I was at home (just outside DC). I was working as a nanny at the time, and didn't have to pick up the little boy I looked after from his school until later in the day. I woke up at about nine, walked into the living room and turned on the telly to The Today Show. I stood for about five minutes, not quite processing what I was seeing. For some reason, my first instinct was to phone my parents in England. My ex-husband was a police officer, he had court that day so I knew there was no way of contacting him. Watching the towers burn and fall was awful, but when the Pentagon correspondent announced on air that the Pentagon had also been hit, I started to get the shakes.
I pulled myself together, and got into my car to pick up the little guy. Jets were flying overhead, whenever I pulled up to a stoplight, I'd glance over at the people in the car next to me. They were all in various stages of distress, mostly crying (like me). I picked up little guy and he was totally freaking out (he's autistic). I was trying to calm him down, telling him that everything was happening far away, he was safe, I wouldn't let anything bad happen to him, etc. He ran inside the house, hid under the bed screaming over and over "They're coming to get me!!". Awful.
I watched all the coverage for days, started to have awful nightmares so just turned off the telly. We found out later that two children from little guy's school were on the plane that hit the Pentagon

" Fire! Fire!, Diniz in the oven" - Murray Walker on seeing Pedro Diniz's Sauber on fire