A man stands in the rubble, and calls out asking if anyone needs help, after the collapse of the first World Trade Center Tower in New York City on September 11, 2001.
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On Tuesday, after hearing the first crash in the neighboring tower, they met in front of the 78th-floor express elevators. But an announcement assured them they were safe, so they parted and went back upstairs. After the second explosion, this time in their building, the room collapsed on Oyola. He groped his way to a staircase, made it all the way outside, and started looking for his wife. Then he heard what sounded like a train barreling toward him. It was, in fact, the sound of 110 floors collapsing on top of one another. "I just started running. And after about half a block, I froze." Having lost his shoes in the wreckage, he bundled his feet in towels bound with duct tape and started to look for Adianes again. But the collapsing buildings pushed him farther and farther away.
Now Oyola's Brooklyn apartment serves as a mini-command center to coordinate the search. Friends have posted flyers and e-mailed photos, telling everyone to look for a 5-ft. 4-in. woman with brown eyes and long, recently dyed, dark red hair. He can't stop shuffling from hospital to hospital, can't stop staring at the TV screen. "I want to turn it off, but I can't. I'm hoping that I'll see something, that I'll see her." He owes her this, at the very least.
At the end of the day, after the report is finally filed, Oyola does stop. He stares far away. He says he can't feel lucky to be alive because his wife is gone. With that, his mother-in-law Rivera jumps out of her chair, tears running down her face, and kisses his cheek. She has driven 18 hours from Florida to find her daughter. "Don't lose your hope, for me, don't lose your hope," she whispers. On Friday, Rivera drops hair samples off at the Armory. Oyola cancels Adianes' bank card and spends the rest of the day wandering around Brooklyn, unable to be in their home without her. He does not return to the Armory. --By Amanda Ripley. Reported by Amanda Bower