We saw a handful of people standing and looking in the direction of the one remaining tower. We briefly paused and stared with them but then decided to keep walking. Only seconds after we resumed our march of terror, we heard a loud “Boom! Boom! Boom!” Our first thought was that a large truck was passing overhead on the FDR. Only seconds later, though, we turned around to find only dark gray smoke where the north tower had once stood.
My co-worker cried a little and shook her head in stunned disbelief. I lowered my head, turned north and continued walking. I cannot remember ever feeling so small.
We walked for over an hour to reach my apartment in the East Village. We were covered in cement dust. I remember commenting to her that we may have been exposed to large amounts of asbestos. Her response captured the moment perfectly:
“That’s the least of our problems right now.”
It was hell on earth.
Gregory J. Davis ’94-’96 lives in New York.