A new pack of playing cards made an adequate birthday present.
Dennis had just had his 9th birthday party and was ready for the kids from his class to go home. He did enjoy their company but he knew that the few that had shown were just in it for the cake and ice cream. His mother owned a popular cake shop and the kids were quite aware of the excellent sweets. Dennis sighed when his classmates sang happy birthday to him. He didn't dare to look around at the group of people so he locked his gaze onto the flickering candle that sat, slightly crooked, on top of the cake his mother made. His mother took pictures, his classmates looked bored but hopeful for cake, and his aunt, uncle, and cousins clapped and cheered loudly for his special day. Through the uncomfortable hype of the moment, Dennis disconnected from his wailing guests, and for a short while, it was just him and the candle flame.
"Make a wish!" His mother gestured with one hand while the other fastened the camera to her face. If his mother wasn't a baker she'd be a photographer; always taking pictures of anything and everything she could.
Dennis sighed, trying to be as subtle as he could, but his discontent sparkled with the flame as he blew it out. The stream of smoke marked for the phony cheering to come to an end. His wish had come true and it was present time.
One by one the boy opened his presents. Dennis did enjoy the gifts he received. One gift was a new basketball and another was a large container of glittery slime that looked edible but was not. He also got books, a new video game, and finally, a pack of playing cards. There was something about the playing cards that drew Dennis in immediately. Oddly, he paid more attention to the pack of cards than he did to the video game he had been begging for. The playing card pack didn't look new. The box had deep creases and showed plenty of wear. It was a black box with a gold foil design on it. When he opened the box and took the cards out, he fanned through the cards, exposing the gold foil designs on the card faces.
Later in the night, Dennis was happy that the party was over. His classmates enjoyed their cake, his aunt, uncle, and cousins told their never-ending stories, and finally, everyone had gone home and no more pictures were being taken. Dennis sat in his bed with the playing cards laid out in front of him on his fleece blanket. He practiced shuffling; a skill he was getting better at. The cards looked like they'd seen hours of shuffling and still looked good. Dennis admired the gold and the richness of the black. He had never seen cards like this before.
As Dennis shuffled through the cards he looked closely at the different suits. The 2 of hearts, the 6 of spades, the ace of diamonds. He loved how the cards looked and when he shuffled the deck again, he pulled a card out and placed it on the bed face down. Dennis turned the card over to reveal the 4 of spades. The card started to change. Dennis blinked and rubbed his eyes but there was no mistaking it. The design on the card was changing. The gold foil looked like liquid as it swirled on the black surface. Dennis watched until the card formed a new design. He was confused at first but then he came to recognize what the design was. He saw his aunt, uncle, and cousins driving home in their car. The image on the card was in motion and Dennis looked on with awe and confusion. The image of his relatives continued to show them driving down a road when something popped in front of the car. A deer had jumped in front of them, causing the car to veer off the road and flip into a ditch. Dennis gasped, looking away. And when he looked back at the card he didn't see his relatives. He only saw the 4 of spades.
The next morning Dennis found his mom crying in the kitchen with the phone in her hand. He asked her what was wrong and she looked at him while wiping the tears away.
"Sweetheart, last night your aunty, uncle, and the kids were in an accident. Their car was found flipped on the side of the road and— well dear, they are no longer with us."
Dennis felt his temperature drop at the news and couldn't help but cry. He hated seeing his mom in tears so to comfort her, he let his mother hold him for a while. He sat with her at the kitchen table and he listened to her stories about her sister, brother-in-law, niece, and nephew. Suddenly, Dennis realized that the day before, on his birthday, he wasn't exactly friendly with them. In fact, he was quite cold. He now knew that he'd never be able to take it back.
About an hour had passed when the boy's mom needed to leave to meet with a funeral director. Dennis was left alone. Still in disbelief, he remembered what had happened the night before with the playing cards. He had the image of that card burned into his mind and he could still see his relatives meeting their end. He imagined the sounds of the car crashing and could almost hear their screaming before silence fell upon the toppled car. Dennis jolted up from the kitchen table and rushed up to his room. He threw the door open and looked on the nightstand for the playing cards. He was sure he put them aside before going to bed. They weren't there. Instead, they were right in the center of his bed. Dennis rushed to his mom's room to retrieve her camera. He thought that maybe he could capture something with it if he played with the cards again.
He sat the camera on the nightstand and angled it to where he would sit on the bed with the deck of playing cards. After getting the angle just right, he pressed the record button. Dennis climbed up on his bed and lifted the pack of playing cards to show the camera. He took them out of the box and quickly scanned the cards to see if there was anything different. Then he showed the cards to the camera to document that they seemed like normal playing cards. Dennis shuffled through the deck, placed it on the bed, and drew one card. He held his eyes shut as he did this and when he opened his eyes, he saw the card he picked change. the gold foil once again melted to liquid and swirled on the surface of the card. Dennis shoved the card toward the camera, making sure that he held the card as steady as he could. When he pulled the card back from the camera to look at it, he saw his mom.
Dennis' mom was on the card. She was locking her car and it looked like she was about to cross the street to get to a funeral parlor that was on the other side. Dennis recognized the building; he passed it all the time when he walked home from school. His mom crossed the street and right before she was about to walk up the front steps of the building, she stopped. She suddenly looked faint and wobbly. Dennis watched as his mother fell to the ground, clutching her chest. After a few moments, his mother was no longer moving. The card had returned to normal. A queen of hearts.
Dennis threw the card down and stared at the camera that was recording. He leaned forward to grab it so he could rewatch the footage. When he played it back, he saw himself, holding a normal playing card with the queen of hearts embellished in gold foil.