Essay 4 by Lizzie

Tuesday, September 11, 2001
Sarah
6:00 AM
  The alarm woke me up from my nightmare. I didn't remember anything, but it wasn't pleasant. I found myself sweating. I took a shower and got dressed. It was another day of endless work. At least the weather was nice.
8:30 AM
  I sat on the bench inside Central Station. The subway had arrived, but for some reason I didn't want to get on it. I watched hundreds of people breezing in and out.
8:40 AM
  I was at my desk in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. I opened my laptop and checked for e-mails. I made a few replies, and just as I was debating on whether I should get some coffee or not, my phone beeped in my jacket. It was my boss. I was heading out of my office when I heard a tremendous explosion. I covered my ears and got down on the floor.
  'What just happened?' Almost everyone was down on the floor. Some of the windows were broken. I looked around, dazed, and saw someone pointing towards the window. I couldn't believe this. Thick, black smoke and a huge cloud of fire was coming out from the upper side of the North Tower, and it looked like something had crashed into it. I saw a wing sticking out... an airplane?
  It took a while for me to take this in. Shattered glass and heavy metal pieces were falling down, hitting the sidewalk I had been on less than twenty minutes ago. A lot of the employees on my floor were heading outside quickly. I was on the 72nd floor of the South Tower, and waiting for the elevator seemed too risky. I headed down the stairway with hundreds of other people, running for their lives.
9:03 AM
  What everyone had quietly feared just became reality. A second plane hit the South Tower. What had been the largest and most complicated incident in city history instantly doubled in magnitude. The whole building shook violently, throwing me off my feet. The floor crumbled as I struggled to stand without success. I was dizzy and disoriented. The explosion made my ears ring. Luckily, the crash was above me.  I scrambled down the rest of the stairs, and all I could think was that I needed to get out of this building, now.
  9:15 AM
  Black smoke clouded my vision. I took off my jacket and covered them over my nose and mouth. It was almost impossible to see now, and I had no idea where I was.  Fire fighters and rescue teams were here now, helping old people and the wounded. After what seemed like forever, I finally reached the lobby of the World Trade Center. I staggered outside with all my remaining strength. With my first breath of fresh air, I looked up at the sky and lost consciousness.

Peter
8:45 AM
  I am a journalist; I am always on the lookout for exclusive news. Today, it wasn't far. As soon I heard the distant explosion, I knew something was up. I took off instinctively, camera in hand. I didn't know what I was looking for, until I saw the Twin Towers. Black smoke and flames were coming out of one of the towers; I could easily see that a plane had crashed into it.
  My mind instantly traveled back to February, 1993. There had been a massive bomb terror in the same building, killing six and injuring more than a thousand people. However, this was different. This was terrorism aimed straight at America. Just twenty minutes ago I was at my office, drinking Starbucks and surfing the Internet. Probably a lot of people at the WTC were too. At the same time, terrorists were making their kamikaze flight towards the Twin Towers.
9:00 AM
  As I got towards the scene of the catastrophe, the place was in total chaos. People were running in every direction.  Even the cops were panicking. Someone shouted something unintelligible, pointing up. Just then, another plane crashed into the other tower.
  My ears thudded, and I was thrown several feet off the ground. Peopled yelled to get away. I managed to stumble into a small shop. All the windows were broken. Glass and pieces of metal started to fall down. They made a thunderous sound as the hit the pavement. After a few minutes when they settled down, people started to emerge from the doors of the Twin Towers. Police and rescue teams rushed to help them evacuate.  A woman fell unconscious, exhausted. I ran out, slung my arm over her shoulders and helped her to a safe place. She mumbled a short prayer of thanks and fainted.

Wednesday, September 12, 2001

  Yesterday was probably one of the most tragic events in U.S. history. Four planes had been hijacked that morning; two crashed into the North/South Towers of the World Trade Center, another crashed into the Pentagon, and the last one was headed towards White House or Camp David, but crashed into a field because of a passenger revolt. Altogether, the four planes carried 266 people, including the terrorists. There is no word on any survivors. The terror took the lives of 2,800~3,000 people from 90 different countries.

Sources - <The 9/11 Commision Report >