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87th Floor Survivor: "I Am the Luckiest of the Lucky"
By John Tarleton NEW YORK CITY--Marite Anez ran for her life on September 11. Starting from the 87th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, the 20-year old office assistant walked down endless flights of stairs to safety. She visited family in Virginia (only miles from where the Pentagon was attacked) this week and hopes to return to work soon. Anez, who moved to the U.S. from Bolivia when she was 10, is just beginning to come to terms with what happened to her on September 11. "I am the luckiest of the lucky," she said as she reflected back on her experience and looked forward to the rest of her life.
"I Can Remember Every Detail I Did That Day""I can remember every detail I did that day. The phones weren't ringing yet. My co-workers were starting to come in. I took my time doing everything. I went to the cafeteria on the 44th floor. We were really doing nothing yet. Wall Street wasn't opened. So everybody was getting ready or eating breakfast. And that's when it happened... "Everybody called someone they knew. I called my mom. I told her what was going on. I told her I would call her when I got out. We were trying to get out but there was so much smoke we couldn't breathe right. We got to the stairs and then we crossed some hallways. (There was) lots of smoke and everything was falling on us. And then we started going down to the 70-something floor. (Then) we couldn't go down anymore. So, we ran to another hallway where all the cables were out. There were people with fire extinguishers making it so people will pass and not get electrocuted. That's when we got to the other stairs and started going down all the way... "Good thing everybody was not panicking or nothing. Otherwise, everyone would have been stumbling over each other. Nobody knew how much danger we were in. Everybody was making jokes like, "oh my shoes are getting wet," because there were some floors that had a lot of water. We were making priority of the people that were injured. Like going on the sides so they could pass or when the firefighters were going upstairs... "When we got down to the lobby, they kept telling us, "don't look outside! don't look outside". Then I realized it was because all the bodies were outside of the people that jumped...
"Everybody Was Screaming But I couldn't Say a Word""We were down in the mall and thought we were safe and were celebrating. We were thirsty and we asked the firefighters to get us an orange juice from a little store that was nearby. We got an orange juice and were walking still in the mall when the second building collapsed. The impact of it threw us on one side and that's where I got all the bruises and cuts... "This is when everyone panicked. The lights went off and (we) didn't know where to go. Where we were going was blocked already. Thank God I had my co-worker there. Everybody was screaming but I couldn't say a word. He started yelling my name and he was right beside me somehow and I was holding his hand. Since I had no shoes, It was kind of difficult to walk around. A firefighter gave us light to show the way and since I couldn't go as fast as everybody he (the co-worker) was nice enough to wait for me. He saw that it was hard for me and lifted me up. (When) we reached the stairs of the mall, we started running to get out of there. I just wanted to go home. I didn't care if I had to walk the 80 something blocks...
"There Must Be A Reason We Got Out...""At the beginning I was feeling guilty about why I ws lucky enough to get out. But then, I think about it and I'm thankful for being here right now and seeing everybody I love... "Before, I was kind of materialist. Like everybody else I was like, 'I wanta get this. I want to have this'. Even though I want to do the same job, the money I earn I will want to spend it now in a different way helping everybody as much as I can. It's definately changed me in some way about not being too selfish. You don't buy your life. Even if you have money, you can't buy your next day. You can die of anything a second from now. You never know when it's going to be your time. That really made me change how I think. Most of the co-workers I talked think the same thing. There must be a reason we got out... "I see right now the whole United States are getting together. Right now, everybody is helping each other. It will be sad to see in a few months if people forget about it. You gotta go to your normal life but make it better this time...
A Blinding Flash"Most people say they (the hijackers) are crazy. but, they must be a little bit more than crazy. I can't explain it. Some people say that's their religion. But, there's no religion that will support this kind of thing. I hope this thing won't end up a lot worse than it is now. Everybody's saying there's going to be a war. I just hope it won't be like World War III now. Because, everybody will destory each other... "You can't take it out of your head. You always think about that day. You have all the images. You're doing something and you can relate it to that day somehow. Lately, I've been having nightmares. This nightmare I had was kind of in my country and kind of here. It was night and then all of sudden it was daylight. I asked somebody the time. And they're like, "11 at night". And I'm like, "11 at night? It's so clear." I saw the sun and then when I really looked at it, it was like a flash... This story originally appeared in the September 2001 New York Indypendent. LINKS:
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