Exercise: You wake up and find . . .

Our writing exercise this week consisted of a random situation. You wake up and find yourself . . . We each had to fill the rest in and then hand the situation off to the next person. That unfortunate person then had to write a small piece revolving around what they had been given. The one I received was:

Exercise: You Wake Up And Find Yourself Next To Someone With A Blue Scaly Arm . . .

It was supposed to have been a good night - and by all means, from what I remember, it was. But as I woke up, the questions and realisations came flooding back. Someone had opened a flood gate in my head, and because it all came rushing back so fast, none of it made sense.

The person lying in bed next to me stirred, bringing me closer to consciousness.

The Voodoo man. I remembered him. He was the most prominent figure in it all. I liked his scruffy but strangely sophisticated style, and I found myself drawn to him with curiosity. His black tatty top hat stood tall above the crowd, and his dreadlocks hung low beneath it.

My friend had taken an instant dislike to him. After a few drinks his mouth often run off ahead of him, screaming obscenities and abuse. The Voodoo man didn't take too kindly to this.

I don't know why I remembered him only as the Voodoo man. I don't believe in magic - be it white or black magic - and I don't believe in any religious views or the paranormal, but there had been something about him that, despite my curiosity, chilled my blood. A dark shadow seemed to follow him everywhere, and as he muttered silent words to himself, a green glimmer glowed in his dark eyes. Now, it could have been the alcohol playing games with my head, but at the time I believed what I saw and I was frightened.

Grabbing the arm of my friend, I ushered him away without even looking back.

The friend beside me stirred again, and I opened my eyes. I didn't even have to look over at him to know that something was wrong. The blue scaly arm that draped itself over me was enough to tell me that, and my mind didn't even have to think very hard before it realised it was all the Voodoo man's doing.

He had cursed my friend and turned him into something blue and scaly.

I didn't want to look at the rest of him.

I just screamed.