Bob's Bar

Bob pushed on the door, but it barely budged. He pushed a little harder and it started to open, he was concerned at first thinking that the door was locked. Looking through the opening that he created he didn't see anything indicating the door was locked, or being blocked on the other side. After struggling to get the door open, a flash of red light filled Bob's vision blinding him momentarily. Blinking to clear his eyes from the light, he realized he was in a small hallway. He turned around to look at the door. The door was gone. Nothing, no seams, no handle, just a solid wall. He put his hands on the wall trying to feel for the door, but there was nothing. The hallway was lit with a dim red light. It was maybe five feet long with only one exit since the door he came through vanished for some reason. There was nothing on the walls from floor to ceiling. The walls themselves were smooth and cool to the touch. Bob was trying to figure out what happened in the brief moment he came through the door, as well as trying to keep his calm.

"I know I'm not that drunk," Bob said. "Where the hell did the door go?"

He heard some noise behind him. Turning around to look down the hallway, he could barely make out some strange melodic music and maybe hushed voices. He walked forward slowly trying to sus out this strange "Bar" he entered. He peaked out of the hallway. The room was lit with the same red lighting as the hallway. He saw the bar to the right in the room, there was a single table in the middle of the room with four chairs around it and an elegant tablecloth draped over it. On the left side of the room, there was a small booth with two people sipping drinks. They must have been the ones he heard talking. They looked at him briefly, then went back to their hushed conversation. He couldn't see a jukebox or speakers, so he was confused at where the music was coming from.

Bob slowly walked in and stepped up to the bar. There weren't any stools at the bar, and the bar itself was on the smaller side. There were no menus in sight. He looked at the bottles on display and didn't recognize any of the labels. Some of the bottles had strange glowing colors inside, while others looked dark as if the light was being absorbed into them. Bob kept perusing the bottles when he heard footsteps coming from the hallway.

"This place looks pricey," Bob thought to himself. "Maybe get a water and get out of here."

“Who are you?” a man said to Bob. He was wearing a black and white old western-style barkeep uniform. Bob judged him to be at least six feet tall. He had blonde hair, a smooth face with a sharp chin. The most surprising thing to Bob was the man's ears. They were pointy. They had actual points, and Bob didn't see anything that would indicate they were fake. He kept staring at the man's ears, they were so odd-looking, almost something out of a fantasy game. He knew people would role-play sometimes and put fake elf ears on, but these looked genuine. He was so distracted, it took him a second to realize the man asked him a question.

“What are you doing here?” the man asked Bob again.

“I uh, seen the bar sign outside,” Bob said, “thought I would check the place out.”

“How did you even manage to open the door?” the man asked.

“It was a little struggle, I think you might need to lube up the door hinges,” Bob said. "Or maybe get a lighter door."

Bob wasn't getting a good feeling from this guy. He thought he was the barkeep, he looked like the barkeep, so maybe he was the barkeep?

“Ugh well whatever, you are here now. Nothing we can do about it.” the man said as he walked behind the bar.

The man took a rag from his back pocket and started wiping the bar down. There wasn't any dust or smudges on the bar, so Bob didn't know why the man was polishing it. He glared at the spot where Bob had his elbows resting. Bob just looked at him, shrugging. Seeing that Bob wasn't planning on removing his elbows from the bar, he just scoffed and wiped around him. Bob did not like this barkeep. The man was rude, had ridiculous ears, and didn't even offer service to him.

“Cool, well I’m out of here weird barkeep,” Bob said “Where is the exit?”

The barkeep just stared at him incredulously. Bob looked around again, and all there was was the table, the booth that was now empty, and the hallway. Bob didn’t even see when the other two people got up and left. The table was even clear of the glasses that the people were drinking from. He looked back at the barkeep. The barkeep was sneering at him. It took a lot of effort not to reach across the bar and punch the barkeep.

“Look man, it's obvious I'm not welcome here. I saw the bar sign outside and thought it was cool since my name happens to be Bob. So I decided to come in here.” Bob said.

“You shouldn't have even been able to come in here in the first place,” the barkeep replied.

“What do you mean "not been able to"? Ugh look, never mind that. I don't want what y'all have here so just tell me how to get out of here, and I will be out of your hair,” Bob said.

“There is no exit you idiot. Well, not unless you are a god. Now that you are here you have no choice. You must order a drink,” the barkeep said.

"Whoa whoa whoa, the fuck you mean no exit. I came in here through a door, I will leave through a door. I know there has to be some kind of trick with the door. You probably have a little button behind the bar to press and unlock it." Bob said angrily. " It's a neat trick y'all have with that hallway and the lighting but the door is there. How do you open it?"

"There is no door anymore, not for someone like you," the barkeep said. "If you want to get out of here now, you must have a drink."

"I said I want to leave, not drink your weird ass alcohol you have back there," Bob replied. "And what do you mean "there is no door"?"

Bob's hackles were fully risen and he was starting to get red in the face with anger. He realized how angry he was becoming. Bob took a couple of cleansing breaths to calm himself down. He closed his eyes for a brief moment then opened them up to look back at the barkeep.

Sighing, Bob said "Look man, I'm sorry for getting angry here, you were rude to me from the start, but whatever. I am going to be the better man here. Let us start over."

"My name is Bob, I noticed this establishment and wanted to check it out. How are you this evening?' Bob said