Fiction: Joe’s Bar (Part 2 of 5)

Part Two of Chuck Wendig’s Latest Flash Fiction Challenge. A continuation of Mr. Urban Spaceman’s story: Joe’s Bar.


“Buy me a drink,” he said, bloodshot eyes meeting mine from further down the bar, “and I’ll tell you how I broke the world.”
I gave a snort, took a long swig of my G&T, and turned my attention back to the game being shown on Joe’s decrepit TV.
“Go on,” he insisted, in a voice ravaged by years of strong alcohol. “It’ll be worth it.”
Glancing around, I looked for help, but none of the other patrons of the grotty bar were paying attention to me being pestered by the old loon, and the bartender was very focused on cleaning a glass. The old man’s eyes bored into me from beneath his dirty mop of hair, and in the dim light of Joe’s Bar I saw the dark red stains on his grey trenchcoat.
“Alright.” The game was dull anyway. “What’s your poison?”
“Scotch on the rocks.”
I nodded at the barkeep, and the old man watched hungrily as the amber nectar was poured.
“Go on then,” I prompted him. “Tell me how you broke the world.”
He took a sip of his drink, gave a happy sigh, and looked up at me with those bloodshot eyes.
“It all started in 1939…”

Part 2

“Wait,” I said. “1939? That was over two hundred years ago!”
“This is the story you paid for,” the old man grumbled. “Let me tell it.”
I nodded for him to continue.
“I could see what was coming,” he said after another sip of his scotch. “It was obvious. So I did what I did to cut it short.”
He shuddered. “I forgot about consequences. No, that’s not right; I thought about consequences, I just didn’t think they’d be this.” He waved behind us.
I glanced at the only unique feature of Joe’s–the window–and jerked my head back. Everyone looks out that window, and no one can stand the sight of the shattered planet hanging above the lunar surface for more than an instant.
I drained my drink desperately and waved at the bartender for a refill. He cocked his head at the old man and I nodded for his refill too.
“Do you believe in magic?” the old man said quietly.
“No, of course not,” I said.
He jerked his head at the window.
“That’s not magic,” I said, “that’s just physics we haven’t discovered yet.”
He snorted his derision. “That’s what everyone says, but no one has yet explained the physics.”

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5 Responses to Fiction: Joe’s Bar (Part 2 of 5)

  1. Pingback: 1,000 Word Story in Five Parts, Part III | Vers Les Etoiles

  2. Thanks both. I’m wondering, though, if I hadn’t made a mistake. Would it have been better to leave the sight of the Shattered Earth as the climax of the story? i.e. the end of part 5.

    • Rebecca Douglass says:

      Well, the thing with this game is, if you have an idea you’d better use it, because you don’t get to put it i later! It’s a little weird–I had the whole story more or less in my mind when I started my opening story, but I don’t think anyone is going there!

  3. Rebecca Douglass says:

    Nice continuation! I wonder how many versions of this story we can get produced.

  4. Loved it! I was wondering if somebody would take this to a different time or place than our own present day, and your continuation didn’t disappoint. Poor Earth. Nicely told!

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