"Don't do it." Andrew hissed at me as I teetered backwards and forwards on the 12th step. It was an open secret at Gispert High to never set foot on the 13th step of the main hall staircase, every day I would see thousands of kids hesitate before stepping over it in their desperate bid to get to class on time. A few kids were understandable, but everyone including the facility was just to much for me.

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I've always prided myself on my logic and reasoning. Able to deduce the true and factual answer from everything. And this, was just mass paranoia. No, mass stupidity. 13 wasn't unlucky. Nothing was inherently unlucky. It was just pure stupidity, and I was going to prove them wrong.

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'So why was I hesitating?'

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"C'mon." Andrew persisted, "We have class soon. Don't bother with it." Still, I stood there staring at the offending piece of marble. Refusing to take my eyes off of it, like some primal fear of the unknown.

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Suddenly, and wordlessly, I stepped onto the 13th step. Instantly, Andrew recoiled out of fear, shielding his face out of instinct, yet nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. People continued talking, people kept on walking, No bomb or unforeseen tragedy occurred, putting me or anyone in danger.

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Crossing my arms, I stared triumphantly at him.

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"You owe me $50 now." I smiled.

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"Wait, something could happen!" He shot back, eyeing the entire room around me. His pale face was slowly growing red with embarrassment.

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"Yeah, you tell me when." And with that, I stepped forward, only to step on nothing.

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While gloating, I had subconsciously flipped back into autopilot. The autopilot that had carried me up these 13 steps of stairs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, pause, step onto second floor. I was still stuck on phase 12, and was stepping one step higher than I should be to make it to the second floor. I tried desperately to correct myself, and pulled back, slipping on the marble tile edge, and falling backwards down the stairs.

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12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. I hit every single stair, then hit the floor, hard.

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Crunch.

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Darkness surrounded me.

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I was awoken by a heart monitor, or was I just awoken by myself? I will never know. All I do know for certain is that most likely never walk again.

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I had landed right on my neck at the ground floor. From witness accounts, there was no blood, no mess, just a poor kid falling down the stairs to hit the floor with an awfully sounding crack. Then nothing. No movement whatsoever until Andrew came down after me... like me.

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In his panic, he had stepped on the 13th step while running down, he tripped... and was less lucky than me. I apparently had to be pulled out from under his corpse as he was a rather large kid. Ran for the quarterback.

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It's days like these were I consider my place in the world. Where I think that logic isn't what it's all cracked up to be. Is the step truly unlucky? I... still don't know. Even though I might never walk again, and my best friend died a horrible death, I still can't say. Maybe I'm a coward and fool for refusing to look god in the eye and understand that some things are just unlucky.