Scary Stories

89

Flashing, multicoloured lights blinded my eyes and a droning beat deafened the sounds coming from the girl I was talking to. Whatever, it didn't matter. I didn't care what she was saying, I didn't even give a fuck about what she looked like. All that mattered to me was she was drunk and willing... well, maybe just the first one. I needed to get her number. I rummaged through my pockets for my phone causing all of the contents to pour out onto the sticky floor. Phone, coke, money, condoms, all now exposed to the mire of sweat, alcohol, and god knows what else.

Whap

A sudden force hit my shoulder blades followed by a stinging sensation. I whipped my head around and raised my fist, ready to make some fuck eat his teeth, only to see my best buddy Trent. The two of us had come to The Haunt, our favourite place to pick up girls, with a couple of buddies earlier in the evening. We had all split up to go on the hunt with the plan being that the losers would meet up for drinks at the bar later. I guess he struck out.

I flashed him a quick smile with a nod behind me to let him know he was interfering with a conquest. His confused look prompted me to turn around. The girl was gone, there was not even a faint imprint on the padded bar stool where she had sat, only a thin veil of dust covering the faded orange.

I wheeled back around to Trent with a mixture of surprise and anger on my face. "Where'd she go?" I demanded. He returned my gaze but there was something disturbing about his eyes. They were so clear, like little round mirrors. I could almost see myself in them.

"Where'd who go bro?"

My confusion quickly gave way to resignation. Fuck her, she was ugly anyway. I raised my cup to the bartender to ask for the same; the cheapest, most sour beer they had in the place. The glass caught a flash of the strobe light, illuminating a film of dirt caking its surface. What the fuck? Disgusting! My mouth was as dry as my glass. I was furious.

The lights stopped flashing and repetitive beat of the music ended. I was enveloped in darkness. I looked to the bartender to ask what was happening, he was gone. I turned to Trent, he was gone. Everyone was gone.

I picked my phone up from the floor and began to shine the light around the bar. I swivelled on my stool and stared across a dead expanse that was once full of life. The walls at the end were covered in deep black marks. Behind me was a bar with row upon row of putrid beer, as disgusting as I started to feel. The room was still now, the heat from moving bodies was replaced by my own cold realization;

Have I always been coming here?