The Death Curse

Chapter 2: Falling

I bolted upright. My breath came in and out of my lungs in heavy pants as I tried to figure out what was going on. I held my hand to my chest as if that would somehow calm my beating heart. A light in front of me caught my eye and I looked up to see the yellow lamp sitting on my nightstand, light bulb glowing.

"Holy shit," I murmured as I realized what had happened. I just electrocuted myself.

I looked down at my hand and my body to see if I was burnt or injured anywhere. The hairs on my arms stood at attention and I was sure my hair was frizzed out too. Other than that, I seemed fine and aside from an adrenaline rush, I felt fine as well. I checked the time on my phone and guessed that I must have been passed out for almost a half hour.

Standing up on shaky legs, I looked back at the lamp. It might start a fire if I left it plugged in. Careful to touch only the parts of the cord with the black encasing, I yanked the plug out of the socket.

I let out a big breath of air as I stared at the lamp, wondering if I should take it back down to the garbage. Even though it had almost killed me, I still kind of liked it. All it needed was some electrical tape and it would be good as new, right?

I sighed again and crawled into bed even more exhausted now that the adrenaline was starting to leave my body. I'd make a decision on the lamp after I got some sleep.

"Good morning!" I greeted my coworkers as walked down the aisle of desks Monday morning. Less enthusiastic replies echoed back to me, which was normal on a Monday. The only reason I was feeling chipper this morning was that I was holding a half drank venti coffee in my hand.

I sat down at my desk in the back of the office. I had really lucked out with my placement, no one sat behind me so no one saw my screen. Not that I did other things on my computer besides work. Much.

"Morning, Layla," Kim called to me. Kim sat closest to me and was one of the only two other women computer programmers who worked here. It was a small company but still, the ratio of male to female was abysmal.

"Good morning, Kim."

"Did you have a good weekend? You went on a date, didn't you?" I could see a small amount of envy in Kim's expression. She was blond and had pretty blue eyes but she was a bit overweight and didn't have much self-confidence. I'd often tell her she should try dating apps but she would refuse and say they weren't for her.

"It wasn't the best," I replied mildly. It was actually probably the worst weekend I had in my life. I was dumped halfway through a date, I drank so much that I passed out in an alley, and then almost got electrocuted to death. Though I did decide to keep the lamp. I bought some electrical tape and wrapped the whole cord in it. At least that was a win. "How was your's?"

Kim shrugged. "Same as always. Stayed home and watched TV. Did some housework."

"You should come out with me this weekend. Go to a bar or something," I offered. It probably would be best if I stayed away from alcohol for a long while but I couldn't help myself. Kim needed this.

A shy smile lit Kim's face. "That would be fun."

"Cool, it's a date."

At lunchtime, Kim came up to my desk. "Are you going out to eat? Want to go together?"

"I brought a lunch today so I'm going to stay here. Trying to save money." I was paying off student loans and hoping to move to a bigger apartment, so I had cut down on eating out.

Kim nodded. "Okay, I'll see you in a little bit."

"See you." I waved as Kim headed out of the office.