Bad luck

Tessa walked down the street with her arms full of grocery bags. Normally she and her boyfriend, Brandon, would drive down to the market for their weekly shopping trips but she had decided to walk today. Brandon had gone out to have lunch with his mother and he had taken the car that they shared. Luckily for her, the market was only a ten minute walk away. 

As Tessa walked, she looked up at the sky. The sun was out, but the sky seemed just a tad colorless. There were a couple of clouds that looked dark. “I hope it doesn’t rain soon.” She muttered as she continued to stare upwards. 

When she finally looked back down at the path that lay ahead of her, she instantly froze in her tracks. A black cat, one that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, was standing right in front of her. Its green eyes eerily studied her and before Tessa could react, the cat hissed and darted towards her. 

Tessa shrieked and nearly dropped her bags. She watched helplessly as the cat streaked by her and continued on in the direction that she had been walking in. 

That was a black cat. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. Oh my God, it's happening again. 

This was bad. This was very, very bad. Tessa tightened her grip on the bag and started walking again. She tried to walk steadily but her mind began to race and before she knew it, she had broken into a full on sprint. No matter how fast she ran, she couldn’t shake the image of the black cat from her head. 

Within a few minutes, Tessa finally reached her home and she was relieved to spot their old sedan in the driveway. Racing up the steps, Tessa threw open the front door and collapsed with the groceries to the floor as soon as she was inside. 

The ruckus instantly made Brandon appear from the living room, where he had been resting on the couch. “Tessa? Did you drop something?” His carefree smile dropped from his face as soon as he spotted his girlfriend sprawled on the ground, surrounded by the produce she had just bought. “What happened?”

“A cat.” Was all Tessa managed to say as she slowly got to her feet. Instead of picking up the groceries, she briskly walked past him and into the living room. 

“A cat?” Brandon repeated as he quickly closed the front door and followed her. “What about a cat? “

“Not just any cat.” Tessa explained as she went up and closed all the blinds tightly. The room grew noticeably darker. Once she was done, she double checked that all the windows were locked shut. “It was a black cat. It crossed in front of me.” 

“Oh.” Brandon stared at her for a few seconds, still unsure of what to make of the situation. “So what?” 

“So what?!” Tessa whirled around to face him. She couldn’t believe how nonchalant and calm he was being about the whole thing. “A black cat crossed in front of me.” She repeated once again, making sure to emphasize each word. 

“I still don’t get it.” Brandon said, shaking his head. 

“Ugh, Brandon, you’re not listening to me!” Tessa exclaimed, her voice growing shrill. “When I was walking back from the market, a black cat crossed in front of me, right in my path.” 

“Tessa, I’m sorry.” Brandon reached out to put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, but Tessa shrugged him off. “But I don’t understand what’s happening. You’re acting really weird. Why is this cat so important?”

 Tessa ignored his question and instead turned her attention to the coffee table that they had in the middle of their living room. She squatted down next to it and its surface with her hands. “Is this wood?” 

“What?” 

“Is this table made out of wood?” Tessa asked again, the urgency evident in her voice. She continued to feel the table. “This is the one that we got from the thrift story last year, remember? Do you think this is real wood?” 

“Does it matter?” 

“Of course it matters.” 

“Um…” Brandon was utterly confused and had no idea what to make of the situation. He had never seen Tessa act this strangely before. “I think it's wood?” He finally said. 

“Good.” Tessa replied. She made a fist and proceeded to tap on the table seven times in a row. She counted each one out loud, and once she was done she slowly got back up again. “What?” She asked defensively when she saw the look on Brandon’s face. 

“Why’d you do that?” Brandon asked. 

“Because I needed to knock on wood.” Tessa said. 

Brandon continued to stare at her. The more she said, the less he understood. “But why though?” 

“Because I need some good luck to cancel out the bad luck that I got from the cat.” 

“The cat gave you bad luck?” Brandon questioned. “How…why do you think that?” 

“God, how are you this clueless?” Tessa exclaimed. “If a black cat crosses your path, that’s a bad omen.” 

“Oh…” The realization finally dawned on Brandon. “Oh, it's one of those superstitions. Sorry, I never really pay attention to any of those sorts of things.” 

“Well you should.” Tessa huffed. She pulled out her phone and handed it to him. “Can you plug this in for me? It died while I was at the market.” 

“Why me?” 

“Because I don’t want to risk getting shocked by the electricity.” 

Brandon frowned. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.” He said gently as he grabbed her phone. “I think you’re overreacting a little bit.”

“No, you’re the one who’s underreacting. You’re not taking this seriously enough.” Tessa watched him carefully as he grabbed the charging cord and plugged in her phone. “Something bad is going to happen to me. I don’t know what exactly, but I just know it's coming.” 

Brandon shook his head. “Babe, you gotta relax. Those superstitions are just stories. You’re not suddenly cursed with bad luck because a cat crossed in front of you.” 

“No, you’re wrong.” Tessa started pacing around the room. She could feel the fear coursing through her veins. “They’re real. All those superstitions are real.” 

“How do you know that?” 

“Because I’ve seen it happen again and again.” Tessa started to nervously tug on her fingers. “So many of my family members have been struck down by these bad luck omens. It's real, I know it is.” 

 “Tessa--” Brandon tried to put her arms around her once again, but she cut him off before he could offer any comforting words. 

“--My uncle Ted broke a mirror once and a few hours later he collapsed dead from a heart attack!” 

“Yeah but didn’t he basically live off fast food and tobacco?” Brandon pointed out quietly. “You can’t blame the shattered mirror for the consequences of his lifestyle choices.” 

Tessa continued on, not giving any indication that she had even heard what he said. “You remember my cousin Veronica? She accidentally opened an umbrella indoors and that night there was a carbon monoxide leak in her house. She and her kids died in their sleep.” 

“Again, very unfortunate that that happened but I don’t think that the umbrella had anything to do with it.” Brandon insisted. “You can’t just assume that all these bad luck superstitions are actually causing these events to occur.” 

Tessa’s eyes started to fill with tears and her voice wavered as she carried on. “My mother gave birth to my younger sister on a Friday the 13th and she ended up dying from complications after the labor.” 

“That’s awful, and I’m so sorry that you lost your mom, but your sister is alive and well.” Brandon was starting to get the feeling that there was something very very wrong going on inside the mind of his girlfriend. “You can’t blame her death on a particular day.” 

“You don’t get it, Brandon!” Tessa snapped at him. “I am absolutely terrified right now for my life, and you’re just over here doubting everything that I’m saying instead of being a supportive boyfriend.” 

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I’m being a jerk.” Brandon apologized, making a mental note to call Tessa’s father as soon as he had a chance to. “What do you need right now? What can I do to help you?” 

“I need salt.” Tessa muttered as she turned around and marched towards the kitchen. 

“Salt?” Brandon repeated as he trailed before her. He watched in horror as she opened each cupboard and began to pull things out and onto the floor. Various containers of spices and herbs and teas spilled out, but Tessa didn’t even seem to be aware of the mess she was making. 

“Where is it?” She whined as she continued to throw things over her shoulder. “I need salt. I need to throw salt over my shoulder. I need all the good luck I can get.” 

“I don’t think we have salt.” Brandon reached out and grabbed her arm before she could throw out a pricey panini press that he had gotten her for her Christmas last year. “You have to stop looking.” 

Tessa whirled around to look at him, with a blank expression on her. “I need salt.” She repeated once again, her voice sounding more and more robotic with every syllable she uttered. She sighed and stepped over the mess as she headed for the front door. 

“Tessa, where are you going?” Brandon asked as he followed right behind her. 

“I’m going back to the market.” Tessa stepped over the fallen groceries that still lay on the floor and pushed the door open. “I need salt.” 

“It looks like it’s going to start raining any second now.” Brandon said, looking up at the gloomy sky that was full of large dark clouds. “Why don’t you wait a bit, I promise as soon this weather passes, I’ll go out and buy you salt.” 

“I’ll be quick.” Tessa insisted, going down the front steps. “Give me the car keys, it’ll be faster if I drive.” 

“Tessa…” Brandon reached out and grabbed her shoulder to stop her. 

“You want to help me, don’t you?” Tessa said, turning to look at him.  “You said you would, right?” 

“Of course I’ll help you.” Brandon promised. “But I just don’t think--” 

“--Please just give me the keys!” 

Brandon hesitated. He didn’t like the way that Tessa was acting, she was way too frazzled and anxious. But it was her car too, so he eventually relented and dug the keys out of his pocket. 

“Thank you.” Tessa gave him a weak smile as she grabbed the keys. “While I’m gone, can you look through the grass and see if you can find any four leaf clovers for me? I need all the good luck I can get.”

“Yeah, I can do that.” Brandon sighed, finally accepting that there was no stopping Tessa. “Wait, don’t you want to take your phone? It’s still inside.” 

“No, no, it's fine.” Tessa insisted. “I have my wallet in my pocket, I don’t need my phone. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes tops.” With those final words, she got into the car and turned on the engine.

“Bye, drive safe!” Brandon called after her. He can feel himself frowning as he watched her pull out of the driveway and drive away.  

He looked down at the grass, their lawn was in desperate need of being mowed. There were a couple of patches of clovers here and there, none of them seemed to have four leaves though. Still, he had promised that he would look so he got down on his knees and started shifting through all each singular clover.  

He couldn’t believe that he was doing this. He couldn’t believe that Tessa was acting like this. It made him feel a bit uneasy, the way that she genuinely seemed to believe in all of the ridiculous superstitions.  

I guess I can’t blame her. He thought to himself. So many of her relatives had died tragic deaths, and he figured that believing in the superstitions was Tessa’s way of processing and dealing with the losses. As he continued to look, Brandon felt a few raindrops hit his head. Within seconds the light sprinkle turned into a heavy downpour, and he was forced to run inside the house. 

He hadn’t been able to find a four leaf clover, and he knew Tessa would be upset with him when she came back from the market. As soon as the rain stopped, he’d go back outside and look again. Maybe he could even tear apart some of the clovers and try to make his own version of a four leaf one with some tape. 

Brandon waited by the window for Tessa to come back. The minutes passed by, but he didn’t see her come down the street. He started to get restless, wondering why she was taking so long. After nearly an hour had gone by, Brandon finally saw some headlights in the distance and he ran to the door. 

He threw open the door and stepped onto the porch, expecting to see Tessa pull into the driveway, but to his horror it was a police car that pulled up. The police officer walked up to Brandon with a grim look on his face, in his hands he held Tessa’s drivers license. 

“Is this the home of Tessa Smith?” The officer asked. 

Brandon stared speechless at the man. His mind filled with dozens of theories of how the officer could have possibly gotten a hold of Tessa’s license, and none of them were good. “It is.” He finally said. “Did something happen to her?” 

“Your girlfriend’s car was hit by a driver that ran a red light.” The officer said. “Her injuries were severe and paramedics were unable to find a pulse at the scene.” 

“Oh my god.” Brandon felt his knees buckle and he almost fell to the ground. He looked at the officer in disbelief. “But I just saw her an hour ago, she was fine!” 

 “She was transported to St. Mary’s hospital.” The officer continued. “I can take you there now.” 

“Yes of course, just give me a minute.” Brandon ran back into the house to grab Tessa’s phone, making a mental list of all the people he was going to have to call. It was still charging and when he unplugged it he saw that the battery was at 66%. 

Brandon ran back outside, feeling like the world was about to fall apart any second. He just couldn’t wrap his head around what had just happened. 

There’s no way this happened because she was cursed with bad luck. He tried to tell himself. Everyone knew that those stupid superstitions were just nonsense. 

Still, as he made his way over to the police car, he looked out to the end of the driveway and he felt his blood run cold inside his body. 

A black cat was standing there, staring at him.