Shudder

I've been reading in the news the story about a 17-year-old girl who was abducted and killed by a transient. You hear these sad stories every day. What made this one more noticeable was that it took place three blocks from my office. We are located on an incredibly busy street that's jam packed with pedestrians and cars and construction workers. How this happened just before rush hour and no on saw anything odd has got me thinking.

I read a news report this morning and the girl was actually standing next to someone at the Bank of America ATM, where her abducter ordered her to withdraw cash, yet she didn't try to break away or signal that something was wrong. Conversely, no one noticed the odd coupling or thought anything was amiss.

The girl also called her parents from the ATM to ask them if she could withdraw cash with a credit card. They explained that she couldn't. A few hours later her body was found in her Volvo.

I realized I have walked past that ATM numerous times but never noticed it in a significant way. This incident hasn't caused me to be fearful, only made me aware that something dreadful could be happening to the person next to you and through a confluence of factors - distraction, indifference or fate - you will never know.