I was a sophomore in high school at the time. I didn't have a first period at my school, so I was sitting at home, on the computer, in a chat room for a specific flight sim game. A few people on there were talking about a plane crash, when the local news on the TV broke early to Good Morning America. The first images of the building were very tight focus. I couldn't tell from the scale, figured it was a small plane. Then they switched over to a helicopter over midtown and I could see how massive the impact site was. Was thinking "What is happening here?" When another plane came in from the right and passed behind the towers, but never came out the other. Just the massive fireball emerged.

My dad was in the next room getting ready for work. We simultaneously yelled out HOLY SHIT together. Spoke with others in the chat room for another half hour or so. A lot of them were from the NYC area.

Went to school, got inside and heard on the radio in the counselor's office that the Pentagon had been hit. That is when the reality set in for me, and I knew we were being attacked. Went to a couple classes, hopped on the bus and went to the other school for JROTC. The driver told us one of the towers collapsed. Got to JROTC, watched the second tower collapse. Went back to my school on the bus, and about 15 minutes into the next period I just got up and left. Had my dad pick me up, the family spent the rest of the day watching everything unfold.

That afternoon, went outside. It was surreal. Not a single cloud or contrail to be seen. Later that night, heard a small plane fly overhead. Found out the next day it was a Red Cross flight loaded up with blood that was heading out to NYC to help the wounded. But there wasn't any.

I was heavily into a forum for the same game as the chat room I had been in that day. The thing I remember most is that probably a third of the members there never posted again after 9/10.