Netflix Releases The Ted Bundy Tapes, And Then…

My university is close to my childhood home, so to save money I live at home with my parents rather than at dorms or on campus. My major has mostly final projects instead of tests, and on this particular Saturday night, I am focusing on editing a video due on Monday. My parents decide to go out with some of our neighbors, so I’m home alone. It’s winter, but other than being cold, the weather is pretty nice and clear.

While I’m working on editing the video, the power suddenly goes out.

My first thought: “Serial killer.” I quickly dismiss the thought as paranoid and silly and close my laptop to conserve power since its battery life is too atrocious to use the editing program without it being plugged in. Frustrated I can’t work on it right now, I get up to look out the front window. I can’t see any of the houses on our side of the street from the windows, only the houses across the street.

First thing I notice: all the neighbors across the street have their lights on.

Once again, I think, “Serial killer.” Now convinced someone cut the power to my house specifically, I quickly grab my hoodie and pull on my boots while calling for my dog. When we get outside I see someone jogging up to me along the sidewalk, and I realize it’s the high school son of the neighbors my parents are out with. I also realize none of the houses on our side of the street have power. Turns out he’d looked out his window, saw the only other houses he could see still had lights, and had the exact same “serial killer” thought process I did.

We seek shelter with the couple across the street and call our parents to alert them the situation. They happen to be heading back, and tell us they passed a car crashed into a power pole near our neighborhood. It just happened to take out only our side of the street. Since I still have to work on my final project and my laptop needs to be plugged in to work on it, our neighbors graciously let me work on it at their house, even after they go to bed. The power comes back on around eleven, and I return home soon afterward.

When I mention the “serial killer” thought process to my parents, my dad teases me about watching too many murder shows, but I still say it’s a logical conclusion when the only other houses you can see still have power.