Thankfully, He Does

Alex pulled into his driveway. He jumped out of his car and grabbed the grocery bags from the trunk. He slammed the trunk closed and ran to the front door. Pulling it open with his free hand, Alex rushed inside and let his family know he was home.

"I'm back!"

He panted and hunched over as he took deep breaths and tried to steady his beating heart.

He stood back up straight, kicked off his shoes, and ran into the living room with the bags of snacks and ice cream.

On the living room couch, Mackenzie and Natalie were curled up, holding each other, crying together as The Notebook played on the TV.

"Here you go, guys."

Like ravenous beasts, the girls ripped the bags out of his hand and got to work.

While they were munching on candy and chocolate, Alex stood there a bit awkwardly. Taking the chance to enjoy the pause, Alex fidgeted with the watch a bit. Deciding to experiment a bit, he turned the dial that moved the minute hand. The minute hand clicked over to point at the right N.

Alex wondered what the setting did. Or if he was just crazy and messing with a fake watch. He noted that the top N, as far as he knew, made it so that his actions appeared to others as... natural.

What the hell.

The word seemed to appear in his mind, followed by some lightheadedness, after he figured out what the setting did. Now he knew it was a 50/50 on whether he was crazy or the watch was magical.

Alex looked down at the two in front of him. The girls burned through the snacks like oxygen in a house fire, before popping open the ice cream tub and taking out chunks with the plastic spoons Alex had bought.

Still standing there awkwardly, Alex became a bit frustrated. They obviously enjoyed it if the way it was almost half gone was anything to go by. And yet they hadn't even said anything to him, not even a 'hello'.

"You're welcome, by the way."

Alex knew his tone was a little rude, but he thought it was deserved, given that they practically ignored him despite him bringing them exactly what they asked for.

Mackenzie stopped demolishing the ice cream for a split second and looked at Alex out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah, thanks."

Then focused back on the movie.

Natalie didn't even bother to take her eyes off the TV. Only a light hum that Alex could barely even call an acknowledgement proved that she heard something.

Alex knew they were on their period, but he also knew that was not how girls acted on their period.

Then he realized- the watch.

Was the current setting making them disregard him? Well, it didn't make them completely ignore his existence, as Mackenzie had responded to and looked at him. They just didn't really care.

It made them... apathetic.

Followed by a brief wave of vertigo once again, the word came to him just like the last one had.

Now he was firmly convinced the watch was magic. He knew his sister well; they were twins after all. And he would like to think he had gotten close to Natalie since she moved in with them. So he knew that they wouldn't act like this.

...

HOLY SHIT HE HAD MAGIC POWERS.

Alex had so many questions. What were the limits? What other settings were there? Where did the watch come from? Was there other magic in the world?

He couldn't wait to find out.

But first, he really wanted to get Natalie and his sister to treat him the way they usually do.