I was at work getting ready to head out for my daily service calls. Someone had heard on the radio that a plan had crashed into one of the Twin towers so we gathered in the conference room and turned on a small TV. We watched as the reporters talked about the tragedy that had just happened and the loss of life. We were talking in jest about how blind could the pilot be not to see both them big ass buildings. But not long after that as we stood there watching the fire and smoke we saw the second air liner slam into the seconded tower. We saw it in full color and in detail and we were in shock. I and another workmate knew right away this was bad and not an accident and express that much. But some others we dazed and in shock and didn’t know what to think. We started talking about this being an attack and the dazed folks just shook their heads in disbelief and we tried to talk them into seeing what they were seeing. Then a third plane was reported to have hit the pentagon and everybody was now on the same page. We are under attack and the weapons are planes.
I remember speeding down the road looking toward the skies trying to get home. We sat in front of the TV just watching the twin towers burn. We were Listing to reporters tell us that it was confirmed that we were under attack. The President grounded all Air line traffic and put a standing order to shoot down any plane that did not comply. My eyes were glued to the TV but my ears listened for any sounds that sounded like an airplane engine. We lived near a military airport so when we heard something we ran out to look. At one point we saw about 20 fighter jets screaming through the sky. Yet another sight that’s seems so unreal that it instilled a since of fear.
Watching the TV huddled in our home we listened to the reporters tell of the hundreds of people stuck in the towers and how the brave firefighters gave everything they had to help them. The sounds of sirens, people screaming and this thunking noise a noise I could not figure out. Until a reporter that was talking stopped and was crying because with each thunk she knew it was a body of a person that decided that jumping from the burning building was better the burning alive. Thunk and thunk and each one pounded in my chest and raised my anger lever more and more. I wanted to walk away but found I could not pull away from what I was seeing.
It seemed at one point that things were starting to come to order, plans were in affect people had direction and evacuation were starting to take some shape then without warning the towers started to crumble. Floor after floor collapsed on top of each other destroying anything between them. People started to run, the streets filled with people running away from the loud crashing noise that is, was the Twin towers.
It was not enough for the terrorist to take the Twin towers and the people in it. but the affect of the towers coming created a cloud of death and destruction as it chased people down the streets of New York, around corners, down streets and filled it with debris from the buildings trying to take as many people with them as it could.
Then there was silence for a brief moment the TV was quite the room was quite shock was on our faces. Then slowly you cold hear strange beeping noises. The beeping noises started to fill the air and people started to move again it was like watching a ghost town come to life. People struggling to understand what just happened, were they ok, they could not see from the thick cloud of dust. Cries for help in the darken city streets started to surface and then panic ensued again.
The day ended but I felt like nothing I have ever felt before. I could not sleep well that night as my ears listened for anything strange. My eyes searched for danger and my soul ached for everybody that died that day.
Please leave a comment on where you were that day and how it impacted you.