The man walked into the busy pub. He looked around as if he was trying to find a recognizable face. No such face came up, instead, he spotted an empty seat at the bar.
He dodged drunks of all kinds in his path, when finally, he reached the empty barstool and took a seat. He didn’t even bother looking at the chalkboard menu up on the wall across from him. It had been a rough day and he wanted his old classic, nothing new.
He felt tense in the crowd and kept squeezing his fists and letting go. He felt relieved when he was snapped out of his trance and was asked what he wanted. He ordered and sat up straight, trying to regain some sort of good posture.
“Rough day, huh?” he jumped a bit at the sudden voice. He turned to a friendly smiling man clutching a full glass filled with some beer. The man had been pretty lonely lately so he decided to humor this stranger, and himself, and have a pleasant conversation.
They talked about politics, sports, anything on the news really. They even talked about popular trends from their younger years. They drank together happily until the barkeep came over and spoke directly to the man.
“Excuse me sir, you’re making my other customers uncomfortable, could you please leave my bar until you are doing better?” the barkeep asked,
The man turned away from the stranger, who was now his new friend, and answered. “I don’t understand the problem, I am just having a drink and an entertaining chat.” he gestured to his new friend without looking at him’
“I apologize sir, but I must ask you to take your chat to yourself somewhere else.”
“Excuse me?” He began to turn to his friend, give him a look saying “is this guy for real?” but when he turned and saw no one in the stool beside him.
He turned back to the barkeep and asked another question. “I’m sorry, but did you happen to see where the chap that was sitting here” he gestured toward where his friend was sitting before, “went?”
“Again, I’m very sorry sir, but no one has been sitting there all night.”
“That’s crazy” the man snorted at the barkeep. He turned to the people behind him, sure enough the couple was already staring at him, frightened. Ignoring their worried glances, “You seem to be people of reason” he asked them the same question of where his friend went.
After a few moments of silence, the guy sitting at the table replied “N-No… no one has been in that seat as long as we’ve been here” the guy glanced past the man to the barkeep with begging eyes.
“Sir-” the barkeep started, only to get cut off by the man, now looking back towards him again
“No, this is all crazy, there was a man definitely sitting here with me…” he turned back towards the empty seat beside him, the seat appeared to have been vacant for a while. The man also noticed right on the bar in front of the stool,
Was the man’s empty glass of beer.