Imagine the densest, thickest nighttime fog possible. Replace the water droplets with extremely fine dust particles. You can only see about 20 feet in any direction. You cannot see the sun you could just ten minutes earlier. The dust is so fine that even with a shirt pulled over your mouth, you can still taste it. The air smells acrid and charred. Your eyes instantly begin to sting and burn but there is no way to keep the dust out of them.

This was the surreal reality in which I and thousands of others found ourselves. My co-worker held my hand tightly and we helped each other across Water Street in the direction of South Street Seaport. We had our bearings enough to know that if we could get to the Seaport, turn left and walk north under FDR Drive, we would hopefully, eventually, meet daylight.

At the seaport, a stunned woman approached us and said she had no idea where she was. I invited her to join us.

She had a slight Jamaican accent and stood very tall. She had just begun her first day as a temporary employee in my building and said she knew only two or three people downtown. I remember my first weeks downtown. Because it is the oldest part of the city, the roads intersect at irregular and often unexpected angles. It took me weeks to find my bearings and, even now, I have to imagine a grid in my head to find my way. I cannot imagine how disoriented she must have felt.

The three of us made our way to the Seaport, and then north along the East River under the FDR. After about 25 minutes of fast-paced walking (running was impossible because of the number of people around us), we finally reached the Brooklyn Bridge—and blessed daylight. By the time we reached the Bridge, we had heard so many rumors from others walking, that I genuinely believed the entire East Coast of the United States had been attacked. According to those around me (and the occasional snippet from the radio), not only had the World Trade Center and the Pentagon been attacked, so had Camp David in Maryland, Pittsburgh and somewhere in Florida. Additionally, we heard that a car bomb had exploded outside the State Department in Washington. Obviously, we had no access to real-time information and the entire area was filled with a sense of panic and hysteria.