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The night before, we stayed up till five in the morning putting up posters and flyers near voting stations for a Democratic Primary candidate we supported.

I left for work early and was in the office at eight that morning, normally I don’t get in till ten or ten thirty (NYC Silicon Alley time). Being the only person in the office, I had my headphones on and heard a streaking boom sound when the first plane hit. Still oblivious to everything else because of the headphones, I did not realize what was happening outside until a co-worker in his forties came in crying. “I can’t believe they did this. People are jumping out of buildings.”

I was a bit confused until I looked out the window to see all traffic had stopped; and people had emptied out of buses at the entrance of the Battery Park Tunnel. Many stood there looking towards the Twin Towers. I quickly opened the window and leaned out to look over my right to see the two buildings burning. Then I realize the magnitude of what he was saying and what was happening five blocks away. I tried calling my family to let them know I was alright, but none of the phones were working. I picked up some of my things and out the door in five minutes. It was best not to stay close to the action.

Made my way to Water Street until a crowd started running followed by a big wave of dust (the first building had collapsed). People made their way towards the water to South Street. Everyone just stood there because it was hard to breathe the air, and there was zero visibility with the dust hovering around you. We all looked very tired and weary; it was about ten in the morning. After five to minutes, the dust settled a bit and the crowd started to move again.

While walking with a herd of people, I kept asking myself why did anyone want to attack us. On Catherine Street and Madison Street, a teenage girl started to scream causing a chain reaction. Couples around her stood motionless and held each other tight. I turned around to witness the second tower collapse filling the sky with dust and smoke.

I broke down and cried when I got to my grandparents’ place. Men do cry.

Search engines Ask.com and Dogpile.com commemorates 911 on their homepages.