A man walked into a bar

 

A man walked into a bar. 

 

He stood at the counter and ordered a drink. 

 

“Whiskey.”  

 

The barman barely noticed him, pouring the whiskey into a tumbler and moving on to the next empty glass. 

 

The man turned and looked across the room. 

 

He didn’t stare, he simply absorbed the tables, the groups of people, the noise of conversations shouted against loud rock music. 

 

He was aloof and separate from what he observed. 

 

He was without judgement or opinion. 

 

He was a stranger. 

 

Nobody noticed him.

 

Presently, the counter area cleared of customers. 

 

Bars do this. 

 

The stranger drained his glass and caught the barman’s eye. 

 

The barman nodded and came over. 

 

“Same again?”

 

“No.” came the reply.  “I’d like to say something.”

 

The barman looked at him, confused.

 

“Turn the music off.”

 

The barman smiled and shook his head.

 

The stranger’s eyes began to burn. 

 

“Turn the music off.  I want to say something.” 

 

Recognition filled the barman’s face. 

 

“You want to make an announcement?”

 

The man just looked straight through him. 

 

The barman gave two quick, affirmative nods and flicked a switch behind the counter.

 

Briefly, conversation and laughter roared across the room, before becoming suddenly aware of its nakedness. 

 

Soon the jeering began and abuse started to fly at the barman.

 

A single voice penetrated through the din and all others were quieted.

 

The voice was as hard as granite and sharp as an executioner’s blade. 

 

The room became still.

 

“I am The Way, The Truth and The Life.  I am The End of everything that ever was.”

 

He reached into his pocket and took out a mobile phone. 

 

As he pressed Call, a tremendous silence filled the room. 

 

For a split-second, the universe inhabited its space.

 

In the same moment, a great concussion numbed the senses of all within before a ball of fire, hot as the sun, devoured every object, living or dead. 

 

Windows, walls, roof, all entities ceased to exist until there was nothing. 

 

No place. 

 

No time. 

 

Everything that ever was

was no more.

 

The End.