car alarms...why can't people shut them off!!!" As I was thinking this, the phone was ringing in my kitchen. (I had my ringer turned off in my bedroom because of my weird work hours - I was usually sleeping when telemarketers would call). I answered the phone and it was my roommate. She said "Mandy - have you gotten any of my messages?" and I was like "no...what's wrong?" and she said "look outside - the World Trade Center! It's gone!". I looked outside, and to my disbelief, there was a huge cloud of smoke and no towers. (I live right across the river from the towers, so this was happening very close to where I live). I didn't know what was happening. My roommate told me that planes crashed into the trade center and that thousands of people died. She said "Do NOT go into work today - they're closing everything off." I got off the phone with her, and turned on the news. I tried calling my parents and couldn't get through. I went to my answering machine and noticed I had 11 messages. My parents and my boyfriend kept leaving messages for me - and they were worried sick because they thought I was there. After tons of tries I finally got ahold of my mom and she told me to leave the area and come home because planes were flying into buildings all over the place (I live on the 29th floor of a high-rise). When my mom told me about the planes, I didn't realize it was terrorism, I thought one plane went off course and then threw a whole bunch of other planes off course. Well, that made me so nervous....but there was nothing I could do - I tried getting a cab but all of the roads were closed. To top this all off, I live on top of the Holland Tunnel - which totally freaked me out. I didn't know what to do. I finally heard on the news that they cleared the airspace so I felt a little more relieved. I spent the entire day watching the news. I videotaped the cloud of smoke and fighter planes flying overhead. I also filmed National Guard trucks and the longest line of ambulances I have ever seen filter into the Holland Tunnel. I decided to go into work the next day. The PATH trains were all free. The city was EMPTY. I saw a couple of women holding a newspaper with a picture of the burning towers on it, smiling and holding it in front of them while their friend took their picture. I wanted to punch them. My dad's cousin died in the attacks - and my uncle saved his whole company by telling them all to leave when the announcement over the loudspeaker told everyone to go back to their seats. I will never ever forget that day, and pray for those families who lost loved ones. Although I will always be shocked that I did, I am so thankful that I slept through the attacks. MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!!