'What was it like?'

I was 12 years old, sitting in school three blocks away from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, when the planes hit the twin towers and changed the way I understood the world around me forever. I will never forget what I witnessed that day: people covered in debris, surrounded by piercing, blood-curdling screams and cries. I will never forget the terrifying hour we spent trying to get home, a route that was normally a ten-minute walk from school, only to find that our neighborhood — also a few blocks from ground zero — looked like a war zone.

The next years of my life were spent coming of age with undiagnosed symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that turned my teenage life into a nightmare. Part of my recovery was learning to see the good with the bad, because the truth is the world is pretty horrific at times, but it can be pretty awesome, too.

Last year, I wrote a book about my experience, and as a result, have received emails from children across the country asking me about 9/11 and PTSD. Here’s a sampling of their questions, along with my responses.

Read more at Today.com