All Revealed

A Story by greenelephant

Response to a writing prompt about a man sitting next to you and divulging secrets.

He sat next to me with deliberate movement �" like we were familiar with each other. He let out a sigh, taking the rest of the contents in his small glass with ease. I just imagined the burning sensation as the liquid ran down his throat. I turned my head away, thinking that he was going to order another drink and move on. My fingers fiddled with the neck of the beer bottle I had been nursing. I was never a big drinker, but every once and a while I found myself sitting alone at a bar trying to wrap my head around the mess my life had turned into.

I heard the man beside me sigh again, the kind of sigh where they were waiting for you to ask if they were okay. But I nibbled at my lower lip instead. I had no intention of starting a conversation with a man who was struggling to stay awake. He cleared his throat loudly and he ‘accidentally’ nudged my arm. He was a large man so the action tilted me to the side slightly. I took in a deep breath and turned my body away from him, giving the man my back. I was hoping body language was something he could understand.

“Hey.” His voice was like loose gravel that raked against my ears. He leaned close over my shoulder and the stench of alcohol was strong on his person. I felt my eyes widen at the intrusion of space and I finally acknowledged his presence by turning an accusatory eye to him.

“Yeah, I knew you would eventually see me,” he said with a hint of anger. “Don’t think I’ve gone and forgotten about what you said to me, man.”

I gave him a long side glance. He must have mistaken me for someone because I had never seen that man before in my life. “I’m sorry?”

“Don’t play dumb with me.” There was a flicker of rage in his eyes that unsettled me. I leaned back in my seat. I didn’t want a confrontation �" especially with someone I didn’t even know. I didn’t come to the bar to start a fight. I came to wallow. That was a one-man show.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, man.” I pursed my lips and turned my head away from him, bringing the bottle to my mouth and taking a needed swig. It was starting to get warm. I could have gotten up and walked away. I could have ended the conversation there, but I wanted to seem strong-willed and mysterious �" as if the opinion of an older drunk man really mattered.

“They found it!” His voice was a harsh whisper and his lips were suddenly next to my ears. He moved quickly and I was startled into paralysis. “They found the journal.”

I tried to quickly gather myself and I cleared my throat to appear disinterested. I put the beer bottle down and stared straight ahead.

“All that s**t we did… they know about it now.”

I furrow my brow and turn to look at him.

“Yeah! All that s**t you pulled…”

“I think you have the wrong person,” I tried to explain.

The man settled himself back in his seat and waved for the bartender to serve him another drink. The bulky bartender filled his drink before walking away to tend to another order. The man didn’t even hesitate to down his whiskey. He let out a strained breath, wincing at the harsh liquor.

“But that isn’t even half of it…” He stared down at his empty glass like he was staring down the hole of a deep memory. “After you left, I kept the journal. I kept investigating.”

“I really think you-“

“It’s bigger than we first thought!” His head snapped to me, his eyes wide with a horrific sense of dread. “You left before you really had a chance to find out.” He sighed, overwhelmed. Running a hand through his hair, his other arm reached over and snatched my beer. I blinked as he downed the entire thing without taking a breath. “They’re working with humans now, man!” He slammed the beer bottle on the bar top. “All those experiments on rats and monkeys… They’ve moved on to humans. And now they are talking about application. It’s not just a theory anymore. They have a target and they are about to initiate the first phase.”

“…What?”

“Didn’t you hear me?!” He was frantic. He was standing and his hands were on me in an instant. He yanked me by my jacket and pulled me to my feet. His face was mere inches away from mine. “They are taking the virus and picking a town �" a random town �" and putting it into the public.”

I was so confused. I didn’t know what he was talking about, but the horror in his eyes made me fear for my life �" not by the hands of him �" but by whatever ‘they’ he was referring to. I was suddenly scared of ‘them’. But his frightened face soon contorted into one of intense discomfort. His grip on my jacket loosened and he stumbled back. A large hand looked for purchase on the bar top but he fell backward as his other hand went to his chest.

I rushed to him. “Call an ambulance!” I said, frantically looking to the bartender. He appeared calm but he picked up the phone and dialed. I felt a hand yank me down close to the man’s face. I looked to him and I saw the pain and terror in his eyes.

“My… drink…” I looked up and saw the empty glass he drank from, but I didn’t know what he was trying to tell me. I looked back to him, confusion written on my face. “They know… You gotta… run. They’ll come for you… next.” And that was the last thing he said to me. And that was also the last thing I remembered before I felt something hit my head and blackness surround me.

That’s what I told them. But I don’t think they believed me. Now I spend all my time thinking. Thinking about that man and how I should have just walked away. He’s the reason I see only four walls and an occasional hand as they pass me my daily rations. I should have walked away. It’s funny how I used to think my life was a mess. Now I just have no life.