Writing Prompt: His laughter was infectious.

Morning all and welcome to Friday. Yup only one more prompt to go this week, lets make it a good one. Timers set and off we go.

I am going to have to think about this. No clue what the plan is, maybe he was testing a charm out or simply did want someone to laugh at his jokes. Maybe something nefarious is coming. Won’t that be fun?

Friday, August 28^th: His laughter was infectious.

His laughter was infectious.  The room couldn’t stop laughing.  Tears welled up in eyes and as long as he laughed none of the rest of us could stop.  I tried.  But the laughter kept bubbling out of my throat.  I didn’t think what he said was particularly funny, in fact I hadn’t heard most of it as I was standing rather far back in the crowd.  And yet I was laughing along with everyone else.  I looked around even as the laugh spilled from my throat and tears leaked out of the corner of my eyes. 

All other eyes were trained on him as he lifted a glass, his laughter finally tapering off.  The rest of us were slowly allowed to descend from tear-inducing hilarity all the way down to mild amusement.  I wiped the tears from my face, but I couldn’t get the smile to fade. 

I certainly wasn’t happy.  I looked around but no one else seemed bothered by this.  I was the only one who had a problem.  ‘This can’t be normal.’

He took a sip and with his sip my need to smile faded.  I was able to let the amusement fall from my face.  I was one of the few who did.  Others still seemed amused and gazed at him with something akin to adoration.  I looked around the room and saw several of his cohorts stationed near the doorways.  They were looking over the room as though trying to pick up on any descent. I had a twist of unease in my guts and I plastered the smile back on my face.

As I turned once more to look at Alister as he stood in the center of the room surrounded by his adoring fans I noticed that each of the ‘friends’ who accompanied him here wore a small pin on their lapel.  I couldn’t make out the details of it from this distance but something about it seemed familiar.  Seeing one of the bodyguard shaped friends start to look in my direction I focused on our host. 

I kept my smile up and as he lowered his glass and began to speak, I saw the others start to lean in as though eager for his every word.  I too leaned in slightly, pleased that I had to tell myself to do so rather than being forced to do it.  As I leaned in with the others, I saw the guards dismiss me, their gaze slipping past me to continue their perusal of the crowd.  I also realized why the symbol on their lapels looked familiar.

Theresa had given me a strange coin with an odd symbol earlier that evening.  She said it was a good luck charm and that I should keep it on me all night.  I could feel the weight of it in my pocket.  The strange symbol looked a lot like those the men were wearing. 

I remembered Theresa’s insistence and thinking that at least a coin was better than other good luck charms she tried to give me in the past.  I also recalled her brow furrowed in concern and her eyes looking nearly panicked.  ‘She knew something,’ I thought.

At first, I wanted to be angry that she didn’t tell me.  Then I realized the pointlessness of that.  I knew I wouldn’t have listened.  She knew I wouldn’t have listened.  ‘So she gave me the coin instead and hoped I wouldn’t just toss it in the car’s ashtray where my loose change lives no doubt,’ I thought.

When I left her, I would owe her a big apology.  ‘If I leave here,’ I added to myself.  I still didn’t know what was going on but I doubted we were all here because our host wanted someone to laugh at his bad jokes.