Set your story in a bar that doesn’t serve alcohol.

Posted in Fluff on Jan 12, 2024

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✍️ 61 stories

“Bartender or Witch? ” by Jessica Smithgall

Submitted to Contest #233

“I’ll take a glass of your strongest drink, thanks” “It’s a bit early for that, don’t you think?” … “Alright, alright. One moment.” He bounced here and there across the counter picking up this, that and the other. An array of sounds billowed up with each pour, a bubbling, then sizzling, then a crackling followed by the clack of ice being shaken up. Once the glass was full to the brim he slid it swiftly across the long countertop, a practiced and perfected move as it stopped perfectly in front of her. Her fac...

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“Maddux's Wolrd - Volume #01” by M.R. Simon

Submitted to Contest #233

Warning sensitive subjet, murder and blood.After the civil war, all system is on the verge of collapsing, government, health, and education. An old fashion private eye is trying to keep his head screwed on straight. That’s me Maddux Marlow, a 45 year-old ex-cop and ex-college football player, tight end the best position in the game.If you’re looking for a Dick Tracy-like private eye, I’m not your man. Fighting, I can handle it and even say I love it. I always carry my Beretta handgun and am ready to take it out. Wearing a raincoat because it...

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“At The End” by Daniel Kleba

Submitted to Contest #233

At the end of all things sits a bar. It’s warm and inviting with a raging hearth and the perfect song floating above the conversation at the perfect volume. It exists in the space between everything and nothing. A space where Time is respected and not feared. Where Time can create instead of destroy. Because Time is what gives stories their power, and at this bar stories are the spirit of choice. A story is required to enter and a story is required to stay. No one is there to serve drinks as there are no drinks to be had. Time etches...

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“Whispers of Phoenix” by Gail Ormsby

Submitted to Contest #233

Elara, at the cusp of twenty-five, felt like a wilting flower trapped in a Victorian greenhouse. Once vibrant and adventurous, her spirit had grown brittle under the relentless sun of societal expectations. Her hometown, a quaint village nestled amidst rolling hills, offered little solace for a soul yearning for the wild symphony of the world beyond. The rigid social code, the suffocating air of gossip, and unfulfilled dreams conspired to cage her restless spirit. Literature was her escape, her passport to fantastical lands where the dragons...

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“A Drink for the Road” by Tawny Molina

Submitted to Contest #233

“What a day...” Maria said as she slammed the door of her car behind her. After a twelve hour shift at one of the local dairy farms she’d just pulled in to the town's only bar’s parking lot. Well, it wasn’t much of a bar these days. They had stopped selling alcohol about a year ago. Well, the whole town had. People had voted them a dry location last year, and the mayor had worked hard to make sure that passed. Now the bar was more like a place people came to listen to TVs and complain about the fact that they couldn’t drink alcohol anymore. ...

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“A Stray in Need” by Noah Thomas

Submitted to Contest #233

As the drunkard came stumbling into the bar, he grasped at his temple and right leg, wincing. He paused in the doorframe, massaging those areas as his facial expression changed to one of confusion, as though he expected something to be wrong, but found nothing. His attention was caught by the sound of someone clearing their throat, looking up, he saw the bartender staring at him expectantly from behind the bar, some distance away. His brow furrowed with additional confusion as he looked at the building he was in, and the bartender especially...

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“One for the Road” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #233

As conciseness begin to creeps back, I open my eyes a crack. My head lays upon my folded arms that are resting on the bar. I try lifting my head, but it feels like it weighs a million pounds. Smacking my lips, I realize just how badly I need a drink. Pushing myself away from the bar, I sit up straight. I see the bartender’s back as he washes some dishes. In front of me sits a glass of what looks like tomato juice. “Ahh,” I think. “A Bloody Mary, just what I need!” ...

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“The Nutty Bits” by Joe Smallwood

Submitted to Contest #233

It was a night like any other. Wet and soppy. Maybe not like any other night.Batrius was in a mood. For food. Whatnots? Why not?“Blast this joint! What ails me?” He opined. “Got to spruce this place up!”“Rinky-dinky-do!” yelled Blattodea. “Here’s to whatnots, and why not!”“A plague on you, Blattodea!” yelled Batrius. “All you want is to go blotto! I’m into realfun™ The finer things. Linen, polite company, scintillating conversations…”“Boring people, useless ideas, things that don’t chug-a-lug?”Batrius smacked her one. It was just a touch tha...

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“The Empty Glass” by Bex Goos

Submitted to Contest #233

Henry Fletcher paced his home office. His computer fan whirred gently as a backdrop to the staccato rhythm of his feet marching back and forth across the carpet. He could hear his wife in the kitchen doing the dishes. He’d made dinner, so she was cleaning, per their deal. He was supposed to be finishing up a presentation for tomorrow. It was a big deal. He’d been working on this ad campaign for months. Blood, sweat, and tears. Not to mention swears and coffee stains. Come on, Henry, come on. Get to it. Just sit down and fine tune the damn t...

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“Hidden oracle” by E. Roux

Submitted to Contest #233

Drunk Dragon is one of the most known bars not only in the small town of Korake but in the whole region. A hidden jewel surrounded by an emerald forest in the countryside, only for a very selective clientele. You see, Drunk Dragon is not an ordinary bar. From Vampire Elders to Werewolf Alphas and from Centaurs to Fairies, this place is the best if you want to find creatures outside of the norms of our lives. And that’s exactly the reason I’m here tonight. Supernatural beings don’t get along well with humans. Their soft mortality makes t...

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“Reflections at the Last Chance Saloon” by Joseph Ellis

Submitted to Contest #233

The saloon entrance bears the image of a steer's skull facing outward, defiant, its horns splayed to the high hinges. Yet the doors part with barely a push. I scoff at the cheap construction. The white noise of mass conversation envelops me. People crowd the tables, but the bar is open. I claim the 2nd stool from the left. The bartender glides into my field of view: “What’s your poison?” he asks. “Oh, I don’t drink alcohol.” “Good. We don’t serve it.” “Water to start.” He moves off. “And prune juice as well,” I call after him. I add a sh...

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“Clarity Shot” by S.d. Schwarz

Submitted to Contest #233

“UGH.” I groan through my teeth and continue typing on my phone. My heels clack against the pavement from footsteps so heavy, my bangs start bouncing to the sound. “Running late--” delete. Okay, let’s try again: “Needed to grab pads--” delete. “Leah called--” delete.I stop and exhale heavily. Two young women ahead of me are too busy giggling out all the alcohol they consumed tonight to notice me staring with tears in my eyes. If anything, I need a shot of whatever they had.“Well, the show must go on,” I mutter, diggi...

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“The Need” by Hanna Hathaway

Submitted to Contest #233

“What will it be?” “Give me a whiskey on the rocks, and make it a double.” “Sorry, sir, we don’t serve that here.” Gabriel looked up from following the wood grain of the bar counter. “You mean you’re all out?” “No, sir, we don’t serve that here.” Gabriel scoffed. It was just his luck that he ended up at the one bar in town that did not serve whiskey. “Fine, I’ll take a gin Old Fashioned. Double.” “My apologies, we don’t serve that either.” Gabriel audibly groaned, raking his fingers through his hair. “Beer! Just give me a beer....

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“The Lighthouse on the Point” by Oliver Skywolf

Submitted to Contest #233

The waves roared. Elliot gripped the steering wheel and grieved on the mountainside road. He crossed the vast bridge on the coastline, uncertainty was on his mind as he looked out to the horizon. A silence hummed. He continued as a fog embraced the road ahead. He drove until he finally saw a vast lighthouse in the distance. Far toward the ocean. It was situated on what looked like a tall rocky island with a road winding up the side. It’s not really an island, it’s connected to the coastal mountain by an outstretched strip of land before ri...

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“Brewed Awakening” by David Maxim Jr

Submitted to Contest #233

It's easy letting yourself go. Less so letting go of others. I took my usual route home from the office one evening after a particularly long day. A day no different from the others on the surface. However, the painful shortness of breath and drained mental clarity that had inexplicably come over me left me dragging my fingers across the keyboard, as the windowless cubicle showed no signs of the day's passing. Only the sound of the whimsical little jingle on my phone gave warning of the day's end. I dragged myself through the cubicle and ont...

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Set your story in a bar that doesn’t serve alcohol.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 61 stories

“Bartender or Witch? ” by Jessica Smithgall

“Maddux's Wolrd - Volume #01” by M.R. Simon

“At The End” by Daniel Kleba

“Whispers of Phoenix” by Gail Ormsby

“A Drink for the Road” by Tawny Molina

“A Stray in Need” by Noah Thomas

“One for the Road” by Ralph Aldrich

“The Nutty Bits” by Joe Smallwood

“The Empty Glass” by Bex Goos

“Hidden oracle” by E. Roux

“Reflections at the Last Chance Saloon” by Joseph Ellis

“Clarity Shot” by S.d. Schwarz

“The Need” by Hanna Hathaway

“The Lighthouse on the Point” by Oliver Skywolf

“Brewed Awakening” by David Maxim Jr

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story about a character participating in Dry January.

Your character, having abstained from their worst vice (big or small), finds new clarity.

Write a story in the form of diary entries, written by someone who has set themselves a month-long challenge.

Set your story during a month of drought — whether literal, or metaphorical.

Contest #233

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

230

Contest entries

78

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: