9/11 Stories
Lee
Staten Island, New York, arriving at my best friends house after dropping the kids after school. We were meeting for breakfast. As I turned the corner to her house I looked at the time, it was 8:46 am. I was a little early. I rang the door bell, there was no answer (I thought, she must still be in the shower). So I went to her neighbors house (next door) I said: Lisa, could you call Denise I am ringing the bell but she doesn’t here me. Lisa said, sure , if I could only get of this phone, it hasn’t stop ringing, everyone is calling me to as if my husband is ok, apparently a helicopter crashed into the WTC. After she called my friend I left.
Denise opened the door and her phone rang. It was another neighbor calling from her job in Manhattan. She wanted Denise to run to her house and stop her daughter from leaving the house. It appears that this womans daughter was going to the WTC for an interview. Then we turned on the TV and saw WTC 1 on fire and minutes later we watched in amazement the second tower get hit.
We sat there in disbelief, then we saw the south tower collapse. We heard about the plane at the Pentagon. I thought we were at war. We didn’t know what was happening. I ran to pick up my kids from school. They were in the church. The whole school was inside the church praying for the victims.. There were people crying and mothers panicking. I took my children and drove to The Alice Austin House (in the north shore of the Island). There were could see the smoke and the buildings no longer there.
I told my children to take a good look. I explained to them that this was a moment in US History that will never be forgotten.
Later that day I called my husband’s cousin to make sure everyone she knew was ok. She was crying, she said her brother was in Tower 1 on the 104th floor and that they had not heard from him. I ran over to be with her and all we could do was watch TV, pray and WAIT AND WAIT AND WAIT.
The following day (Wednesday) we found a list on the internet that listed her brother as alive and safe. Everyone was so happy and excited. His wife, who lives in New Jersey was so happy. This happiness did not last, as we soon found out that the list was not legitimate. It was a fake.
That thursday I went with my husbands cousin to look for her brother in the City. We met her brother’s wife and a friend in Manhattan. We walked for miles, went to every hospital, the morgue the Armory to register a missing persons report. It was awful.
There were hundreds of people walking around with pictures taped to there clothes that said: Missing, if found please call this number. There were also hundreds of people offering us water, food a tissue, help. I have never seen New York City so united.
Unfortunately, we looked in vain. We didn’t get home until 12:00 a.m. and as the train bringing us back to Brooklyn was crossing the bridge, it began to rain and you could see were the Twin Towers once stood with a light and smoke coming out of there. It was the last vision I have if the WTC.