The Penny Dreadful
Barry, a man whose life was a nuanced tapestry of minor inconveniences, found a gleaming penny on the pavement. "Find a penny, pick it up..." he mumbled, a flicker of optimism igniting in his soul. He pocketed it.
Within minutes, a pigeon, clearly suffering from a rare, projectile strain of avian dysentery, bombed his new shirt. Barry sighed. "Well, can't win 'em all."
He slipped on the aforementioned pigeon-deposit, sending his briefcase skittering into the open sunroof of a passing luxury car, where it landed squarely in a CEO's artisanally brewed kale smoothie. Barry was fired on the spot, via an interpretive dance that involved a very firm, accusatory finger.
Walking home, a meteor (the size of an exceptionally angry grapefruit) narrowly missed his head, instead vaporizing his just-repossessed car. "This," Barry muttered, "is really not good luck."
He checked his pocket. The penny was gone. He saw it, glinting malevolently, stuck in the tire tread of the very repo truck that had just taken his car. The truck then promptly got a flat, swerved, and plunged into an open manhole, causing a localized city-wide power outage.
Barry, now shirtless, jobless, carless, and in a blackout, decided to call it a day. He found a note on his apartment door: "Congratulations! You've won the 'Worst Week Ever' award. Your prize: a year's supply of stale crackers and a single, pre-chewed piece of gum. Also, your landlord is raising the rent."
He looked up, and a faint glint caught his eye. Another penny. He debated. He cautiously reached for it. A bolt of lightning from a perfectly clear sky struck the penny, turning it into a tiny, smoking crater on the pavement, and knocking Barry unconscious.
He awoke in a hospital, heavily bandaged. "Good news," said a nurse cheerfully. "You're alive! Bad news, Mr. Barry. We found a small, charred, ancient coin melted into your hand. Our experts say it's quite rare... and potentially cursed. Good luck with that." Barry just stared at the ceiling, wondering if a meteor could truly target one specific person.