My, a trip to space! How exciting! Sure, there's this power outage going, but I'm sure that will be cleared up soon! It had always been a childhood dream of mine to travel to space, and now I've done it. My dear family back home must be so proud right now, knowing that I, their dear father and husband have gone where no man has gone before. Well, except for all the people that have been to this hotel before me. Regardless, now the children will no longer tell their friends that I'm not cool anymore. When I come home they'll finally hug me again. They'll finally tell me that they love me. I know they do, even though they always shout about how much they hate me. My wife will finally realize that she does love me as much as I love her, and she won't have to sleep with Tom next door anymore. I will return their handsome and brave astronaut. And if that doesn't get them to love me, then these space souvenirs will. I'm sure of it! I won't be a "worthless loser with no potential" anymore. I won't be a "completely clueless fuck with no place in our lives" anymore!
My, it's been a few hours since the power went out. I wish they would get it back on. I would love to call my darling wife. Or maybe Tom. He's always been a pretty good friend. He once called me Jared! Isn't that great? All the faces around here are unfamiliar. It would be nice to see a friendly face. At the moment I'm just sitting here quietly turning my flashlight on and off to amuse myself. I wonder where everyone else has gone?
Oh, a stranger approaches! They're smiling too! "Hello!" I greet him cordially.
"Hi," He replies amicably enough.
"Isn't this power outage something?" I say, making polite conversation with the stranger. "I've been through a few power outages myself, with my dear family back home. That happens a lot. I can't always pay the light bill. I'm not sure why. I'm pretty sure I make enough. My wife says that I just need to "get up off my ass and get a fourth job" so I can support both her shopping needs and pay the bills. What a kidder! My wife's name is Jane. She's great. I also have three kids. There's Bruce, Richard, and Barbara. I think I have a picture of them somewhere here. Just a second..." I dig through my wallet to find my family photo, past the letter from Dad that said not to come to Mom's funeral. "Here it is! Look. Aren't they just the best?"
The stranger looks at the picture. "Why aren't you in it?"
"Oh, they had it taken with out me. It was when they went to Hawaii without me. It was okay, though, because I was in the hospital after the car accident at the time. I couldn't have made it there. It's all good now, though. I'm on a trip now, huh? Space! The final frontier! And I've got all these wonderful things for my wonderful family, oh, things are sure looking up, don't you think?"
The stranger isn't smiling anymore. "Oh, you think?"
"Well, sure," I respond smiling brightly. "While I'm here my dear family..."
"SHUT UP!" The stranger screams. They sound like their out of breath, like they are barely containing their rage. They pull a knife from their coat.
"Sure thing, friend! Say what's your name, pal? I sure would like to friend you on Facebook, then we can chat about our great adventures in space when we get home."
"Seriously?" The stranger shouts exasperatedly. "Don't you get it? You're not going home to see your 'dear' family." He puts air quotes around the word "dear" for some reason.
I'm starting to get a little nervous now. "What? Why would you say that? Is there some sort of danger around? Is that why you have that knife? I would hate for us to get hurt after just meeting like this..." Before I can continue the stranger raises the knife and plunges it into my chest. It really hurts! Why would my new friend do this to me? Is it something I did? Is it something I said? I ask him, and he just rolls his eyes and raises the knife again before stabbing my neck. As I lay here, bleeding out, I think once again of my dear family. They'll never love me now, getting murdered in space by a friend. A tear rolls down my cheek.mingling with the blood spouting out of the hole in my throat, as I lose consciousness for the final time. Good bye, my darling family.