The Curse

“God, I’m fucking thirsty.” I licked my lips as I continued down the street “There’s a vending machine around here isn't there?”

“I still don’t know why I had to start doing these weekend walks.” I muttered to myself as I continued my weekend walk.

“Hopefully the vending machine is just down the street.” I reached around to my back pocket and pulled my wallet free. “Maybe if I'm lucky, they added a snack machine too.”

I continued down the street past the tall buildings “Is that it?” I stopped and side stepped towards the edge of the sidewalk and craned my neck out.

“Yes! They still have a coke machine!” I quickened my pace to a light jog and pulled a dollar from my wallet.

“So fuckin’ thisrty. Gonna get a nice cold coke and take a break.” I huffed out as I turned the corner to see a sleek, brightly lit, red box that stood a foot taller than I did.

I looked at the small display. “Shit, its a dollar-fifty now? Greedy bastards.” I reached into my pockets for a pair of quarters and slide them into the change slot as I feed the dollar into the bill slot.

“Ok coke, here we come!” I jammed my fingers onto the coke button and the machine whirred to life as it rattled with moving gears and servos.

“Ow ow ow! Damn machine, I’m moving already!” A loud female voice came from the machine

“Coke, you ok in there?” I stepped back as the machine continued to rattle and whir.

A dark colored, glass hoof slide out of the front slot. “Yeah yeah, I’m good. Just getting groped by a damn dispenser arm that doesn’t know anything about personal space.”

Another hoof popped past the slot. “Almost there.” The hoof extended a little further out. “A little help please?”

“Oh, uh. Yeah, I got’cha ya.” I reached down to her and wrapped my hands tightly around her glass hoofs. “Ok, give it another push and I’ll pull from this end.”

We worked in tandem, pulling and pushing, as Coke fully slid free of the machine. “Geez,it wasn’t this hard to get you out of the machine the first time was it?”

I let go of Coke as she stood on all four hooves, looking up to me. “No, they’ve started using bigger bottles.” She said with an exacerbated sigh. “Speaking of bigger bottles, you’ve put on a bit of weight.” Coke said as she began to pace around me, eying up my current physique.

“Why the fuck does everyone think I fat!?! This is ridiculous!” I yelled back as Coke came to rest in front of me.

Coke stared back at me with a deadpan expression. “Seriously, you don’t think you’re fat?” Coke jammed her hoof into my gut “Then what the hell do you call this?”

“Ok, I may have put on a little extra weight--” I grabbed my sides

“A little? Dad, you fat.” Coke pushed away from me.

“Fine, I’m fat. Happy?” smiling as wide as I could. “Can I have a drink now? I’m kinda thirsty.”

Coke turned and placed a hoof to her chin. “Hmm, I don’t know. Do I reward you with more sugar after you’ve clearly had too much?” She spoke in a sing-songy tone.

“Ouch, that hurts. You guys keep calling me fat, I might just take offence to that.” I returned in the same tone

“Alright alright, cut the SJW bull.” She turned back to me. “I’ll make you a bet. We’ll race home and if you win, you can drink me.” A smile spread across cokes face. “But If I win, you have to do whatever I tell you for a week.

“Fine, and when I win, you and everyone at the house will finally see that I’m not fat.” I moved to the corner in the direction of my house. “You know how to get there?”

Coke stepped up next to me. “Yep, you’ve walked me home before. You can count down when you’re ready.”

“Alright, 3. 2. 1. GO!” I started off running as fast as I could carry myself. “Shit this is a lot harder than just walking.”

Coke caught up quickly. “Man, that’s as fast as you can run? Looks like you’re pretty much done.”

Sweat poured from me as I wheezed. “Fuck- you- I’m not- fat!”

“Fine, you’re not fat.” Coke started top pull ahead. “I’ll see you at the house, slave!”

I slowed to a walking pace. “Damnit, she’s fast” Coke was almost a quarter mile down the road before I even got to the next intersection. “I have a feeling that this week is going to be a long one.” I huffed as I continued down the street.