Mike knocked on his girlfriends front door, knocking loudly to get her attention. He saw a figure walk past the window and open the door.
Ready to greet his girlfriend, he watched as the door opened and said,
“Hey baby,” in a very flirtatious tone,
“Hey Mikey,” a young voice said. He looked down to see Mary’s 13 year old sister greeting him instead,
“Oh shit!” He said, then quickly covering his mouth, “sorry Milly,” he corrected himself,
“Expecting Mary?” She asked him sarcastically, “she’s in the living room waiting for you,” she ushered Mike in and slammed the door behind him, “she’s been complaining for the last 20 minutes that ‘Mikey’s late, Mikey’s always late!’”
“It’s my bad, I got caught up at the store,” Mike said, “a-and can you not call me Mikey…” he said to the 13 year old, “it’s weird,”
“Sorry Mikey-poo, my bad,” she joked. Milly was always irritating on purpose, but clearly a lot smarter than her sister at that age.
“Mike!” Mary shouted at her boyfriend, leaping from the couch. Mike prepared himself to be slapped, but instead she wrapped her arms around him,
“Ugh…” Milly said, groaning at the couple,
“Don’t be so rude,” another voice said. Mike tilted his head slightly to see Mary and Milly’s mother, Samantha,
“I didn’t see you, Mrs Dean,” Mike said,
“No worries,” Samantha said, smiling.
“What took you so long?” Mary asked impatiently,
“Uhm… I was looking for something fun to do,”
“Whoah…” Milly said, eyes wide from the embarrassment,
“N-no it’s… oh god,” Mike cringed at the thought, Milly enjoyed making people uncomfortable. Mike pulled a small box out of his bag, “it’s a card game,”
The box was wooden, carved very nicely and looking very professional. It had no writing or instructions on it, at least at first glance.
“Interesting,” Samantha said, intrigued, “where did you find it?”
“Just a little store I found in the mall, looked spooky,”
“Mom, can we go?” Milly asked her mother,
“Your sister can take you,” Samantha said, not even looking at Milly,
“Hell no!” Mary said. She looked at her sister and her mother, “are you two gonna leave or what!?” She complained,
“Excuse me?” Samantha said, offended,
“No they can stay for a little while, until they wanna leave,” Mike assured, trying not to be perceived as rude in front of his girlfriends mother. Clearly he gained some points with her as she looked rather impressed.
“Why don’t we all play that card game?” Milly suggested,
“If it’s appropriate,” Samantha said,
“Yeah I’m pretty sure it’s appropriate,” Mike said, “I just asked for a ‘card game I can play with my girlfriend’… so actually I probably could’ve checked beforehand,” he said awkwardly,
“I’m sure it’ll be fine!” Milly said, snatching the box from Mike’s hands.
Mary looked very grumpy, unhappy that her sister AND her mother had to play with them both. She looked Mike in the eyes and took him into the kitchen.
“Hey hey,” Mike started, “I know you don’t wanna play with your mom and sister, but if you wanna take our relationship further I’ve gotta get to know them somehow,”
“Bullshit!” Mary said, pushing Mike against the fridge, “you’re pissed at me for something and you’re doing this to piss me off,”
“Mary…” Mike sighed, “listen, do I have to explain that I’m not pissed at you again. If I was pissed, I would’ve cancelled tonight,”
“Whatever,” Mary said, scoffing away from Mike’s face, still pinning him to the fridge, “it doesn’t even matter,”
Mike pressed his lips into Mary’s. Her eyes went wide, but quickly leaned into the kiss and made out with Mike.
“Is that enough proof?” Mike asked, releasing his lips from Mary’s. Her face was red, she was definitely turned on by that. They smiled at each other, “after we’re done with this little card game, we can go to your room and play our own ‘card game’?” He said, winking in an attempt to be sexy. Failing miserably,
“Stick to the kissing,” Mary said, chuckling at her boyfriend, “I’m just not in a good mood today, but maybe this’ll be fun…”
— — —
Mike and Mary walked back into the living room, finding Milly and Samantha speaking to one-another. They noticed the couple walking in and Milly immediately jumped up to speak to them, “all the cards are blank!”
“W-what?” Mike said,
“They were blank out of the box,” Samantha explained, “such a shame. But I think we have Uno around here… at least a version of Uno,”
“Wait,” Mike said, drawing all eyes to him, “why’d you set up the cards like that?” He asked, pointing to the table the box was placed on.
Suddenly, Milly and Samantha looked incredibly puzzled,
“I didn’t do that…” Milly said,
“Neither did I,” Samantha said, “but the cards are still— t-they’re not blank,” she said, quickly heading to the table,
“What!?” Milly said, joining her.
Mary and Mike looked equally puzzled, but walked to the table together.
On each card:
MICHAEL
MARIA
AMELIA
SAMANTHA
“What the f— heck…” Mary said, “you didn’t do this on purpose?” She asked her boyfriend,
“No of course not! Why would I?” He asked with utter confusion.
The box slid itself shut. Everyone’s eyes widened, scared by what was happening. Suddenly, the box’s wooden shell engraved the words,
‘Each Take Two Change Cards’
The group looked at each other,
“This is messed up…” Mike said, “I didn’t mean to bring this haunted card game in I’m so sorry!”
“Haunted…” Samantha said, prepared to rationalise it, “it doesn’t matter what’s going on, this is not haunted,” she said, sitting herself down at the table in front of her card, “I don’t care what anyone says, magic is not real, never has been, never will be.”
Everyone looked at her, then at themselves,
“I-I’m sorry to be rude, Mrs. Dean,”
“Just call me Samantha!”
“S-Samantha…” Mike started, “but magic is real,” he said, “and I’ve brought it into your home,”
“Wait, magic is real?” Mary asked,
“Yeah, there’s more than enough evidence… I mean look at all the reports from Glendale, that’s more than enough proof,”
“NO!” Samantha shouted, “THIS IS NOT MAGIC!” She insisted, “NOW PLEASE…” she composed herself, “please, can we just pick up our cards,”
No one knew what else to do, so they all sat down at their respective sides of the table in front of their cards.
“Alright,” Samantha said, “I’m sorry for my outburst. But I refuse to accept that this is magic. We must all understand that this is just some magnets or some technology to make the game all ‘spooky’, as you said,” she pointed at Mike,
“R-right… I’m sorry,” he said half-heartedly, knowing what he believed was without a doubt true,
“Now,” Samantha started, “can we all pick our two cards from the, ugh… ‘Change’ deck.”