Lonely is the Night

The following is a very short story that I wrote for a writing class a couple weeks ago (page and a half requirement). I thought I'd share it here just because i haven't posted on this forum in awhile.


Lonely is the Night

The only lighting was a dim glow originating from the center stained glass lamp that hung directly over the pool table, occasionally swinging to and fro as if moving by an unseen force. Colorful ivory balls strewn out across the bright green surface as if left there mid-game. My back was turned to the pool table as the old wooden bar stool where I was sitting creaked with every movement i made. I could feel the atmosphere in the room pressing down on my shoulders not letting me move from my seat. I rested my elbows on the poorly lit counter while I took in my surroundings through my peripherals. Rusted and dull metal tables on either side of me, on top of them was four upside down chairs that resembled the rusted and dull theme of the tables they were on. What little padding they had was torn in places at the seams.
However, there was one table that was different from the others. Right on the edge of my peripherals, was a table that only had three chairs atop it instead of four. The fourth was on the ground and had a man sitting in it facing me. An upside down shot glass and a bottle that was half full sat next to him on the table. From the angle that I was looking at him, I couldn't even tell if it was a person or not. It seemed to not have any facial features at all just like a shadow, a blob of blackness in the dark corners of the room staring me down. Although it didn't look like it had any eyes I had that feeling of being watched. I could feel its gaze piercing my whole body as it sat there in an unaltered state of inactivity. It sat there for what seemed like hours before the bottom half of the blob started to split in two and grow legs. It walked towards the empty bar stool next to me, swaying to and fro with an uneven gait, as it carried the bottle and shot glass in hand. Its features did not become any more visible as it got closer. It was still just a entity of darkness even as it took a seat right next to me. I felt its gaze burning through me, never taking its stare off of me even as it took the bottle and filled the glass with a clear liquid. I took my three year sobriety coin out of my pocket and held it tightly while looking down to my lap taking my eyes off the drink. When I looked up seconds later, the being was nowhere to be found. I was the only person in the bar and in front of me was a shot glass filled to the brim.

a reply to: golden23

Nice



As the reader I got a real sense of the atmosphere and I liked the twist, the story could have went anywhere but little hints existed about the paranormal aspect of the story.

I liked it.

a reply to: golden23

Oh gosh cliffhanger!

I imagine that you received a good grade for this one