"A novelty radio?"
Held out to the light of the moon was her prize, a small yet surprisingly weighty device of some sort. Encrusted with dirt the fine details were definitely hard to make out, but it was shaped like a slot machine for sure, though where the hole for winnings would be was instead a speaker. It also had no lever on its side, leaving it only as a simple, wooden box with it's speaker and four blank slots.
"Well, not the worst thing I could dig up at a… construction site in the middle of the night…"
On her knees having just dug through dirt with her bare hands in a giant ditch with the moon high in the sky, it finally began to dawn on Mikayla that she should go ahead and get home already.
And maybe actually consider not drinking so much anymore.
Maybe.
"Woo boy."
Standing was hard, her legs trembling a bit from a mix of the cold air, her recent tumble, and the alcohol still in her system. Clambering out of the hole with the device in hand and almost falling back in, she retrieved her cell phone and ordered an Uber. It took a while for someone to respond this late but eventually a nice older man pulled up next to her on the curb she had been sitting at. She climbed in, more or less passed out the whole ride, groggily got out once the driver informed her they'd reached her house, went in and haphazardly slapped the radio thing on the living room table and finally trudged herself down the hall to her room where she flopped onto her bed and was asleep before she head hit the pillow.
The remainder of the night was quiet, all except for a low, almost silent buzzing sound…
******
"Mikayla what the hell is this thing?!"
"Gubaghuh?"
Rising from her tequila induced slumber, the young woman held all the grace of a bulldog that just got finished playing in mud. Having gone straight to sleep and not even changing her clothes, she was still covered in dirt, her hair was a nightmare, and she stank of alcohol. Only barely managing not to fall while getting out of bed Mikayla was thankful that she was spared mercifully from a hangover this time. She already knew today was gonna be hard enough as it was as Brooke yelled at her from across the house again.
"Did you hear me?! Do I have to come get you up?!"
"I AM UP BROOKE JESUS!"
Not bothering in the least to try and hide her disheveled looks before exiting her room Mikayla practically crawled her way down the hall to the living room where Brooke was standing with her hands on her wide hips and a deep frown on her face.
"You look like what the cat dragged in from the gutter Mikayla."
"Yeah well fuck you, you're… fat!"
"Classy."
Sarcastic didn't seem a strong enough word for how Brooke said it, but moving on she gestured to something on the little coffee table.
"I can only assume you went overboard again and drank until you threw up, but what is this thing you brought with you? Another impulsive purchase while you were too drunk to see what you were buying?"
Mikayla squinted at the table, her vision still adjusting to the waking world. There was a blurry block sitting there. Rubbing her eyes a bit roughly she blinked and looked again, yet despite it being clearer now she still couldn't quite understand what she was looking at.
"Uh, I mean, I did pick up something like that for sure, but it wasn't as clean…"
It was indeed the little slot machine from last night still sitting where she had sloppily left it last night, but somehow it was now pristine, completely spotless of any dirt or grime. The deep brown wood was almost shining while the metal trimming did in fact shine brilliantly in the sun. The cloth covering the speaker was now free of stains and almost looked like it had just been washed. One could have believed it was taken straight off the assembly line which stood in direct contrast with the dirt imbued thing Mikayla had found.
"Clean? What, did you find it in the garbage?"
"Wha-no, I found it at that construction site where they're building the new whatever in town-"
"You were digging around at a work zone?!"
"Yeah, whatever, but I swear when I found the radio it was-"
"Good god Mikayla, do you not realize you have a drinking problem?!"
"I don't have a problem you over inflated blimp, now shut up and-!"
"Piss off, I am not a damned blimp! It's just not fair you can literally drown yourself in cheap beer and not gain an ounce while I actually have to work to keep up my figure!"
"Fucking hell it wasn't cheap beer it was tequila and I wasn't that drunk!"
"You reek worse of alcohol than a brewery! You couldn't go a full month without partying, let alone drinking like it was your last!"
"I know exactly how much and how little to drink thank you very fucking much, I don't have self control issues like you do you sweets guzzling rule thumper!"
"WOULD YOU LIKE TO BET ON IT?"
"The fuck-?!"
"WHO-?!"
Both of them went quiet when a third voice, loud and tinny, interrupted them. Caught off guard they didn't know where it had come from and were looking all around the room for it's source when it repeated itself.
"WOULD YOU LIKE TO BET ON IT?"
This time they both looked immediately to the slot machine, unmistakably the voice had come from it, confirmed when it asked them a third time.
"WOULD YOU LIKE TO BET ON IT?"
"Mikayla turn that thing off."
"I don't know how, it just started doing that on its own."
"WOULD YOU-"
"That's really getting annoying, what station even is that?"
"I don't think it's a radio station, I think it's what it does. Or at least I hope this isn't a station."
"WOU-"
"Well then what the hell does it mean "bet on it"? Just hurry up and turn-"
"A BET FOR WHO CAN LAST A FULL MONTH WITHOUT INDULGING THEIR VICES."
"Wait what? This thing is listening to us?!'
"I guess, maybe it's like, a recording device for keeping records or whatever."
"I don't like it, just get rid of it already!"
"Hold up, I wanna know how it works. What's the harm in accepting a bet, scared to prove me right fatty?"
"I am not fat! Look if I say yes will you take that to your room or something?"
"Fine, but only after you agree to the bet."
"This is so childish… Yes, I will take the stupid bet."
There was a clicking sound from the machine for a moment before it spoke again.
"BET SET, BOTH PLAYERS MUST NOT INDULGE IN THEIR CHOSEN VICES FOR ONE MONTH OR THEY LOSE. HOW MUCH WEIGHT DO YOU WAGER?"
"Weight? What does it mean weight?"
It answered them when the slots began to spin until it displayed a number.
"BROOKE WIDER, CURRENT WEIGHT 203 LBS."
Before they could react the slots spun to a new number.
"MIKAYLA WIDER, CURRENT WEIGHT 187 LBS."
"What the fuck?! How does it know that Mikayla? Are you playing a prank on me?!"
"Hey this isn't me, shit is just as weird for me too, but it seems fun."
"The hell do you mean it seems fun?!"
"All it knows is our names and weights Brooke, not like those are the greatest kept secrets. Maybe it's wifi enabled and it pulled it from the net. All I know is that I want to see what else it does. Just tell it what you want to wager, I'll do the same and we go from there ok?"
"Mikayla, I really don't think-"
"What's the worst that can happen? All you're doing is telling it a number, that's all. I promise if it gets any stranger I'll throw it out."
Brooke couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her stupid sister was really telling her she should play along with the random slot machine in their house that had information about them in it!
...But she did have to admit she was curious too. Looking into Mikayla's puppy dog eyes it was clear she really wanted to do this, whatever it was. She was hesitant, really hesitant to say yes to this, but realistically speaking nothing bad had actually happened yet. Looking at the novel little slot machine made it hard anything would either.
After some contemplation Brooke-
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