Slots

The machine was big and red, and looked extremely old, with long cracks in several places across it. The text at the top, Slot-O-Matic, was chipped and faded. The company’s name right below was intelligible, though Alec thought he could make out an L. A giant gold-colored handle jutted from the machine’s right side, the only part of the machine that looked new, as if no one had used the machine before. It buzzed and hummed quietly, like an electrical outlet. Strangely, Alec had also not seen anyone else use the machine, and in the entire time he was at the casino, not one person even got near it. He couldn’t tell why he himself had even gone to that specific machine. But when he walked over to it and sat down, he felt like he was supposed to be here, like he would win big or something.
Bar-Bar-Seven. Dang it! Alec sighed in frustration and put another quarter into the slot machine. Alec pulled the gold-colored handle again. Seven-Seven-Bell. Seriously? Alec kicked the machine and reached into his wallet to fish out another quarter. His wallet was lighter than he remembered, and found that there were only two quarters left. Plucking one of the quarters out, Alec prepared to insert it into the machine when he stopped. When he kicked the machine, the display had changed. Now, it read all Sevens. 
Alec got a plan as a smile slowly spread across his face. He put his penultimate coin into the machine, pulled the handle, and watched as the display began to spin. But right as it was stopping, Alec kicked the machine. The machine came out as three bars as coins started spewing out of the collection box. There have to be at least a hundred dollars in there! Alec thought. Scooping them up enthusiastically, Alec got ready to put in his last dollar when he heard a voice shriek behind him. “Hey, that’s cheating!” the person behind him yelled. It came from an old man, with disheveled gray hair and a long white beard. His clothes were raggedy and wrinkled but remarkably clean as if he had worn them through a car wash. “Stop!” 
“Oh, buzz off, old man!” Alec responded, perhaps more angrily than he intended. The old man scurried off, muttering nonsense to himself, and Alec put his last quarter into the machine. He kicked it again, and again it landed on another three-of-a-kind. Grabbing the rest of the coins, Alex accidentally pricked his finger on a sharp bit at the bottom of the machine. “OW!!!” Alec yelled and dislodged his finger. The sharp bit was small, fortunately, and there was only a small hole in his finger. Grabbing the rest of the coins, he went to redeem them for money. A small trickle of blood dripped from his finger.
Alec woke up with a start. Oh, My head, he thought. He could hardly remember the last night. Fresh off his win, which totaled exactly 300 dollars, Alec met up with his friends at his apartment. He sat up and took the covers off. He was about to slide off his bed when he saw his leg. Up to right below his knees both of his legs were bright red. Alec leaned forward and touched his leg and immediately withdrew it. His leg felt hard and cold. Jumping out of bed, he shook his head. “Oh ha ha, real funny guys!” Alec yelled nervously. “Now get this stuff on my legs!”. He was met with no response. “G-guys?” Alec said again, not being able to keep a stutter out of his voice. He was able to walk with his legs, but just barely. He could still bend his knees, but he could not move his feet at all. Opening the door of his bedroom, he found his apartment deserted. His friends must have left early. Alec’s apartment was a mess; it looked as if everything could be broken or in its wrong place, but he paid no attention to that. 
He needed to get to a doctor. He struggled to put on his shoes and ran to his car as fast as he could. The tough and cracked redness on his legs had spread up past his knees to near his thigh, and Alec, no longer able to end his knees, had to wobble to get into his car. Getting in, Alec pumped on the gas as low as it would go and sped off. Driving down the street, Alec could see his “infection” spreading faster and faster. Now his body up to his chest had turned bright red, and it had even reached up to his arms. His left arm was turning the same shade of red, and it started to move on its own. He tried to stop it, but it glued itself to his side. His right arm, however, was turning gold. Gold. He remembered the gold handle of the machine he cheated on the day before. Looking down, he realized the redness spreading up, now halfway up his arms and close to his neck, was the same old and cracked red of the Slot-O-Matic.
Just like the machine.
Alec could hardly move anymore. He needed help immediately. He pulled over to the nearest building, the casino. How ironic, Alec thought. Opening the door, he hobbled out as fast as he could and went through the door. “Help!”. he yelled to the people milling around the casino, but he was ignored. “Hello?! Can anyone hear me?” Alec yelled, but he was ignored once again. He threw himself at a passerby but passed right through them. 
“Hello?!?” Alec yelled again, running more and more slowly through the people, but he was ignored completely. He could barely move anymore. The red stuff had spread over his entire body, and he started to expand. His left arm was absorbed into his side and disappeared. His right arm stuck at an almost unnatural angle and turned gold. “He-!” Alec tried to scream, but his voice was cut short. He could no longer talk, move, or do anything. As a thousand thoughts raced through his mind for a minute, he saw a familiar person: it was the old man from the previous day. The man was staring directly at him and started to walk over. A small wave of relief washed over Alec. The man stood over the slot machine that was once Alec. But instead of doing anything, the man waved at him with an evil smile painted on his face before turning around and leaving. No! No!, Alec thought as the man exited the casino. His last thoughts were of fear and confusion before everything stopped forever.
Michelle stumbled as she entered the casino. With a new wad of money, she was ready to get as much out of it as she could. Looking for a machine, she found a peculiar red one, with the word Slot-O-Matic printed on top. It was old and cracked, and no one in the crowded casino was even near it. Seemingly drawn to it, Michelle put a quarter into the machine and pulled the handle.
Category:Weird
Category:Items/Objects