Most of us watched the attacks that took place last week on TV. But 8-year-old Jackson McGonagle saw them in person. Jackson is in the third grade and lives in New York City. His school is just a few blocks from the World Trade Center. Here's what Jackson told TFK:
I was just about to go into school when I heard a noise. I thought it was a missile or something. I looked up and saw one of the towers of the World Trade Center was on fire.
My mom came to pick me up from school. That's when another plane crashed into the second tower. Now we got really scared. I thought, 'I want to go where my relatives have a house, far away in Pennsylvania.'
We live in a high building near the World Trade Center. We were worried it would be hit by a plane. So we went to my friend's house. She lives about two blocks from the towers. We all went into the basement to be safe.
One of the towers fell down outside. We opened the door of the basement to see what was going on, and a cloud of soot rushed toward us. We slammed the door, but dirt came in through the vents. We couldn't breathe. We got some cloths and soaked them with water so we could breathe better. But we had to get out of the basement. That's when the other tower fell down.
We got outside and we ran and ran and ran. Finally, we were safe. Soot was all over us. On our shirts, in our hair and on our shoes.
I was worried about my dad. We were trying to call him but couldn't get through. Then we saw him walking down the street. I was really excited to see him. He was on his way to give blood at the hospital.
My house is close to the World Trade Center. We couldn't go home until midnight that night. Our two dogs, Lucky and Roxy, were there. They were very happy to see us!