I was at the office at 420 Lexington, 14th floor, between 43rd and 44th.
It was closing time, and I was trying to decide whether to put my still-damp (from that morning's deluge) Vans on, or just wear my heels to go meet friends for dinner. It had been raining off and on during the day, and so I wasn't surprised to hear a low rumble of thunder. The noise got louder and went on for much longer than thunder should go on. I heard people screaming in the street...I looked out of the window and saw people running north, away from the direction of the noise. Running and screaming. It looked like all the videos taken during 9/11. I thought it WAS 9/11 all over again...I really thought an airplane was about to crash into the building. I ran into the hallway, saw a woman from another office. I yelled, "EVERYONE IN THE STREET IS RUNNING AND SCREAMING! THERE'S A LOUD NOISE OUTSIDE! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" She started freaking out too.
I ran back inside and looked out the window again. I'm not sure what I was thinking. People were still running and screaming. Back in the hall, everyone from my office was getting ready to leave. We all clamoured into the elevator, like 15 people. I started to freak out when the elevator didn't start. "TAKE THE STAIRS!" I yelled.
We all ran down the stairs, 14 floors. I think I blacked out a little, because I don't remember the numbers until the 3rd floor. The sound of hundreds of people running down the stairs was nearly as thunderous as the noise from outside. I was running, and praying, probably audibly...Acts of Contrition, Hail Marys...my bare feet slapping against the stone stairs, John McClane style. At some point I started wondering what we'd find outside...burning bodies? napalm death? exploding fuselage? We finally popped out through an emergency exit, and made it into the Grand Central Market. The group started heading towards the front door of the market, and my instinct told me not to go that way. A man yelled,"GET AWAY FROM THE WINDOWS!" I ran back towards the main concourse. I heard people saying things about a tornado, that a bus had flown up into the air.
I ran with Craig and Bridget and Christine toward the Met Life building. We ended up walking northwest...towards the library, where we stopped and chatted with some cute guys in suits who were covered in mud, (Bridget and I are going to Missed Connections them, hopefully they're not too contaminated--nothing like disaster fucking!) and had evacuated their office at 375 Lex (I'd temped in that building last year.) From the library we had a clear view of the steam rising from the site of the explosion. At this point people were saying that a transformer had exploded; my friend Jared remarked today that his thought was "they're real!?!?" Hey, at this point, I was so confused that I don't think I would've blinked if Optimus Prime started stomping down the street.
With imminent danger seemingly behind us, Craig, Bridget and I set off to the south, to get to Bridget's apartment on 14th Street. (We were right near St. Patrick's Cathedral at this point, which was comforting to me...I swear, I think I refound Jesus yesterday. We stopped in a Payless and Bridget bought me some flip-flops. My money, IDs, housekeys, telephone...were ALL in our office. We walked to Union Square and got burgers and booze. I went to Bridget's, threw all my clothes into a plastic bag in case of contamination, put on some of Bridget's pajamas, and passed out.
This morning, we went to the office like normal...there is a weird smell in the air, and about a 4 block area is locked down. I recovered my belongings and peaced out. Craig is there now...thanks, Craig..I hope your day goes well. I guess I'm going to chill today and try to get my head together. I hope all of my NYC friends are doing ok today! It's not every day that you run for your life, right???
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