It was the day our nation went through one of the most horrific attacks on our soil. I will not recount the whole backstory of what happened on that date, but I will tell you about how some of us survived that ordeal, on that date.

I was working at the time for AIG, an insurance company located in downtown Manhattan, at the time, only a few blocks away from the World Trade Center. On that fateful day, one of our co-workers ran through the doors of our mailroom department, we asked him what happened? And he replied that a plane had just hit one of the Trade Towers.

He and some of us went back outside to see what was going on. We witnessed papers and debris flying through the air, and one of the Trade Towers on fire burning up. We went back inside the mailroom department to tell everyone what we had just seen with our own eyes. We were all in shock and didn’t know what to do, so we stay put for a while inside.

Moments later, I cannot recall the exact time, the co-worker who had previously told us about the plane crashing into one of the Trade Towers, walked back inside, he looked white as a ghost, all cover in dust and soot. Mind you he was an African American person. Once again, we asked what happened? He replied that the Tower had fallen and he barely made it out with his life. He had walked all the way to the Trade Center, to see the commotion, when the First Tower that was hit, suddenly gave way and collapsed.

It was then that we all panicked and ran outside to find ourselves in a cloud of soot, smoke, and debris. You could not see your hand in front of your face. Don’t ask me how, but I managed to locate the bicycle that I had tied up outside and ran along with everyone else across the street. We managed to find our way to Water street and we ran across to this small Plaza that had this waterfall in it. We all line up against the waterfall, and splashed some water on our faces, just as soon as we splash the water on our faces, we hear what sounded like jet planes overhead, we panicked and we ran tours South Street Seaport street. There, we found this man in a truck handing out hand towels to everyone, so that we may cover our faces to be able to breathe. Some of us walked tours the FDR drive north entry, it was there that we witnessed the second Tower collapse.

To say that it was a day that I will never forget, would be an understatement. But I will never forget the plaza with the waterfall, that gave some of us some relief from the horrors of that day. To anyone who is interested in visiting this Plaza with a waterfall, you are welcome to go visit anytime.

Directions

• You can take the J train to Broad Street/Wall Street station and then walk down tours Water Street.

• The 4, 5 trains stop at Wall Street station, you walk from there tours Water Street.

• You can also take the 2,3,4,5 trains to Fulton Street, and then walk from there tours water Street.