While the reporter was talking, we made our way down Allen St. There, I saw a huge gray cloud rise from the far side of one of the towers. At first, I thought it was an explosion from within the building. I could not really see the second airliner hit the second tower, even though I did see the airplane for a brief second before the collision. I screamed. The taxi driver began yelling at the top of his lungs, “What is that? What was that!?” The driver took me to the southern end of Allen St., near FDR Drive. I got out and started walking toward my Pine Street office.

On my way to Pine Street, I passed countless people standing on the sidewalks with their disbelieving eyes turned upward toward the Twin Towers. I proceeded down Water Street to Pearl Street, which borders my building on the northern side—the side closest to the World Trade Center.

During the walk I looked up whenever I had a view of the towers, my mind struggling to comprehend what I was seeing. I saw pieces of paper floating from the holes in the towers. They looked like confetti emerging from a giant, flaming black hole.

I am a risk analyst at American International Group, a Fortune 20 insurance company. Three of my primary clients had offices in the World Trade Center: AON Risk Services, Marsh and McClennan and Frenkel & Co. These are people I have worked with daily for the last 15 months. I regularly attended meetings at the World Trade Center.

Upon arrival in my office, I saw three AON employees who had fled from the 98th floor of their tower immediately after the first collision.