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"Bad Luck" back to back episodes.

“Bad Luck” – screened back to back.

Chapter 1: Losing

It was a fine day, because it was a holiday. M.I.T Institute of Design had a bunch of crazy people who kept screening the best movies of all time, and this very day, they would screen the legendary – Star Wars. An empty pocketed girl named Nikhita limped (as fast as she could) to the projector room where the movie was to be screened. She hadn’t seen it before, and her friends Alok and Ravi had promised it would be worth the watch. The previous day her friend Tanu had lifted her on his back and Bharat Singhal – an elfish friend (in behaviour and appearance) slammed her tow on the hard floor which caused it to swell in pain. So she limped to the room and there they watched the movies.

In the evening Nikhita and her friend Ravi went out for Chai at the local dhaba – kaka’s, but before that, she went to the pharmacy, to buy toe-healing medicines. From her sweatshirt she pulled out 2 notes of 50 and 500. The medicines cost her 45, so she used the 50 Rs. note. A little voice inside her told her to put the note in her jeans instead of the wide-open sweatshirt pocket, but she didn’t listen. When she reached her room at night and changed, her pockets were empty. The 500 Rs. were gone, and a 5 Rupee coin remained. She didn’t believe it. She hoped and hoped she had it somewhere. She turned out her pockets; the note had fallen out.

Chapter 2: Despair

Nikhita panicked. She had a record for losing things. In her past she was tormented for being irresponsible and careless. A series of images flashed her mind, and frustrated, she confessed to her elder sister Raina, about the unfortunate incident. Raina told her to let it go; that it was just a piece of paper, and that it happens to all of us. “It’s gone, Ravi.” she texted. Ravi told her to smile and that they would probably get it back, and Pankti sent a hug. She decided to sleep it off.
The next morning, she wanted to use her wacom to work. So she went to class and opened her locker. The wacom was gone. “Well, maybe it’s in the other class lockers.” She thought, and went to her old class and checked her lockers. The wacom was nowhere to be found. 23 grand. Her work. Her parents. The lost 500 Rs note. More images, more thoughts. She checked the lockers the second, the third time. She called her warden to ask if it was found in her room. She ran to her room and checked the cupboard where she was so sure of not finding it. “You have it, don’t panick”, she told herself. She asked people who she never lent it to. It was gone.

Chapter 3: Chances – the jokes by life

She got back to class. Her day was a disaster. Just like the Star Wars screening, even losing her stuff was back to back. As she searched she prayed and prayed and hoped that she had not lost it. That someone borrowed it, or that it was somewhere safe. She told herself to trust herself. First the note, now a wacom? “I hope noone’s playing a joke” she said, with watery eyes. Alok and Ravi helped her recall her memory. The last time she used it, (they traced back) was when she sat on a different table in class. She ran to the table and opened its unlocked drawer. A black case lay there with a wacom, untouched, unseen in 2 weeks.

She breathed a heavy sigh, and sucked back the tears. Never had she felt so relieved. Clutching the wacom to her chest, she threw a half smile to her friends in gratitude. They went to the projector room and enjoyed Star Wars on the big screen.

Chapter 4: The Magic Trick

The sun had set and the moon lit up the roads which lead home. Call it a day; she thought. It was as horrible as some of her worst. She changed, and emptied her pockets. Out came a 500 Rs. note.

She dropped the note in shock. It was definitely magic. Only the previous night she had turned out her pockets to see nothing but their fabric. The yellow-green note’s face stared back at her. She smiled. She would tell Raina and Ravi about this, but they wouldn’t believe her. “You didn’t check properly”, they would tell her. So she picked up the note, and put it in her savings.

Nikhita looked up at the ceiling as she lay on her bed. A rug covered her warm. It was cold, the fan was off. All that was heard, was a heavy sigh of relief.

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