Bad Luck

Magic Trick

                                                                        Chapter 12

                                                                        Magic Trick

I jolted awake in the middle of the night, disturbed by my annoying full bladder that kept forcing me to take my lazy ass off the bed and go to the bathroom, but I was too comfortable beneath my blanket and kept resisting Mother Nature's call.

It was so warm and cozy in bed, the stark contrast to my chilly basement. It took me a few minutes of insistent pleas from my bladder for my brain to finally start to poke me awake in a more incisive manner. The brain's warning was very clear:

You listen up, punk. Bladder isn't horsing around down there. You better hurry up or things will get messy in here very soon!

I gave up trying to go back to sleep and opened my eyes, straining to see in the dark room. The only source of light came from one small window close to the ceiling, so I could only see the outline of the furniture in the room and not much else.

I tried to move and only then I realized there was something odd going on in my bed. To be more precise, there was a heavy arm wrapped around me, preventing me from moving.

The heavy arm of another person.

A human living person, lying next to me.

In my bed.

With me.

I think you get what I'm trying to say.

I screamed at the top of my lungs and scrambled away from the person holding me. I didn't know how I managed to hold the contents of my bladder after that, it was truly a feat of uncanny prowess.

The stranger woke up to me kicking and screaming and bolted out of bed as fast as I have ever seen someone moving. "Wait!" I heard the stranger say in a disoriented – and very definitely – male voice.

Oh my God. A strange MAN had broken into my basement, in the middle of the frigging night, to sneak into my bed! What kind of a freak does that? And why was he sleeping with me? Did he plan to murder me in my sleep?

I screamed again and pulled my sheets up to my chin, trying to hide beneath it but then I realized how stupid that was, I mean, what a thin piece of fabric was going to do to protect me anyway? I tossed the sheet away and scrambled to the corner of my bed, trying to reach for the lamp, but I ended up knocking it out of the nightstand and it crashed on the floor with a loud crack.

"Wait, Mia! Hold on! Please, don't panic!" The guy said, crouching on the floor next to the bed and raising one pleading hand in my direction.

Wait. What in the hell?

This dude knew my name? How on Earth did he know my name?!

"Who are you, freak? What are you doing in here?" I shouted at him.

"No, Mia, it's me! It's me! Lucky!"

Did he know my cat's name too? I looked panicky around, trying to find Lucky but I couldn't see him anywhere. What had he done to Lucky?

"Listen, pal, I don't know who you are but if you lay one finger on me, I'm going to scream so loud, the whole town is going to hear me, okay?" I threatened, raising a trembling finger toward him.