Jinxed
A slot machine chimed as Gemma tried very hard not to cry on the floor of the casino bathroom. Her bloodshot eyes highlighted her green irises. She smelled like coffee, which didn’t sound bad, until you saw the splashed burn on her thighs. It had been a hell of a day.
It has to get better. It can only get better from here, right?
She stands up smoothing her little black dress, ignoring the torn hem. Gemma reaches for her purse and pauses at the empty counter top. She looks on the floor where she fell, the sink, the stall, everywhere and found nothing. Finally she couldn’t hold back the tears. Her money and phone were gone. She hysterically laughed at the realization that her keys were gone too.
What else can go wrong? Crap… shouldn’t have thought that.
That’s when she saw it. A little round ball of sunshine laying on the floor worth one thousand dollars. She picked up the poker chip unable to contain her excitement.
My luck is finally changing!
She smoothed her hair and ran to the casino floor. She tried to decide what to do with her newly acquired chip.
I could try cards, roulette, or dice… maybe the slots.
She walked to the roulette wheel and watched. No skill was required. It was all about luck. She bet her thousand dollars on twenty-five.
As soon as the ball dropped she held her breath, unable to take her eyes off the little white marble that was deciding how the rest of her day would play out. It stopped on twenty-five.
Gemma finally breathed. “My bad luck streak is over. Finally!”
Thirty-seven grand sat in front of her. She immediately cashed out thankful everything was working out.
“You’re a jinx!” a woman yelled.
Gemma glanced in the direction of the voice. A woman stumbled toward her with a broken stiletto. Red paint coated her golden blonde hair dripping down her silver sequin dress. Surely she wasn’t talking to her?
“You ruined my life!” the woman said, using Gemma’s missing purse to point at her chest.
“Is that my purse?” Gemma asked, looking at the coffee stained bag.
“You ruined my life and all you care about is your stupid purse!” the woman yelled. She tried to hit Gemma with the purse, but the other heal snapped. She tumbled to the ground bottom first sobbing. “I was fine until I took your stupid purse. It was great. I was engaged to a wealthy man I met last week. Finding money was as easy as batting my eyelashes. Now, because of you, he broke up with me for another con artist, who stole all my money. Someone spilled paint on my head. I broke a heel and fell on camera during a live show. I’m already a meme online! And, I’m pretty sure I just broke my tailbone. Please make it stop!” she sobbed, throwing the purse at Gemma’s feet.
“You jinxed yourself by taking the last possession of someone down on their luck,” she said, picking up the purse. “Took me a whole year to find someone dumb enough to steal my jinx back.”
