'My eyes darted between watching the TV coverage and the billowing smoke outside the window. Then I suddenly remembered that I wasn’t alone in the apartment.'
At 8:46 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, I was startled awake by a loud boom. It’s the first thing I remember from what would become the unforgettable and terrifying morning I spent with a total stranger just eight blocks away from the World Trade Center.
Also on the night of Sept. 10, I was introduced to a friend of one of Beth’s roommates. She was visiting from the D.C. area and, as I recall, was going to spend a few days apartment hunting in Manhattan. We chatted very briefly, and my hunch, as I remember back to our brief meeting, is that I forgot her name almost immediately .
As I glanced down at the street, I noticed how calmly everyone was going about their business. Unable to see the tower from their vantage point, they were mostly oblivious to what was happening. I stared up at the fire, then still unable to grasp that a small plane could never have made a hole and fire that large. After 10 minutes, I went to take a shower so I could get ready for work.
The next sequence of events lives in my memory like a rapid-fire montage. The words “second plane” reached me from the radio still playing in the background, but I didn’t immediately understand what was being said. I finally switched on the TV that was literally right next to me and watched the footage replay over and over.I heard the words “we’re under attack,” and a surge of panic overwhelmed me. People on the streets below were now running in all directions.
I have never blamed Beth for being in that apartment on 9/11 — I don’t even remember wanting to break up the previous night or planning to leave — but we all hold on to different parts of the past.
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