Some chose to fall face down, looking one last time at the blue sky, perhaps trying to carry a final moment of peace with them while waiting for it all to end.
Others acted on instinct and turned around to see where they were falling. In some videos, faint screams can be heard before the impact. Some twisted and spun helplessly through the air, unable to stop their momentum, while others struggled violently, kicking in desperation.
Some landed on the roofs of nearby buildings, on cars, or among firefighters below. Others fell so close to the towers that their bodies struck the sides of the buildings at tremendous speed.
Some jumped directly from the impact zone, others from the upper floors where the smoke had become so toxic and suffocating that even a single breath could cause vomiting.
All of them knew they were going to die. But they were not choosing death.
Jumping from burning office towers for a few seconds of breathable air was not a desire to die — it was the desperate instinct to live.
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