###Devin's Rules

WC: 764

His name is Devin Blake and a year ago he was just another oblivious high school student with no direction in life. But that all changed in just a handful of minutes. His impenetrable bastion of indifference had come crashing down around him as his father’s office building collapsed as well.

They said it was a terrorist attack—a disgruntled worker named Steve from accounting. But that didn’t make sense. Devin knew Steve from accounting. He spent time at his house, ate dinner with his family, and even laughed at the same jokes Devin had. No—it was not any Steves from accounting.

It’s now midnight, on the eve of the one-year anniversary that altered his post-high school career path. Today, there is to be a grand unveiling ceremony, another monument in his country’s overgrowing garden of consolation prizes. “Sorry, about your loss. Here’s a statue to serve as a symbol for our condolences. Just don’t forget to re-elect us.”

As he walks towards the vacant square, a platform and a podium sit in the center alongside a covered monument. All of the building’s rubble had been removed before they brought in the landscaping crews to install the grass and colorful flowers. The square had changed almost as much as he had.

Devin’s hair is no longer his natural color, being jet black and long enough to touch the top of his shoulders. His dad had always worn a jacket and tie to work, but since his dad no longer needed them, he decided to where one of them tonight. It’s too big though, and the sleeves hang over his knuckles as he brushes his thumb against the card inside the waist pocket.

When all the news stations started blaming Steve, Devin checked out of what everyone else was already repeating. He instead took his time and attention into the darker corners of the web. The places behind and under those other spaces that most don’t dare to look. It didn’t take long to find the ever-expanding conspiracy theories about governmental and big business involvement in terrorist plots.

Without really caring what others were theorizing, he again looked beyond and became enthralled with realities other than the “real-one” and the “narrative-one” that the media perpetuated. No, he chased a way to grasp something beyond what others would try to sell him as “real” or “truth.”

That was when he discovered magic.

As he stops at the city square and retrieves the card from his waist pocket, the light of the full moon glistens off the card’s surface. It has a rainbow sheen that isn’t typical for Uno Cards. Devin turns it over, seeing the two arrows pointing away from each other. He spins it between his fingertips, then holds it aloft as he looks towards the covered statue. “Well, dad,” he says, “Here’s to hoping this doesn’t just mess up your memorial.”

He slams the card down onto the grass covered square.

Devin backs up, not knowing what to expect. He first notices the moon as it begins shifting through various phases while moving around in the sky. He then sees the stars drifting as his world continues to shift.

Shocked, he reaches to cover his mouth with his hands, then finds his sleeves completely covering his fingertips. He looks down to his jacket and it too is considerably looser. He reaches for the hair at his shoulder, and it’s not there, soon finding it cut short like he used to keep it.

He looks back to the square and finds his father’s office building where it belongs, then turns on his heel to march home. He has plans for his father and Steve to attend an impromptu lunch this afternoon. Attendance will be mandatory.

During a surprise lunch from the zero-initiative, high school Devin, phones start going off as social media comes alive. All across the nation, reports are coming in about missing government officials with only cinders in their last known locations. The two main news networks are also off the air due to similar circumstances around key personnel.

Devin walks over to give his father and Steve a beer as they take a break from complaining about work. Their conversation then pivots onto the growing pandemonium that is now gripping the nation.

Devin walks away from the two of them, then leans against the nearby tree of their backyard. He pulls two cards from his back pocket. They have rainbow sheens on one side, and he turns them over to find a mostly blank side. Across the top says, “House Rules.”