story290.xml

story290.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-03-21

The morning of September 11 I got up early to get ready to go to work. For me, It was just another day -- same routine -- go to the hospital and then go to the university in the evening. But that morning I was bored, trying to decide what to wear on such magnificent day. Finally, I decided to wear a red and white dress, very appropriate for such a beautiful day.

It was about 8:55 a.m. when I was getting off the train at the World Trade Center. As I walked up the stairs, I heard other people talking behind me saying that a plane hit one of the towers of the WTC. I thought ... how can a plane hit the towers? ... these people must be crazy, and so I kept walking up to the street level. Then, I saw it, the World Trade Center was on fire. For a moment I was disoriented and thought it was not real. Maybe my eyes were deceiving me. But I kept looking up at the towers, thinking that perhaps, the tower "looked" like it was on fire because it was just a filming of a movie.

The morning was so beautiful and the sky was so blue, the reflection of the sunlight above the towers and against the brightness of the fire, was magnificent. Still, I kept walking, trying to get to work, and at the same time, trying to make sense of what I saw. As I turned around to cross Church Street, I looked up and noticed people falling or jumping from the windows of the World Trade Center. That's when it hit me. Something bad was happening. I got scared and tried to rush my way but could not stop thinking about the people falling from the windows. By the time I realized what was going on around me, it was already too late. The streets were getting crowded with firefighters, police officers, army officers and the FBI.

I looked up at the towers again, and started to cry. At the same time, I heard a loud sound, so horrible. I thought I felt the street moved under my feet and started to panic. People were running and screaming. Hundreds of people were in front of me, and in a split second, there was no one. I was really scared and did not know what to do. There was no one to help me. I realized that I was alone on Church Street. I looked up again and saw the WTC collapsed right after the loud awful noise. What should I do, where should I go?

Then I saw him. A man appeared out of nowhere walking really fast. I could not see his face because he was all covered with dust. He grabbed me, and said "don't worry, I got you, I got you." I looked up and saw a ball of fire and smoke coming straight at us. Since we were covered with dust, it was impossible to see anything. Then, all of a sudden everything turned black, for what it seemed to be a life time. I kept on holding on to him, he helped me walk up Church Street and Broadway. As we walked together, holding on to each other, we could not breath and kept gasping for air. I heard someone called him ... he had one of those big black radios or walkie talkies, I do not know exactly what it was, but he kept saying that he was OK. At this point, the cloud of smoke and dust was very intense.

In the meantime, I covered my face with my dress and tried desperately not to swallow the dust and the smoke without any success. At that moment, I thought that my life was over. I remember thinking about my family back in Texas, I have not seeing them in ten years.

We kept up walking and the man took me inside a building on Broadway and Church Street, where people were sitting on the floor crying. He said to just go in, and handed me a bottle of water. That was the last time I saw him. I never got his name but as he turned around, I thought I saw an F on the back of his shirt. Everything else was covered with dust from the blast. I sat on the floor for a few minutes and cried. Someone gave me tissues and water to wash my eyes because I could not see. All of a sudden, the police walked inside the building and said that the other tower was going to collapse as well, and that we needed to evacuate the building. Needless to say, I refused to get up and leave the building. But at the end, I was forced to get up from the floor and walk outside, that's when the other tower started to collapse.

At this point, all I remember is running and crying. With the help of another man, I was able to keep running. I remember him running next to me, telling me don't look back, just run.

Finally, I can say that we walked together from the World Trade Center all the way to 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. I remember walking and crying all the way. I also remember walking by other hospitals in our way and I could not stop crying at the sight of victims, police, blood, wheelchairs, nurses and doctors waiting for the victims in front of the hospitals. The sight really broke my heart. I think I was in a daze because all I could see in my mind were the people falling from the windows of the WTC. I also remember when this other man asked me what my name was, and I could not respond to him. He just looked at me and said it was OK. At that moment, I can truly say that I remembered my name - in my mind only - but I just could not say it, words would not come out of my mouth. It was a weird feeling.

Now, after six months I am still thinking about that man, the first one, who covered my body with his body during the World Trade Center attack. Who was he? I pray for him everyday. Sometimes I cry because I do not know if he is alive or not. I hope in my heart he is, I owe him my life.