Closing Time

7.

He was late.

Lou walked in with minutes to midnight. He smiled at me as the night darkened outside. My bar cut off from the rest of the world. The last customer for today had stepped out just moments ago. There was absolutely nothing that now stopped him from ending my life after this morning's insolence.

I couldn't muster up a smile for him as he approached his usual seat. But his smirk as he walked over unsettled me today. He had been unreadable since day one, however he seemed more like a wall today than ever.

"Good evening, Ryleigh." The usual greeting. "Nice breeze out today."

"I know, it was pretty nice out this morning too." The bottle of scotch glugged as I poured out a glass for him.

He didn't say anything else, but his smile widened as I dragged a stool over to him along with his drink. His long fingers wrapped around the glass as I sat down. "So... how was your day, Ryleigh?" The glass paused on the way to his lips. "Anything... interesting happen?"

He was prodding. This was clearly on purpose. I... I don't know what to do.

I shrugged after a short moment of silence, eyes glued to the counter. "Nothing much, really." Another usual reply. It's best to go the oblivious rou-

"That's strange." I stiffened as Lou cut me off. "I could have sworn something feels off about you today."

I forced an eyeroll. My arms went across my chest. "Stop pretending you care about me, Lou. You're just making shit up."

"Am I now?" He chuckled, a hint of genuine amusement crossing through his eyes at my false irritation. "Well then, Ryleigh, why don't you tell me how your day was?"

"Nothing happened."

"Nothing during the morning shift?"

"Nothing at all."

"A little incident, perhaps?"

I gritted my teeth. This was harrowing. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You do know what I'm talking about." There it is. "But it seems like you want me to force it out of you."

A fairly seductive question, with a fairly seductive look on his face. But the way my gut curled was more towards terrified than turned on.

I shrugged. "No need to play around with me then. Say what you want to say about this morning."

"Why don't you start?" He smirked, still trying to get me to speak.

I shook my head. "According to me, nothing happened."

A chuckle escaped him. "You're feigning amnesia, is it? I can appreciate the silence." I flinched slightly at the quiet thud produced by the empty tumbler being placed back on the counter. "Seems like this will take a while... get me a stronger drink, Ryleigh."

Surprise crossed through me. A stronger drink? He always drank scotch. We had vodk-I mean, he had a vodka shot to celebrate a week last time.

"Umm... Sure." I replied slowly and slid off my stool. I was happy to get away from him. My eyes roamed the shelves in search of options. "What do you want? Scotch? Rum? We have blended Scotch Whiskey too."

"Hmm..." He was quiet for a short moment. "That black bottle towards the left seems rather interesting."

"Rum." I replied almost instinctively as I started to move away from him. "Be right th-"

My reply was cut off as something hard wrapped around my throat. I was forced back as Lou appeared in front of me. My chest collapsed inwards at the look on his face- it was absolutely blank. Stone cold. Dead. The usual look in his eyes was gone. His eyes were gone. There was nothing there. It was blank and hollow, black veins visible under his pale skin, towering over me as he pushed me away.