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The Sky Lobby
The stairwell ends and I follow the other people through a door, into the 44th floor sky lobby. There is another door nearby leading to the continuation of the stairwell but people are moving into the lobby instead. I see a security guard; I’m sure he will tell us what to do. On the north wall, there are two large monitors showing different television broadcasts about the same news event – the plane crash in the North Tower. I can’t see the actual crash site now because there are no windows here, so I watch the news instead. People continue to stream in from the stairwell and they gather around the monitors. This area is getting too crowded now, so the guard tells us to move toward the middle of the lobby. The crowd complies. The 44th floor is the transfer point between the express elevators, which come directly up from the ground level, and the local elevators which service the floors up through 74. There is also an escalator going down to the 43rd floor cafeteria. The main part of the lobby is a wide corridor which spans almost the entire length of the building from north to south. As I move south, the express elevators are on my left and the local elevator banks are off to the right. People are coming into the lobby from multiple directions. As I approach the middle, it becomes so crowded that there is nowhere else to go; so I stop and wait for further instructions. Finally, there is an announcement. Using a megaphone, to be heard above the crowd, the guard informs us that the South Tower is “secure” and we can return to our offices. I can't believe they are sending us back already! Did we overreact? The noise level increases as most of the people in the crowd move enthusiastically toward their local elevators to go to their offices. There are some people, however, who hesitate. A few of them are having a discussion with the guard. Now, the guard lifts the megaphone again. He repeats the original announcement but he also gives us an option. We can go back to our offices or we can continue down and leave the building if we’re more comfortable with that. Alright, I have a choice. I am reluctant to get in an elevator in dangerous situations, so I will either take the stairs back up to 68 or I will walk down another 43 floors. “BOOM … boom”! The building shakes and people scream! I look toward the sound. A terrifying shock wave is rushing toward me! I try to move away from it but there’s no room! People are yelling “Don’t push! Don’t push!” Now, the noise level drops dramatically and the pushing stops. Whatever that was, has settled. It looked like a blast of some kind of dust, surging into the crowd with great force. It came from the southern end of the floor, possibly near the escalator to the cafeteria. Was there a gas explosion in the kitchen? With everyone pushed together more closely now, I can’t see much beyond the tall people who are directly behind me. I hope no one is injured back there. For the most part, the screams sounded like those of fear rather than pain. People are heading back to the stairwells now. Everyone on this floor seems to be in agreement – we’re getting out of here! Continue: Back to the Stairwell |