Locker 13
It’s Luke’s first day of seventh grade and he’s set! He has on his lucky (green) shirt and his rabbit foot (keychain). He has a lot on his mind. He wants to check out the computer lab, see when basketball tryouts are, and sign up for swimming. Hannah says she got one of the best lockers (outside of the cafeteria so she’ll be the first one there) and she has a Groom (the best English teacher). But Luke has Warren (who by the sound of is horrible). Darnell (Luke's other friend) tells him he’s got the “lucky” locker. (Locker 13), There goes the year! Hannah teases Luke for being a geek. Then they go look for his locker. On the way, Hannah finds a five-dollar bill. Luke asks why Hannah is always so luck. She doesn’t answer.
Two months later. School is going good. Luke’s been doing some good work on a computer animation project he’s been working on and he got a spot on the b-ball team. One day when he has practice, he’s late. There’s this guy on the team “Stretch” that’s been a problems. Basically, he’s a jerk. Luke for the most part has been riding the bench. “Stretch” has thrown his sweaty towel at Luke and spit out some of his Gatorade at him. (These are the kind of things he does). Stretch harasses Luke who can’t seem to make a shot. Luke finally makes a shot, but the Coach doesn’t see it. Luke (not thinking) throws the ball at “Stretch” and it hits him in the head and makes his nose start bleeding. It knocks out his contacts and Luke accidentally steps on it.
“Stretch” yanks Luke up, spits blood in his face, and is about to dunk him, but the Coach tells them to take it outside. He then puts “Stretch” in charge of Luke’s development. He can’t really argue with the Coach so he takes him outside and gets into a rough game of ball with him. He tells him he’s going to pay for his contacts. “Stretch” throws the ball so hard at Luke it hits him in the stomach and knocks him out so bad he sees stars and he can’t breathe. Then he starts to fade out. Through the blackness he hears the voice of an angel and he knows he’s dead.
But it’s Hannah running toward him. She blasts “Stretch” out and then goes to Luke. Hannah is BAAAD! She challenges “Stretch” to a game of basketball. Twenty to twenty. Hannah makes eighteen shots in a row. “Stretch”’s pride won’t let him play anymore. He jogs back into the school. Hannah finishes the game out and makes the next two shots. She says she’s just lucky. Then she tells him the photos she took of her dog she got paid five hundred dollars for. They’re going to publish them and write a story. Like decides then that he’s going to be as lucky as Hannah. It’s late now and Luke stops by his locker. Above the number 13, he writes the word “Lucky” (and already starts to feel it). Then he hears breathing and a soft hiss. Then he hears a cry. He opens the locker and finds a black cat. How long had it been in there? How did it get in there? Why was it in there?
Things continue to go abnormally good for Hannah. She doesn’t study for a test and guesses on the questions and gets a 100. Luke studies for a week and gets a 70. Luke tries out for one of the six spots on the swim team. But Luke slips on the wet tile and does a belly flop. He’s the seventh one to finish and makes an alternate. Luke is disappointed. He could have done better. “Stretch” thanks him for making him look so good. While combing his hair, Luke notices a crack in the mirror. Then he sees red eyes staring back at him. Then they cover his eyes and he screams.
The Coach hears him and asks in concern what’s wrong. Luke demands to know if his eyes are red. The Coach says it’s just the chlorine. He and “Stretch” are looking at him like he lost his mind. Luke wonders what the hell is going on. Luke is supposed to go to the mall with Hannah but decides against it (still shaken). Hannah calls later and tells him she won a raffle for a red SUV. She was supposed to be going to buy Luke a computer program but she forgot in all the excitement. He says what he really wants is her luck instead. She asks if he’s going to school tomorrow. It’s Friday the 13th. He says he’ll be there. He’ll just bring his lucky items. Plus he has basketball practice. Luke dreams of the locker that night. There’s a calendar and the thirteenth is circled. The door is breathing hot and there’s breathing inside the locker. There’s a voice that says “Get me out!” Luke opens the door and inside is Luke trembling all over with glowing red eyes. His face starts to change. Hair begins to pour out his nose and onto the floor and snake around him. It covers him like a fur coat and tightens and wraps him like a mummy. Then he wakes up clutching his four-luck colver. His room is ice cold!
By the time he gets to school, he’s late. He notices there’s a calender in his locker and the thirteenth is circled. For fear the dream will come true, he doesn’t open the locker. (He takes his coat with him). At lunch, all the fruit Hannah brings is rotted. The banana is black. The apple is chock full of worms. Hannah runs from the lunch room. Deciding that he doesn’t want to carry his coat and book bag to practice, he’ll put it in his locker. He opens the locker. There’s s a tiny.. yellow, skull. Luke does gret in practice. The Coach says he’s going to give him some playing time in the next game. Could it be the skull? Of course, it is. Luke decides to never go anywhere without it now. On the way home, luke hears the cries of a kitten stuck in a bush and saves it. His owners grateful. It’s been missing for two days. She rewads him with 100. 00. That night his mom makes his favorite dinner (meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and coconut cake). He even finishes his project. He calls Hannah but she doesn’t sound happy for him. She says she’s in a bad mood. She skinned herself, feel off her bike, and hurt her ankle. She says there’s something she has to tell him.
Then she says she can’t and hangs up the phone. The next day Luke’s homework isn’t there. He left it at home. But the teacher says she gave the wrong questions and they can rip those up. He gets an A on another test and he gets the last piece of pizza. Mrs. Cofee won’t be leaving and she told a friend about him and he says he can come in (off the books) and pay him five dolalrs an hour. Hannah has a game and plays badly (and they lose). Hannah tells Luke she lost her good luck charm. It was a skull. He says no, But when he leaves her he tells himself, I’ll just keep it for two weeks and then return it. (Snorts. RIIIGHT). When he gets home Mrs. Coffey calls and tells him he can start working Saturday with the guy she knows, but the really good news is she knows someone who’ll pay him a thousand dollars to enter one of his animations in a (showcase? Display? Exhibit?). After this, his mom comes in his room and tells him he won the drawing. For the rest of the year, every month they’ll get a free dinner at his favorite steak place.
Before Lucke goes to bed, he sets the skull on his dresser. Then he sees the image of it in the mirror magnified. His dad comes in the room, but the only thing he finds is the small skull. His dad tries to take it away but Luke stops him and says it’s a good luck charm. His dad says it looks evil to him, but Luke says it’s not.
The lucky streak continues. “Stretch” gets demoted and plays only when Luke gets tired. Hannah’s luck continues to get worse. Her ankle keeps having to get drained. She might need surgery. She also can’t go on the overnight class trip. Luke feeling like he’s on top of the world tries to attempt a crazy stunt blindfolded skating into a bunch of cars. Hannah warns him the luck doesn’t last forever, but he ignores her. He comes out of it without a scratch. Darnell and “Stretch” tell him he was almost killed three times. “Stretch” has to pay him 10 dollars.
On the overnight campout, Hannah does get to know but she’s on crutches. She broke her water bottle and it soaked all her clothes. Her face has also broken out in a rash. It’s all over her body. She’s pissed and really doesn’t want to talk to Luke. Luke hears screaming from the girls and sees two, big brown snakes. He tries to grab a hold of them. He hears them snapping but then they flee. He wasn’t bitten. The other kids cheer him and tell how brave he is. Hannah sees him. She’s scowling. Luke realizes she’s jealous but thinks too bad! He’s got the luck now and he’s going to keep it. Before a big game, Luke accidentally slams his hand in the locker door, but he shrugs it off. Hannah is at the game in a wheelchair. The game goes badly. When he looks for the skull it’s gone.
Luke takes off running and calling “TIME OUT!” (frantically). He has a head-on collision with one of the other players. The Coach tells him he has a concussion and has to go to the ER. Luke refuses to go and somehow makes it to the locker room (still in search of the skull). It’s not in the locker room so he looks in his school locker and finds it in his jacket pocket. But the eyes are dark and the face has changed. The skull is scowling. There are red, glowing, lights on the floor of the locker (two eyes). The black cat steps out (its eyes firey). The cat transforms into a human figure with a black hood. He demands to know who he is, but he just answers. the luck has run out. It takes the skull, but Luke snatches it back. He sees the skull is now crawling with maggots.
The figure says now he has to pay. Hannah shows up and says she’s so sorry. She says he made her do it but she didn’t want to. She’s crying. She says he made her give him the skull. She said she had good luck for a long time. Then it ran out. Then he made her give it to him. He says he’s the “Fate Master”. Hannah says she gave him a chance to give it back and wants to know why he didn’t return it. The “Fate Master” says it’s too late and they both belong to him. Luke says he’ll make his own. Amused by this, the “Fate “Master” says he can’t go up against him. Then he tells him to feel his ears. They’re bleeding and he says the bleeding don’t stop. Luke is convinced. “The Fate” Master says if they want him to go easy on them both they have to [ass the sli;; pm tp “Stretch”. He’ll give him good luck for 2 months and then he'll be his.
Luke comes to and thinks it’s just a dream brought on by his concussion. Uke it ready to go home but his bike has flat tires. Then his shoelace breaks. Then it starts to rain. Then it the lightning starts and a branch falls to his feet. Then one hits close to his feet. Then he sees the eyes watching him. Then it becomes clear to Luke, he’s definitely not dreaming. At home, one of the oak trees crashes onto the roof of the house. A neighbor tells him his parents aren’t home. They had to go to the hospital because his father fell down the stairs. Luke gives in and gives “Stretch” the skull the next day. Things go downhill real quick for Luke. He answers the wrong questions in class, his milk is sour at lunch and he almost throws up in front of everyone, and hair combs out of his head (a big chunk) when he combs it. He also spills hot coffee on Mrs. Coffey. After school in addition to all the other things, Hannah’s eye is swollen shut. Hannah wants to find the “Fate
Luke realizes (thinking of something “Stretch” said) he can break the pattern by practicing hard and working on SKILL. The last game of the year, Luke is all pumped up to play but the Coach tells him he can’t play without a note from his doctor (because of the concussion). “Stretch” is allowed to play the whole game. At lunch, Luke realizes his teeth (all of them) are loose and one comes out. He goes to talk to Mrs. Coffey but she took another job. The new teacher says he’s too busy to look at Luke’s animation. He makes him promise to look at his animation program later. He sees this as a victory! When he gets home his dad tells him he might need sugery and there’s problems with the electricity. But Luke remembers he made a backup copy. All that’s on the disk are glowing, red, eyes. The Coach comes up to Luke and says one of the guys got sick and he wants him to win in his face. He now has a bald spot, two more missing teeth (and white bumps) and his face looks like Hannah’s.
At the swim meet, he vomits in the pool and the Coach tells him he can’t swim. Since he has no one else though he lets him continue. As he swims, he feels eels and jelly fish and the water turns hot, but he keeps going. He wins the race! He even set a school record. Hannah is running to Luke (out of her wheelchair). Luke takes a sledgehammer and bashes his locker to bits. There’s a grown. A human-sized skull rolls out. It gorwns and the eyes blackout. Outside, he finds a lucky penny on the sidewalk.
My Thoughts
So that’s what happened to me this year. Someone hid a “Doom Skull” in one of my belongings. It all makes sense now. Only they didn’t give me the trial of the 30-day luck that that came with it. The “Fate Master” must have conveniently forgotten that part. For the most part, I do believe that like Luke learned in the end you make your own opportunities. I do think there are in life small “nuggets” of luck on and off. Maybe every once and a while. For instance, I think the luckiest thing that happened to me this year was finding a certain site that offered SOOOO many books that I was looking for. But the ugly ironic part of this story is how cruel the “Fate Master” was. He offered you good luck but only for a little while and then he snatched it away. Much like in life. Things go good for a little while and then slowly it all goes downhill either gradually or in the blink of an eye. Then everything is as rotten as the worms is coming up like the sour milk Luke had or the rotted fruit and worms Hannah had. And that’s just life. In the story, Luke could reverse his bad luck by trying (and practicing). But what about the people who try to reverse their luck and they just aren’t able too and the “Fate Master” just continues to dish them out continuous bad luck? How long can people go through it until the story turns into a “real” nightmare room scenario that wouldn’t be appropriate to turn into a fictional story? I use to think there was a “Fate Mater” and I use to wonder if there was one then why didn’t he let up on people who continue to go through events like Luke and Hannah? But now, I really believe that you have to make your own path in life.
Rating: 7