She was ordered to evacuate her building

“’Get your shit and go,’ a faraway voice yelled out.”

Not Sure What To Do

“Once I stepped onto the street, I was engulfed by the stampede of people running, screaming, panic-stricken.  I was sucked into pools of people.  I was frightened and running, but I didn’t know why.  After a while, I came to a stop, pulled out my cell hone, and tried calling my husband.  My cell phone was dead.  I tried calling him again and again and again and again and again.  Nothing! Angry at the phone, I thought, ‘What’s the use of having a cell phone if you can’t use it during an emergency?  I continued walking along with the flow of the crowd.  I don’t know why – I had no idea where I was going or why.  I just walked and walked and walked and walked.”

Something Out of TV

“This was like a chase scene in the TV show NYPD Blue, only the police cars were rushing to the World Trade Center.  Then following right behind the police cars were the fire engines.  I think I counted four fire engines storming down the street behind one another, honking their horns wildly, rapidly, and loudly – HAUWNK! HAUWNK!  HAUWNK! – so people could get out of the way and not get hit.  It was pure chaos.  The continual pounding, pounding, pounding of the sirens was too much.  People were screaming in the streets and running for their lives.  It was an unbelievable nightmare.  I had to put my hands on my ears to drown out the swirling, BREEPING, wailing sirens because they scared me.  I felt like a lost soul, engulfed by the panic and confusion that had erupted in the streets.”

Feeling Lost

“I was lost and cut off from my family.  They didn’t know if I was alive or dead.  I felt alone and abandoned.”

Panic

“For the first time since I’d left the office building, I became consciously aware that I didn’t know why I was in the streets, or where I was going to go next.  I panicked, in fear for my life.  What was going to happen to me?  My chest tightened and I started to cry.  Tears began to trickle down my cheeks.  I didn’t know what to do.  Looking up and down the street at the flow of people passing in front of me like a river, I thought, what are they going to do?

Strangers Help One Another

“I don’t remember who spoke first and broke the silence between us, but we asked one another if we knew where we were going.  We both shook our heads and shrugged our shoulders and said, “I don’t know where to go from here.”  I introduced myself, saying, ‘My name is Carmen.’  ‘My name’s Shelly and since we don’t know what to do, let’s walk together.’  ‘Do you know where to go?’ ‘No.  No, I don’t.  When my office was evacuating, some friends and I agreed to meet at a certain spot outside the building.  They weren’t there!  I don’t know where they are.  One of them is pregnant. I worked a few blocks from here and walked up here because I couldn’t find my friends and didn’t know where else to go.’”

After The Towers Fell

“The cries and screams sounded nearer or I was perhaps just realizing we had to get out of there.  The ashen clouds were right at our heels.  Shelly and I looked at each other, knowing we’d better leave this spot immediately!  Hurriedly, we tried walking in the opposite direction.  We were now gasping for air, choking and coughing the noxious gas out of our lungs.  I could feel the debris landing on my head.  No one could escape the last cloud.  It was pandemonium in the streets one more time.  It looked like a war zone.”

Phoning Her Husband After The Disaster

“When I heard his voice, I wanted to reach into the telephone and grab him and hold onto him for life!  My eyes were already swelling with tears.  Unable to speak, I said in a very quiet, soft whisper, ‘Hi.’  He sounded excited, surprised, and startled when he heard my voice and said, ‘Baby, it’s you!  Where are you? Are you okay?’  The dam couldn’t hold back the tears any longer.  I started crying.  No words can describe how isolated and lonely I felt at that moment.  I lifted my head to look around and saw the unfamiliar room I was sitting in.  I looked out past the glass window and saw strangers.  I was tired and witnessed the greatest disaster our country had ever sustained.”

Feeling Hopeless

“The hopelessness I was feeling was more than I could endure any longer.  I was defeated.  I cried and cried and cried from the depth of my soul.  All I could think was:  I am never going to leave Manhattan.  I want to go home.  Suddenly, as if I hadn’t suffered enough, I couldn’t remember what my home looked like, I tried so hard to picture it and I couldn’t.  I wondered if I would ever see it again.”

It’s A War Zone

“Once outside, I became distracted.  The fighter planes flying over Manhattan encouraged one to think we were all being threatened, making Manhattan feel more like a war zone than a tourist city.  Clusters of policemen were now standing on every corner in Midtown. Groups of firemen stood outside their stations, and the National Guard was patrolling the streets with rifles cocked.  It’s difficult for me to explain what I thought of this sight.  Several times I thought or felt like I was in one of the many foreign countries I’ve visited, where this form of security enforcement was shocking but common.  I was unable to picture this taking place in the United States, let along in New York City.”