Prologue: 90 Bedford St and the surrounding area.

Chandler's point of view

It was a clear, beautiful September morning. The sky was flawless, cloudless and a bright cerulean. The temperature outside indicated that Autumn was on its way, but hadn't quite permeated fully yet.

The autumn sun beamed splendidly over the tops of the trees. Traffic began to get very busy at about a quarter to eight as people headed to the World Trade Center to begin their day.

My new office was on the 31st floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. I decided that since I was having a donut for breakfast, I should walk to my office.

I had started the job as a Health Insurance Sales Representative only 3 weeks earlier. I was satisfied with the work. It was new, it was interesting, it was fulfilling. It made me realise how difficult the US Healthcare system is to navigate, especially for people coming to this country from elsewhere. The healthcare is a bit of a shock to the system.

I sat down at my desk with a mug of coffee and a donut that I had bought from Central Perk on my way down. I sipped the coffee — it was extremely hot – it hadn't cooled at all on the 23 block commute from the apartment building to my office. Furthermore, I poured it into a mug and put a spoon into it to draw the heat out.

At exactly 8:46am, I heard what sounded like a deafening sonic boom – the sound permeated the entire building and the entire island of Manhattan itself shook violently and uncontrollably… and somehow it seemed to penetrate every fibre of my being.

The fire alarm began to shriek, I hadn't even put my computer on yet, the lights flickered, there was a putrid smell of death and burning… I took a sip of my slightly cooler coffee and poured it back into my travel mug, before finishing the last bite of my donut and depositing the wrappings into the trash can beside my desk.

Some ceiling tiles fell inwards. Some windows broke as though rocks or bricks had been hurled at them. I walked to the nearest window — on the south side of the building.

It was then that I noticed that the North Tower had a gigantic hole in it, like a hammerhead shark had headbutted it. Smoke and flames were pouring out of the hole, bits of paper, and debris were flying around like candy wrappers caught in an updraught. I went to see what was going on.

One of my colleagues was outside the office.

"I'm going downstairs to see what's going on" I said

"I'll come with you, Mr Bing"

"OK… what's your name?"
"Mindy Simmons."

"All right, come with me."

We made it to the lobby of the south tower in less than 15 minutes. Outside there was a scene of absolute chaos. It looked like a scene from one of those Marvel movies. In fact, it reminded me of the battle scene in Avengers: Assemble, but more telluric and chaotic. My phone rang, it was Monica

"Chandler, where are you?"
"I'm in the lobby of the office…"

There was a roaring and that same sonic boom sound from earlier came back.

"GET OUT OF THERE!" Monica shrieked.

"What's happened?"
"A plane hit the North Tower about 15 minutes ago, and about 3 minutes ago, another plane hit the South Tower. We are under attack, get out of there, get out of there, get out of there! I'm serious Chandler get out of there now!" Monica screamed.

I went to run out of the building, but a large, burly police officer grabbed me and pulled me back.

"Buddy, you can't go this way" he said in a thick New Jersey drawl, "You have to go out the other side. The hole in this building is much bigger than the one in this one… people trapped on the upper floors are jumping out, and there's debris from the plane… the fuselage… it's falling out of the windows too. If you go this way, you'll get hurt or worse."
"Thank you sir…" I said politely "Good luck" I added somewhat lamely.

"Thanks buddy."

His name badge read Police Captain Gary Stevens.

His sandy blond hair and dark green eyes looked oddly familiar. My eyes followed him…

He turned back to me for a moment.

"Chandler?"
"Yeah that's me… Gary?"
"Yeah. How's Phoebe?"
"Oh she's good, she's married, she's got a couple of kids and she's happy. She recently qualified as a homeschool teacher. Her specialism is in autism and neurodiversity."

"Wow, that's quite a career change"

"Yeah it is… thanks for saving me"
"My pleasure, I have to go."

"OK… be safe"

I stuck around, helping firefighters and police by encouraging them and guiding people to safety.

"Buddy, you have to get out of here" said a voice, "These towers ain't going to last much longer, this one especially."

I looked up and the top of the South Tower was beginning to erupt into a mushroom cloud and realised the cop was right

"Thanks, be careful in there"
"I'm not going in, I'm about to call MAYDAY, but it might be too late, now do me a favour and get out of here"

I ran as hard as I could, away from the fracas. A mushroom cloud of debris, ash, asbestos, and soot that I soon realised was the South Tower coming down followed me. Someone grabbed me and hauled me into the foyer of a small market. The rumbling of the first tower falling was like the roar of a very, Furious Hulk. As the thick cloud of ash that had descended dissipated, I looked around the building that I was in. sitting across from me was.

"Joey?"
"Chandler?"
"Where were you?"
"Shopping, Phoebe wanted me to come here and get some basic supplies, where were you?"
" At Work, my office was on the 31st floor of the South Tower. I heard the BOOM from the first plane hitting and went outside, I witnessed the second plane hitting. I saw Gary, you know, Phoebe's old boyfriend?"
"Yeah… he hurt her pretty badly."
"Oh…"
"It wasn't just the shooting a bird thing it was other things too, but it's not my story to tell"

"We're not far from home, if we run we might be able to get to our building before the second tower comes down and we both know it's going to"
"OK"

Monica's point of view

I was frantic, cleaning, organising supplies to take down to the site — masks, gloves, buckets, food, clean clothes, anything I could think of that would be needed. I worked on this project to keep me from worrying about Chandler. Mr Treeger, Phoebe, Rachel and I took the boxes downstairs. I had gone downstairs to the van I bought when Phoebe and I were going to go into business together. We were about to go back for our third trip, and I looked up and there standing before me was Chandler and behind him was Joey.

They looked as if they'd aged 15 years in 2 hours because of the dust in their hair, but they were alive, for me, that was the most important thing.

"Have you seen Ross?"
"No"

"OK so…"

"Go immediately upstairs, have a shower, wash your hair thoroughly and dress in clean clothes, the ones you are wearing will need to go to the incinerator – the Twin Towers were built in the 1960s and 70s. No one knew what asbestos was or how dangerous it is." said Mr Treeger "Leave these clothes in a garbage bag by the door, and I'll take them to the incinerator."

Ross's point of view

I was getting ready for my first lecture when the head of my department came in.

"Sir, you look… troubled" I squeaked
"Ross, I'm afraid something terrible has happened… Classes are cancelled for the day"
"Why?"
"The World Trade Center has been hit by two hijacked planes. I have cancelled all classes and sent the students home. I thought you knew, but when you didn't come upstairs I realised that there was a distinct possibility that you didn't, so I figured I should come down and see you."

"Thank you"

"The bridges and tunnels back to Manhattan are about to close"
"OK well, I'll be going now sir, if that's OK and thank you for the heads-up."
"My pleasure. Ross be careful out there."
"Oh I will sir"

I gathered my belongings, went to the bicycle shed and got my bicycle, I put on my helmet, fastened the strap and sped off.

As I cycled towards the Brooklyn Bridge, I looked across at the Manhattan skyline. There were two gaping maw-like holes in the towers. One was hit between the 94th and 98th floors, and the other between the 77th and 85th. The hole in tower 2 was lower, the angle of it a lot steeper, and it was more obvious what had happened to the tower. The hole was plane-shaped.

Fire and smoke were billowing out of both holes. The South Tower looked worse than the North Tower. There was more smoke billowing at the top of the South Tower, and it was rising faster and thicker, which meant immediate danger. I zoomed across the bridge on my bike, avoiding the shocked zombie-like humans around me by using my bike bell. They scattered like sheep, diving for cover as I sped past. I made it to the other end of the bridge and was stopped by a police officer. I was ready, though…

"Sir, my name is Ross Geller, my address is 86 Bedford boulevard. I have my driving licence and proof of address with me. I also have my head of department on speed dial"
"You may pass, be careful, the South Tower looks like it's going to come down any second. I wish everyone were as prepared as you are."

"Thank you sir, good luck and be safe"
"Thank you"

I zoomed off, terrified office workers were standing looking around bewilderedly.

"Folks, this area isn't very safe, come on now, let's get out of here"

I said sternly.

I used my bike to shepherd the folks in front of me to safety. Other civilians were handing out water that they had procured from a nearby branch of Starbucks and rags that they had cut from t-shirts. Just as I rounded the corner onto my street,

there was a sudden ominous rumbling.

The South tower came down in a mammoth mushroom cloud of ash, dust, debris and deadly chemicals… followed 46 minutes later by the North tower…

"Hey Ross, Mr Treeger said you need to take a shower and leave the clothes you're wearing outside your door for him to take to the incinerator"

"I was going to do that anyway Joey"

I went upstairs, had a shower and put the clothes I had been wearing into a garbage bag and left them outside Joey's apartment.

The 6 of us gathered in Monica and Chandler's apartment. At first, we were glued to the television, then Phoebe turned it off.

"I can't watch any more knowing that people are struggling, and we're sitting here not helping. What can we do?"
"We're taking supplies to the community kitchen down near the Trade Center. We've got food for the workers, bottled water, clothes, I raided our wardrobes. I know you guys had clothes that don't fit any more. Mr Treeger and Phoebe are going to Washington Square Park to raise money, Joey, I want you and Chandler to call all the theatre directors in town and organise a benefit. Rachel and I are going to go to all the high-end stores and lobby them to give blood and donate money and time to the rescue effort. Joey, I think you should call your cousin Tony and ask him to pitch in"

"Sure Mon, I will do that no problem"

"Mon, maybe we could cut some old t-shirts into rags?"
"Why?"
"For people to cover up their mouths with so that they don't breathe in the mess… When I was coming home, there were people handing out rags…"

"OK"
"The Twin towers were built in the 1960s and 70s… no one knew what Asbestos was then or how dangerous it was…"
"That's an excellent point, Ross — Mr Treeger said the same thing. It's an excellent idea… I have a better solution though… face masks."

Rachel, Phoebe and Monica worked for the next four hours making masks for people to use to protect their lungs from the toxic fumes.

"OK we're done… 1000 masks made."

"Excellent, let's box these up and get them loaded."

We went downstairs and loaded the van.

Chandler's point of view

Monica and I drove down to the Community Kitchen 3 blocks from the trade centre site. We buzzed at the back entrance.

"Hi, how may we be of assistance"
"Hi, my name is Chandler Bing, and this is my wife Monica, we have some donations for you"
"OK"

"We have food and water in this box — for the people working at the site, we have masks to protect their lungs from the chemicals… And we have clothes for people who need them"
"This is wonderful, thank you"
"We would also be willing to donate our time…"

"That would be fantastic. You know what we need most, though? Blood donations, there are people trapped down there in the pile, and they're still alive, but we're going to need a lot of blood donations."
"OK, we can do that too"

We stepped inside the community kitchen, there were firefighters and cops already there, looking bewildered, but their eyes held anger. Anger that we had been attacked, anger that they hadn't been ready for the attack and anger that the government had been taken by surprise, they have masses of intelligence, how could they not know something was coming?

Monica's point of view

We helped out at the community kitchen for 2 hours and then I said

"Chandler, I want to get as many people to donate blood as we possibly can."
We left the kitchen and headed back to the apartment building.

Chandler made some flyers on his computer,

"I'm going to go down to Central Perk"
"OK"
"Ask Gunther if we can have the meeting there"
"Good idea"

"Hey Gunther, can we have a meeting in here?"
"About what?"
"People going down to the clinic near the trade centre site and donating blood. We were down at the community kitchen earlier and the volunteers said that there are people trapped — firefighters, police, and civilians, and they're probably going to need blood transfusions but the city may not have enough blood".

"Of course, Monica, I'll arrange the seating accordingly."

"I'll be down to help you as soon as I give the others their instructions"

When I got back, I said,

"Gunther gave us permission to use Central Perk for the meeting Chandler, Ross and Joey, go to Ross's building and distribute these, Phoebe and Rachel, you go to every door on every floor of our building, I'm going to go down and help Gunther with rearranging the furniture."

"OK"

"Mon, some people might not be able to donate blood — for medical reasons"
"That's a good point, Phoebe in that case, we ask them to donate money — as much as they can afford — or time. The community kitchen needs help. I'm going down there again tomorrow"
"What about your job?"
"I am going to call my boss and tell him that I am doing something far more important than being a chef. I'm helping people who require it, and I will be doing so for at least a week. I will shame him into doing the same".

When we got back from our mission — delivering the flyers — I called my boss

"I'm not coming in at all this week. The City requires people to volunteer to feed the firefighters and cops working down at the Trade Centre site, and I've said I'll be doing that I don't want to be the only one doing it. I've organised a meeting, it's at Central Perk at 7pm"
"I think that's a great idea Monica, I'm proud of you for helping the city. I'm going to help out too…"
"Good, come to the meeting."

"I will close the restaurant till Friday"
"Thank you"

"If you need an industrial kitchen, we can use the one at the restaurant."
"OK"

We went to the meeting.

"Hi… as you know by now, something horrible happened in our city today. You heard what Mayor Giuliani said, we have to work together to help people in need… our city needs us… I'm not doing this for accolades, I'm doing it because I can do it and because I feel the need to do it. If you can donate blood, please sign up on this list and then go down to the clinic near the site. If you can't donate blood, but you can donate money, there's a collection bucket by the entrance to Central Perk, my friend Phoebe will take your details and the donation. If you can't donate blood or money but can donate time, please sign up over here. Thank you for helping, and thank you for coming out."

The next several days were extremely busy. We made more masks, My boss and I made more food to take to the volunteers, we all donated blood and when a news crew got wind of what we were doing, I gave an interview and so did Phoebe.

"Why did you decide to help out?"
"Well, New York is OUR city and yes, we're rattled, yes this is a punch to the gut, but we're not afraid. New Yorkers are STRONG and New Yorkers are BRAVE, but we're also caring, and We're going to go on, and we will make sure that we do what we need to do so that the survivors affected by this catastrophe get the help they need without all the governmental red tape and bureaucratic nonsense that usually goes on."

"Phoebe, what do you want to say to the city?"
"I want to say something to the celebrities of this city. The non-famous citizens of New York are stepping up and pitching in, and you should be too. I'm ordering all of you to get up off the parliamentary side of your backside and do something to show that you care. Do something to show the faceless cowards who did this that they haven't won and that freedom will be protected. I also want to tell everyone who has volunteered down at the pile that they are heroes and to say thank you for putting their safety at risk to rescue others. I'm proud of you, and I am VERY proud to be a New Yorker."

The blood drive went very well. People who donated blood also donated some money, which we gave to the clinic.

The next big event that we organised was a benefit concert at Yankee Stadium. Joey, Chandler and I had lobbied Broadway, we contacted as many musicians as we could think of, we organised sponsors and made sure that all the money raised was going to the families affected by the tragedy.

"Hey Monica, you're never going to believe this… my cousin Tony is the President… he's coming to the concert… Do you think it would be OK if we had him make a speech?"
"Of course it would, Joey!"