Buyer's remorse?

Today I came home and cried.

Is something wrong with the house? No.

My tears are out of fear.

Having worked in Statesville long before we moved here, I knew the city wasn't perfect. Like every other city in America, this one has violence. But never has it struck so close to home.

The brutal (and fatal) beating of Terry Turner on the corner of Front and Center streets was two blocks away from our office. A group of thugs attacked him around 11 p.m. last Thursday night.

My husband was at work ... two blocks away from a senseless murder.

For as long as I've worked at the R&L I've been told to have an escort when I leave the building, especially at night. As if a dimly-lit parking lot weren't scary enough, two blocks away on a street corner a man was attacked by a large group of thugs.

I read the follow-up stories hoping the investigation found some sort of motivation behind the attack. I'm hoping Turner somehow provoked the group. Anything that would exclude Brad from dangers like that.

I also read several archived stories on the murders of James and Delet Powell and Don and Sue Barker as part of an online special section. Their friends kept saying what wonderful, kind people they were.

I can't say that about myself, but I know for sure I can say it about Brad.

So as I drove home I thought about it all. How he walks out to his car late each night in what I now consider a dangerous neighborhood; I imagined him being attacked for no reason; I imagined my life completely falling apart; and I imagined the outrage of his friends and family that such a wonderful man died for no reason.

We've lived in Statesville for less than a month and already I do not feel safe.

Feeling completely helpless, I did the only thing I could do: I cried.