Somewhere Else

     A soft glow radiated in the dark room as the restaurant door opened. There were slow little pats and then a sudden screech of the stool.

     "Sorry," he said as he hopped on. A quick nod came from the light source as he continued to rub down the bar.

     "You can't leave right now, I guess." The fire stopped what he was doing and looked at the skeleton in front of him, shaking his head. He then started to look intently at him, knowing that this wasn't just a casual late-night drunk rendezvous. He seemed quite sober and somber. As long as he's known this skeleton, he hasn't seen him like this very much. The waiter pulled up a stool that was behind the bar and sat down. The skeleton looked up with his dejected face but quickly looked back down at the bar counter in front of him, flicking a crumb next to his sleeve.

      "I dunno Grillbs," he started, "maybe it's supposed to be like this. Maybe it's our fate as monsters. We're supposed to live through it and live through it again. We're supposed to accept whatever is going to happen to us without ever knowing that it's going to happen. Our whole existence is one big game, do you understand?" The flame fixed his glasses, showing a signal that he understood.

     The skeleton continued, "I'm not so sure about religion but there is some sort of idea about the purpose of a god and what he will bring to humanity. Our god is inevitable. Our god is our weakness that we cannot stop. And Grillby, nobody knows when and how it will stop." The skeleton cleared his throat. Grillby shifted in his seat.

     "How 'bouta bottle over here?" Grillby slid his stool back a bit and grabbed a bottle from under the counter and opened it with a quick flick of the bottle opener. As soon as he gave it to the skeleton, the skeleton gulped it down.

      "Do you ever wonder how that is possible? I don't have any internal organs. But it's because I'm also a monster, I guess; that meets the requirements for many thing." He looked back down again. If skeletons could have eyebags, his would be very prominent.

     "We're going to die." Both figures let out sighs. "You will have to evacuate the remaining citizens and I will be off handling things elsewhere. But in the end we will both die, luckily you already knew that. Others are more unfortunate and who am I to play with what they will and won't know; in the end it's predestined."

     The skeleton checked the clock as it read, "23:35". There was a quick, deflated huff. "But what does the clock matter? It's always dark. Sometimes it's more dark. On the surface there is light and I can't seem to remember it."

     There was a long pause. The skeleton seemed tired. Mostly, he just seemed drained. Grillby took notice but he couldn't help him much more. He grabbed the empty bottle and properly disposed of it.

     "They are somewhere else. You know, this nice lady that lives on the other side of the door was talking about them, very nice. She was fairly quiet until I stirred something out of her. She was talking about how they were harming the other monsters. But, even with that burden, she sounded hopeful. Now I'm not one to be optimistic. It's only a matter of time before things will change and so what's the point? I've accepted this fate. Although I don't think the human has as they keep changing their mind. Imagine having the power of being able to screw everything up. You're able to complete and start again, and nothing is stopping you from achieving your goal in one way or another. If you're determined, you can do anything. But what good does that do you? We have no idea, we don't have that sort of control. Our job is to wait and it always has been. " The skeleton hopped down from his seat.

     "It's getting late and I'm sure it's going to happen soon." Just like before, his slow footsteps echoed through the restaurant. He looked back. "Well, see ya. I'll tell Papyrus you said hello."

     The skeleton walked out and Grillby exited the main area of the restaurant. The room went completely dark.