Written in college. I think you'll see why.
Kaoru stared at the vending machine in front of her. It was an entity of darkness. If it had a soul, it would have been sold to the devil and it would have enjoyed it! It wasn't as if it was innocent.
Oh no.
Its first sin was that clear, plastic cover. It just sat there, content to let its prey come to it, like one of those hopping spiders. It knew its own allure. It didn't bother to camouflage itself. It had something even more tempting: chocolate.
Chocolate that was cleverly packaged with bright colors to catch your attention. Even if you didn't want chocolate, you were forced to stop and stare with the sort of dull acknowledgement of life giving sweets between classes. It was freedom. It was liberation. It was redemption from the boring lectures that rang meaninglessly through your brain even after you have left the classroom.
The gates of hell cleverly disguised as slots for quarters or dollars guarded the goods.
Assuming you had change, you could only bribe the machine to operate if the coins were in silver: quarters, dimes and nickels. Pennies were an unacceptable tribute. The temptation before you mocked your efforts to dig through your bag, looking for any small, silver piece that might have slipped between the pages of a book or hidden by your chapstick.
If you had a dollar, only prayer and the cleverest of un-wrinkling techniques disguised as worship would convince the gates to actually accept your dollar. Time and time again, it would taste your pain and spit it back out.
Yet, the gates were not its most clever defense. Eventually, you breeched the gates, and once that lingering taste of victory sat on your tongue you watched the little turns and knobs twisted your hard-earned spoils in your direction…
And stopped.
Frustration.
No matter how many times you 'bump' the machine, it refuses to give into your demands. It continues to mock you, the reward you crave hanging on by a thread and refusing to move.
Starring at the candy bar that was her only source of life for the next, extremely boring lecture, Kaoru kicked the machine in frustration. This was why universities only gave you a few moments' in-between classes. They who sat at the front of the class with their little bags of pretzels and their water bottles, the mocking smile of someone who knows that the vending machine claimed a new victim…
The sound of someone clearing their throat pulled Kaoru out of her frustrated glower. Turning around, she stared at the person who dared interrupt her attempt to subdue the machine into behaving. Vaguely recognizing the person, she watched slightly stupefied as he reached over and rocked the machine with a well-executed flex of muscle.
The sound of something hitting the bottom of the machine twisted her back around to stare where the candy bar had been. Blinking, she looked back over at the redhead who offered her a faintly charming smile, nodded his head, and walked away.
Vending machine angels really did exist.
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