let's play uno

oh great, they've done it now

Even now, hours past curfew, everyone was still up playing the same game of Uno. Tom had the foresight to bring five extra decks in case they ran out of cards. "Using the played pile is for strategic people, not us," he said.

"I think it's a bit pointless," David said, "even with the pile there's still multiple copies of each card."

"But!" Tom said, pointing his finger up to exaggerate, "What do you suppose the Uno Gods think? They don't want cards to be reused, they get dirty very quickly."

"Even following your 'Uno God' logic it doesn't make sense. Why would 'They' allow five other decks to be used unnecessarily?

"Ooh... you don't want to criticize Them. It's bad." Tom put down his hand and stood up tall. He made his hand into a fist and put his thumb to his forehead.

"Uh..." said John, "what's going on, buddy?" Tom responded by shushing him.

"Tom, let's just get back to the game now, alright?" asked Ethan, "I'm sure They will understand."

"I don't really care what 'They' think," said David. He got up and pulled Tom's arm from his forehead. As soon as he did, lightning struck outside the dorm window.

"Holy shit!" yelled John, "Isn't it like, May-"

"Why... did you... interrupt me?" Tom yelled at David.

"Surely you don't think me interrupting your craziness caused that weather, right?"

Tom turned to John, "What shape was the lightning?"

"Uh, I, it was close to a three line one, I guess," said John, still reeling back from the shock.

"A one?" Tom started pacing back and forth the dorm room nervously, repeating, "It was a one, no that can't be."

David grasped Tom's shoulder, "Come on man, there's no way anything of this is related."

Tom threw David's hand off him, "I've never seen a one! I don't what it means, I don't know if this game is safe anymore!"

"Whoa whoa whoa, what do you mean by 'safe'?" asked Ethan.

"I don't have time to get into the whole pantheon right now but what's important is that whatever number John saw determines the game's future," Tom made eye contact with him, Ethan, and finally David, "and ours as well."

David had one thing to say to all of this.

"Fuck."