literature

The Curse of Friday the 13th, Day 1, Part 1

Deviation Actions

aliencaster's avatar
By
Published:
31.5K Views

Literature Text





Story Guide -- Story List
Length (rounded up): 1800 words, 7 min. 30 sec.
Next (Part 2) -- Contents -- Gallery Folder

The Curse of Friday the 13th, Day 1, Part 1
One week before Friday the 13th

Julie’s glance followed Samantha who gracefully made her way across the room on crutches. Although her knee and ankle were fixed in a solid cast that confined her, she was skilful enough to overcome the limitations of the weighty confinement. She moved steadily, keeping her broken leg slightly up and forward to avoid straining it. The young girl adeptly hopped with one leg, putting all the weight of her body on the healthy left limb, while always finding secure support with the elbow crutches.

When she reached the couch, Samantha seated herself, and leant her crutches against the wall. Julie turned away, and accidentally gazed through the windows. The ominous storm clouds that conquered the sky were as gloomy as the mood of the three people, who had gathered in the conference room of the law firm.

‘Mrs Warden? Miss Edwards?’ Mr Nilrem said to the two women sitting opposite him.

Julie didn't participate in the conversation. Instead, she wished for a miracle that would take her to a place where time machines had already been invented. Well, she would have liked to go back in time to correct the stupid mistake she had made.

At Mr Nilrem's urging, Julie gazed at Samantha, but before the other woman could say a word, Julie spoke: 'I'm terribly sorry, Sir.’

Julie swallowed, and lowered her eyes as a sign of remorse. After the brief apology, she paused to save the detailed explanation for the second sentence.

As he waited for her response, the elderly gentleman simply opened his cigar case and lit a cigar. Samantha displayed her disapproval by arching her eyebrows.

‘Excuse me, sir, but this area is not designated for smoking,’ Samantha said.

Mr Nilrem just gave a shrug. Then he placed the edge of the smouldering tobacco cylinder on a nearby flowerpot and used a plastic container as an ad-hoc ashtray to prop up the stubbed cigar.

'Mrs Warden, do you know who I am?' he asked.

Julie nodded. Adam Nilrem, the famous and feared founder and manager of the trillion-dollar company Nilrem Inc. was a well-known figure to all. Concretely, the long-named Roach, Brown, McCarthy & Gruber Partnership, the law firm that Julie worked for, had the privilege of representing this affluent client.

Moreover, she had been the one, who had welcomed Mr Nilrem two weeks ago. And it was also she, who had signed a contract to manage his legal affairs. But worst of all, she had guaranteed him that the files would be in good hands: in her own hands. By now, it turned out that saying it had been a grave mistake.

'Sir...’ As soon as the first word escaped her lips, Julie paused again to gather her thoughts.

She was unsure of how to excuse herself after making such an awful blunder. In any case, testing the patience of the richest and most powerful man in the country would inevitably lead to a brief business career for anyone.

In the past, Julie had a vision to advance her career in the fast track, leading her straight to becoming a senior partner in the prestigious and respectable company of Mr Roach, Mrs Brown, Mr McCarthy and Mr Gruber. However, this aspiration would soon be shattered, and this office would never be called Roach, Brown, McCarthy, Gruber & Warden.

Mr Nilrem's fury seemed to have subsided. ‘I've personally chosen you, Mrs Warden, because Mr Roach was of the opinion that you were the best junior up-and-coming lawyer he had. But your poor performance has been a complete and utter disappointment to me. The Nilrem Company has never lost a legal case in its entire history. But, to be honest with you, I don’t care about the penalty that I have to pay to the other company. I’ll make that damn fifty million dollars in a single day. It's a matter of prestige for me. With this lawsuit, you've ruined the reputation of my company in the most foolish manner I have ever heard of...'

‘Please stop blaming her,’ Samantha said. ‘It all happened because of me.’

The abrupt remark drew Mr Nilrem’s attention to the girl, who sat in the seat with a handicap. Resting on a pouffe near the couch, her heavy and rigid cast construction sank into the soft fabric. Samantha’s knee-length skirt didn’t conceal the entirety of the long cast, which compactly embraced her left leg. Hidden by the business suit, the upper rim of the tight shell encircled the highest part of her thigh, and it flowed down frozen to encompass every bit and joint between her hip and her toes.

The dark red fibreglass dressings came into view at the knee. Fittingly adjusted to follow the shape of Samantha's leg, the bandages firmly bound her shin, imprisoned her ankle, and enclosed her feet. The lower segment of the inelastic shell was combined with a bulky toe spica cast that fully swaddled the injured extremity. Sadly, the other toes were tightly bandaged, leaving only their tips and nails exposed on a big toe plate.

‘Ah, I see, it happened because of you. Could you please provide me with more details about what happened?’ Mr Nilrem asked.

‘I broke my leg very badly.’ Samantha flinched, recalling the terrible bike accident. ‘I was in hospital for two months until the bone fixators were removed. Then I had to stay at home for another month until I got a walking cast. Because of this, Mrs Warden had to work hard alone, and she forgot to send your files to the court, thus we missed the deadline.’

‘Well, we’ve heard the confession of your assistant.’ Mr Nilrem turned to Julie. ‘This is quite an interesting turn of events. What's your opinion, Mrs Warden? Do you stop accusing yourself?’

Julie couldn't help but ponder how easy it would be to condemn Samantha. However, she was unable to do so.

'Not at all, Sir. I was in charge of posting the files. Obviously, it was my mistake. But Ms Edwards is correct, because it was challenging for me to work without her assistance. I had to manage and supervise more than a dozen legal processes simultaneously and...’

‘Okay, let’s be clear.’ Mr Nilrem bent forward, having come to a serious conclusion. ‘It is very nice of you to take responsibility. But please see this story from my point of view. You’ve just revealed that you weren't able to allocate enough time to serve a VIP client, who was always generous in paying the extremely overpriced invoices that he received from your law firm.’

Her words, as they filtered through Mr Nilrem's perspective, punched Julie in the head. In desperation, she thought back to her 16-hour workdays, recalling a familiar phrase, the first sentence of the Business Bible: 'the client is always right'.

Now Julie hoped for a smooth and swift execution, and Mr Nilrem was prepared to deliver her the final blow. ‘Mrs Warden, I’ve already talked with Mr Roach about your professional future. He was quite clear in his agreement that...’

Mr Nilrem, however, said nothing about what lay ahead. He paused in mid-sentence when his gaze happened to fall on the visible part of Samantha's long leg cast. Since she was unable to bend her knee or ankle, she had to rely on crutches to move around since the long leg cast was highly constricting. Incapacitating the woman for months, the solidified bandages dissolved her whole limb.

The aged billionaire lifted his head, where a peculiar concept had just been born, newly inspired by Samantha’s LLC. What if he provided Julie with the essential things she desperately needed?

Mr Nilrem shifted his attention back to Julie, and his tone softened from stern to playful. ‘Mrs Warden, please ignore my previous statement. I don’t want you to lose your job, and I’m going to talk to Mr Roach about it.’

Julie was hardly able to press the air out of her lungs to speak. ‘Thank you, Sir.’

A smile appeared on Mr Nilrem’s face. ‘What is more, I’ve got some good news. If you're still so busy, I’ll arrange a special holiday for you. It will last as long as you can’t even imagine. In an excellent location, dozens of nice people will always be around you, eager to serve and care for you. Hard-working men and women will be on hand at all times of the day and night to fulfil your every wish. And you won't even have to lift a finger or say a word. Perfectly protected and taken care of, your only one duty will be to relax and savour the pleasure of doing nothing.’

‘Excuse me, Sir...?’ Julie asked.

‘No complex problems, no urging deadlines, no angry clients. It sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Mrs Warden, just wait for the next Friday the 13th, and all your wishes will come true.'

Mr Nilrem’s reply was unexpected and difficult to comprehend. Julie’s mouth dropped open in surprise. ‘But I cannot accept such an expensive gift.’

‘Oh, don’t worry about the cost.’ Mr Nilrem gestured to dispel her doubts, and chuckled. ‘You’re an intelligent woman, and when the time comes, you’ll realise what it is about. Well, I can’t tell you anything more at the moment, but please, wait until Friday the 13th!’

Mr Nilrem rose from his seat. ‘I’m awfully sorry to leave this exceptional meeting. But now I’d like to meet my sister to discuss an important family matter.’

The elderly billionaire disappeared from the room so quickly that Julie didn't even have a chance to say goodbye. While hurrying away, he had even left the smoking cigar under the green leaves of the flower in the plant pot.

As if hit by a meteor, Julie just remained sitting in the chair. She had been convinced that she would be demoted to a street sweeper the next day. But, instead of getting unemployed, she was offered a what...?

Samantha lowered her long leg cast down from the footstool, and its reinforced heel softly touched the floor. She limped across the room with difficulty, dragging her bad leg.

Before leaving, she paused in front of Julie's chair. 'Can you work out what happened? I was sure we were both going to be fired.'

Julie flashed a glance of confusion at her. ‘For some reason, he doesn’t want me to get the sack.’

‘What does he want then?’

‘He must have a private island in the Caribbean, mustn’t he?’ Julie spoke her thoughts out loud.

The question, seemingly coming from out-of-context, stunned Samantha. ‘Perhaps, he does. This fellow is rich enough to have his own continent. Why do you ask?’

‘I’ve got an idea, but it doesn't make any sense. I think he invited me on a luxurious vacation.’

to be continued

Next (Part 2) -- Contents -- Gallery Folder

Story Guide -- Story List
Previously entitled: A Curse of Friday the 13th, The Very First Day

Story summary: having made a multi-millon-dollar mistake, the young lawyer Julie Warden is cursed. Her Friday the 13th is full of an accident series, and after every mishap, her casts get bigger and bigger. And there's so much time to Midnight. Gallery folder of this story

Table of contents: Part 1: LLC (female), Part 2: story, Part 3: DSLC (female), Part 4: SSC, SHSC, SLC (female), Part 5: DSSC, DHSC, MC (female), Part 6: DSSC, DHSC, MC (female), Part 7: FBC (female), Part 8: FBC (female), Part 9: DSSC, DHSC, MC (female)

Features: female: DHSC (double hip spica cast), DSLC (dual short leg cast), DSSC (double shoulder spica cast), FBC (full body cast), LLC (long leg cast), MC (Minerva cast), SHSC (single hip spica cast), SLC (short leg cast), SSC (shoulder spica cast) / male: -.
Genre: (black) comedy, magic realism.

Personal note: this was my very first story. It's a kind of black comedy inspired by the fascinating stories of the good old stories.cast-site.com (Unfortunately, this site was shut down a couple of years ago.)

Stories of this series: Day 1 -- Day 2 -- Day 3 -- Day 4

Acknowledgement: I'd like to thank Sharkycast for his kind help as he spent his precious time to correct my mistakes (of the original, 2014 version)

Know more about all my stories: A Guide To My Stories
P.S.1.: I'm not a native English writer, so if you find any mistakes in the text of the stories, please feel free to mention here or to send me a private Note. Thanks.
P.S.2.: I would be very grateful, if you would find inspirations in my stories to create a picture or to draw illustrations for me.
P.S.3.: Please let me know what you think about the story. Write a comment or leave your review here. I need your feedback. This is my fuel.

Stats: length: 1794 words, estimated reading time: 7 min 10 sec.
Last modified: 11 August 2023
Preview image: You owe me! with the kind permission of derS4tyr. Disclaimer: my story and the image are not related to each other, therefore the cast(s) depicted in the image can be different from the cast(s) mentioned in the text (colour, size, left or right limb, etc.). It just gives you a general foretaste of the chapter.
Comments7
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
CastedCreatures's avatar
It's nice to see you're revising your first story! Nod