He awoke, the room was dark. His blackout curtains were a godsend, how he hated the daylight. It was darker than normal. He reached around for his phone, “Damn I drank too much last night,” he muttered. “What day is it?” he wondered. Losing track of time was not so much a hobby but an affliction of his. Finally, he located his phone and went to open it up, but it was dead. “Man, what the hell!” he felt and the cord was plugged in. “Aww crap, the power is out.” He deduced. Not something uncommon in his world, one good storm could take it out for hours.
Getting up and trying not to trip over all of the strewn clothes and books that littered his floor. He dressed in the same pajama pants he had worn the day before. Smelling the shirt next to it, he shrugged and put it on. Wandering out into the hall he called out “Mom, what day is it?” but there was no answer. “Hmm, she must have gone out.” He said to himself. He wandered down the hall and into the living room everything was dark “Damn did I sleep all day?” he wondered. Not out of the realm of his party life and recover cycle. He still was annoyed “Damn, what day is it?”
He went and grabbed a flashlight from the closet in the hall and went to the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator to check, the milk was still cold enough to be good. So, he poured himself a bowl of cereal and sat quietly at the counter eating. After he was done, he went to wash out his bowl. The pipes banged and the water that came out was brown. “Ah damn IT! AGAIN! Friggen town is so bankrupt they can’t even keep the water running.” Sighing he set the bowl in the sink and worked his way back to his room.
It was colder than usual in his room so he put on a hoodie from one of the piles of clothes on his floor. He found the current book he adored and with the flashlight went about reading. The pages leaped at his touch, he read with a speed born of practice. He had been reading his whole life, he loved nothing more than a good book. He devoured the pages and time lost all meaning. After a lapse of time from which he couldn’t even count he realized the house was still quiet. He got up and said, “I really should find out what day it is.” As he walked into the living room there was light, but it seemed wrong somehow. The sun didn’t cast a light that way.
He wondered why his mom wasn’t home, he went into the garage and the car was there. A streak of fear coursed through him. “MOM!” he called going back into the house. He checked all the rooms, afraid of what he might find. She was not in any of them. “God what’s going on?” he said. He was back in the living room the light outside was still wrong. He didn’t know why but it was not something he could figure out. The dread he felt intensified, he could not understand what it was that frightened him. He paced back and forth a few times. He knew he needed to check with his mom’s best friend. She would know what to do about mom.
Finally, he went to the front door and opened it. Before him was his yard and then empty space. In his view was the earth or what was left of it and the sun peeking through the debris. There was no horizon, only parts of the once whole earth floating about. He saw several giant ships collecting the debris. He only had a moment to ponder and be shocked as with the opening of the door the little atmosphere that was clinging to his home was vented into space along with him. In his last moments, he finally remembered it was Saturday, his mom would have been over at the neighbors for brunch and that this was the last day of his life…
The Stories of a Raving Madman 