As soon as she left her office to head to Mr. Underhill’s, there was a loud noise. She stopped at Wendy’s office first.
Wendy looked shocked. “Did you hear that? What the hell was it?” Wendy asked.
“I don’t know. It sounded like an explosion,” Damita responded.
Wendy’s face seemed to drain of color as she pointed out the window. “Oh my God! That was an explosion. Look at that hole. There’s a huge hole on the side of North Tower.”
Everyone at the firm began to gather and Wendy and Damita joined them near the break room. They were all discussing the fact that a plane had hit North Tower.
“What kind of a plane?” Wendy asked.
“It must have been a private plane. It can’t possibly be a commercial jet. Can they even fly that low?” an employee from the mailroom mentioned.
“Maybe it crashed,” someone else speculated.
“Do you see all that smoke?” Damita said.
As they all watched, helpless from South Tower, they could see that people inside North Tower, desperate to escape the fire and smoke, were jumping to their deaths.
Damita looked over at a woman from their Legal Department. She suddenly went deathly pale, right before she started screaming. “Did you see that, they’re jumping? They’re all dying!”
“What should we do?” someone asked.
“We should stay put,” Damita said.
“Where is Mr. Underhill?” someone else asked.
“I don’t think he’s in yet. It’s still early,” said another.
“He’s here. I saw him this morning when I arrived,” Damita said.
Suddenly, Damita’s cell phone rang. She was surprised. Everyone had been attempting to use their cell phones and they all had gotten the same message that all circuits were busy. When she answered, the connection was weak, but it was clearly her mother.
“Baby, are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine, Mom. I’m okay.”
“I heard a report that a plane hit the World Trade Center.”
“It did, but it’s not our building. I’m in the South Tower. The plane hit the North Tower.”
“Is it bad?” her mother asked.
“It’s pretty bad.”
“You need to get out of there, now.”
“Maybe you’re right.”
“Damita, please get out of there.”
“I will, Mom. I promise I will.”
“Damita, I love you.”
“I love you, too, Mom. Don’t worry. I’m going to be fine.”
Within minutes of Damita hanging up, there was an announcement over the PA system.
“May I have your attention, please? This is not a test. I repeat, this is not a test. There has been an incident in The North Tower. The incident has been isolated in Building 1. There is no fire danger to Building 2. Building 2 is secure. I repeat Building 2 is secure. Please return to your offices. We will continue to keep you updated with any further instructions.”
Wendy’s expression was one of utter terror. “Return to our offices? They have got to be fucking kidding me. We need to evacuate now,” Wendy said.
“Are you telling me we have to walk down seventy-seven flights of stairs? I’m sure the elevators aren’t working. They immediately disable them in an emergency situation. Isn’t this building secure?” one young woman asked.
“Maybe we should go up to the roof,” suggested another woman.
Suddenly, there was a violent jolt and Damita felt like she was in an elevator that was quickly plummeting. The building began to sway heavily and then almost as quickly, stopped. Above them the ceiling was gone and the windows were blown out.
Damita looked around to find everyone was covered in dust and particles and the air was full of debris and smoke, and a strong chemical odor filled the air. Just as everyone was approaching full panic mode, Mr. Underhill entered, covered in dirt and soot from head to foot. He was bleeding from a wound to his head and he appeared to be in shock. His stark paleness could be seen, even beneath the dirt that covered his face.
“Mr. Underhill, are you okay?” Damita asked.
“I got out just in time. One minute longer and I would be gone. They’re all dead,” he said.
“Who?”
“Everyone on the seventy-eighth floor is dead.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“Well, we won’t be going up,” someone said.
“What do you think happened? Were they wrong? Has the plane that flew into the North Tower caused damage to this building as well?” someone else asked.
“That sounded like we lost the top floors. Do you think the whole building will come down?” said another.
Everyone had questions. Ruled by fear, no one considered the fact that they all had the same information and therefore no one could be sure about what was indeed happening.