story6160.xml

story6160.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-12

I work in Jersey City, NJ, directly across the river from the WTC. When the first plane hit, my boyfriend called me to ask me to go to the windows and see if the report he heard was true...that a plane smacked into one of the towers. I took my boss with me and we walked to the windows and saw the fire and smoke and were so scared for those people way up high. Then we walked back to our desks. Then we heard employees screaming and we ran to see what the problem was and our art director told us she saw another plane hit the other one! Well, now we were all terrified because we knew this could be accident. I tried to think of people I knew who worked there and I came up with a cousin. I called my mom and told her what had happened. Then one of the towers fell and building management made the decision to send us home...even though us employees were going to leave anyway. As we were walking to our cars, the second tower fell and I looked at it over my shoulder and yeh, there was black smoke and there was a lot of gray dust, but what I remember most was that rumble as it came down...so loud...so unlike anything I've ever heard before. I looked away and kept walking. My co-worker had gotten down on the floor into a fetal position and I just stared down at her. We walked into the parking garage and I remember feeling vulnerable, like we could be a target. The traffic out of Jersey City was terrible. I thought we'd never make it out of the city. I cried all the way home. My boyfriend worked in NYC (further uptown) and I was afraid he wouldn't be able to come home because they'd shut the tunnels and bridges. My father worked south of Canal St. on Hudson Street and I was afraid for him too. Later he told me he was four blocks away from Ground Zero and his co-worker could see the people jumping from the building. He cried when he got home later that day. I didn't go home...I went to my mom's house. Even though she wasn't home, I got in her bed and turned on her tv and just let it all soak in. I, like everyone, prayed they would find many survivors in the rubble...the reality of what happened was too much to process as we waited and no bodies were found. I didn't go to work for the next three days. I ran out the next day and donated money to Red Cross. I shopped at Target for jeans and shirts for the recovery/rescue workers. I bought some flags. I felt numb. And I tell you, a year has passed and I am still freaked out by the planes that fly over the Turnpike. I am more skeptical of helicopters that fly down the Hudson.