SUPERSTITIOUS

The winter moon stared bleakly down on me. It was like it knew all of my

secrets; my fears became bare in its misty glow. I am not easily frightened but

the half-light between evening and nightfall always makes me wary. I

continued to walk on, my heels echoing loudly through the silence. I wish I

hadn't bought these shoes now. They rubbed painfully against my ankles,

every step causing me to wince in pain. Never again would I spend another

night like this. This time I mean it.

The night's occurrences weren't my fault though. I blame the mirror. I still

regret the day that I smashed it. It was five years ago, in my grandmother's

house; That's seven years bad luck for you, Melissa, she grinned at me as

she swept up the shattered glass into a dustpan. A week later she died. A

month later my brother broke his arm. Two months later my father left. So

there you go, it all boils down to the mirror. The way I see it is that I've got two

more years left of misery. My mother and friends think that I'm being silly, It's

all superstitious nonsense, they say, but of course they don't know the true

facts. I read somewhere that you can reverse your bad luck by washing the

broken pieces in a south-running river or burying the pieces deep into the

earth. But that's just pointless now; the pieces are probably lying on some

rubbish tip somewhere, crushed into even smaller pieces. And if I did collect

the pieces together, how can I be sure I've got them all?

I stopped for a moment, was that a footstep I just heard? I turned but there

was nobody to be seen. Convinced that I was being followed, I eventually

settled on a more brightly lit street as opposed to the dimly lit alleyway. I

continued my journey; an uneasy feeling still embedded itself in my mind. A

garden gnome glared at me through the shadows, I'm pretty sure that its once

smiling face is now set into a dark frown. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a

black cat leaped out of the darkness and crossed right in front of me. My heart

began to pound and I felt a panic attack coming on. The dimly lit alleyway was

beginning to look more and more appealing now. I tried to calm myself down. I

knew what to do in this situation; it was just the mirror testing me again. I

slowly took twelve steps backward. It was the only way to ward off the bad

luck. As I was taking my fourth step I bumped into something… or rather

someone.

"Whoa! What on earth are you doing?" It was a familiar voice, one that I

recognized from the party that I had attended earlier; a voice that I didn't

particularly like.

"Go away," I glared at him coldly. His name was Adam, my next-door

neighbor. I first met him when we had moved here five years ago, just after

the mirror incident. Of course, the house that we had moved into was number

13 that was partly the problem and probably also the reason why a rude and

obnoxious boy like Adam lived next door.

"Are you doing that weird voodoo stuff again?" He grinned.

"Go to hell," I wanted to walk away from him but I needed to complete my

twelve steps backward or I'd get even more bad luck.

"Are you okay? You seemed pretty upset at the party back there?"

"What do you care? They're all losers anyway." I sniffed. I wouldn't let Adam

know that I had been upset.

"You know they were only joking around. It's because you're so uptight."

The others at the party had been teasing me, trying to open up umbrellas in

the house and laughing at my beliefs. I, on the other hand, was not amused.

"Would you just leave?" I glared at Adam.

"I'll walk you home if you like…"

"No thanks. I can walk myself home thank you very much."

"Are you sure? There are lots of black cats out tonight, oh and don't forget

the cracks in the pavement. 'Step on a crack, break your mother's back'.

There are all kinds of dangers out in these streets"

"You're not funny. This is exactly the reason why I left the party! Why don't

you just go back? "

"Hey, hey, look I'm sorry. But you really set yourself up for it. I left the party

to see if you were alright." Adam stepped aside and I continued my steps

backward.

"Done," I breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm fine. You can walk with me if you like

but don't expect me to talk to you."

Adam shrugged and we began to walk.

"You really shouldn't be worried just because you broke a mirror ages ago."

He blurted out.

"I thought I said no talking! Anyway how do you know that?"

"Your mum told me."

"Since when do you talk to my mother?"

"Since I come around on Wednesdays and help her with the garden, but

you're too caught up in your own fantasy world to notice!"

I frowned. Why had mum never told me?

"Hey look!" Adam was pointing to a set of ladders laid against a wall. He ran

towards them and passed underneath them, laughing, "how many years of

bad luck do I get for that?"

I shrugged, unimpressed, "I don't know, but if you want to avoid bad luck

you should spit three times through the ladder's rungs."

Adam just laughed at me. He didn't understand the seriousness of the

situation.

"I want you to try it," he grinned.

"What, spitting?"

"No walking under the ladders."

"No way," I shook my head. As if.

"C'mon. I've done it. It'll be like we're sharing the bad luck. You've already

got seven years bad luck so a bit more can't be that bad."

"Not a chance," I began to walk away from him but he reached out his hand

to me. And then, in that moment, something made me take it. Something

made me follow him under the ladders. Blame it on the mirror, blame it on the

full moon but I did it.

"There, feel better?" He grinned, "See, the world's not ended, the sky hasn't

fallen down, you haven't been condemned to the fiery pits of hell."

"I feel… okay," I smiled, what he was saying was true.

"You just need to face your fears. Now come on let's go home."

Several days passed since the party; I hadn't seen anything of Adam, since

the night he walked me home. The best thing is though since going under the

ladder nothing bad has happened. In fact good things have happened. I got

an A in my science test, I made a new friend named Lisa who was a girl from

the party and the sun had been shining every day.

Today is Friday 13th. This is a real test for me. I was awoken this morning by

a knock on the door. I answered it to find Adam standing on the doorstep,

grinning as usual.

"Happy Friday 13th!" He laughed. I looked at him blackly.

"I have a present for you," He handed me a small, purple bag.

"What's this?" Puzzled, I opened the bag. Inside was a necklace containing a

four-leaf clover set inside it. I smiled gratefully.

"I know that I should discourage the whole superstition thing but I thought on

this day of days that you could use a little luck to carry with you everywhere."

He smiled back.

"Thank you." I hugged him.

"Well how about I walk you to school then?"

"I'd be honored," I laughed and I knew that my luck was definitely changing

for the better.