Maggey Byrde's Lucky Day
Maggey Byrde smiled, pulling her jacket tight around her. She had never had such good luck in her life, which had always been riddled with traffic accidents, failed exams and, she shuddered internally at the thought, murder accusations.
But, today had been a fantastic day, she thought looking up at her new fiancée, Dick Gumshoe, who had proposed only an hour beforehand at her favourite restaurant. Her happiness swelled further.
Maggey's eyes glimmered with pride. "Honey," she grinned, looking at her fiancée, "I'm gonna go out for a little bit. You want anything while I'm out?"
"No, Maggey, I'm fine," he replied, "but be careful, y'hear?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" she shouted. "Sorry, force of habit." She said in response to Gumshoe's frown.
The street below her apartment seemed a lot brighter now that her luck had changed, and Maggey felt like pushing her luck. She almost squealed with delight as she walked into the newsagent's.
"One twenty-dollar scratch-it, please," she trilled to the heavily-pierced gothic boy behind the counter.
Sitting on a bench outside the newsagent's, she pulled out a coin and started scratching it. One shamrock... Two shamrocks... She was shivering with anticipation... Three shamrocks!
She jumped excitedly from the bench. "Two-hundred-and-fifty grand!" she roared happily. "I won! I won!"
The gothic boy grumbled as he filled out her winner's check. She snatched it off him and burst out the door and bolted down the road. She couldn't wait to see the look on Gumshoe's face; they were going to have the biggest, most beautiful wedding that would be a tribute to their undying love, and Maggey's new-found luck. She imagined herself in the most elegant white dress she had ever seen.
BEEP!
She stopped suddenly, just in time to see the car...
Damn it.
She flipped over the car, smashing the windscreen and landing on the road behind where the car had been, just as it drove off.
She couldn't move. She was dying.
Of course this would happen, she thought bitterly.
Thump-thump. She could feel her heartbeat throughout her body.
The worst stroke of luck – to be struck down by a car on the luckiest day of my life.
Thump thump. Her heart was slowing.
What's that? Footsteps?
"MAGGEY!"
Gumshoe...He was leaning beside her, she could feel his whole body heaving with sobs.
Thump... thump... Not long now...
She turned her head to face him. "Sorry... sir..."
Thump...
All went dark.