On a grim grey block on the last day of the year you could hear the distant rattle of noise makers, upbeat and festive amongst the economic decay surrounding. The same thing happened every year. Party goers flocked to the Genesis Pub on New Year’s Eve. That was the only time it was busy, and frankly, the only time anyone had noticed it existed. The rest of the year it may as well have been boarded up like the rest of the block full of dilapidated old retail shops and a warehouse barely standing. The city’s health department didn’t even have it on the books.
Down the street, a young group en route to the Genesis walked past a shuttered convenience store. They gave a wide berth to a solitary person sitting on the sidewalk, covered in blankets, sitting on cardboard, and looking the worse for wear.
A man and a woman, her hands tightly wound around his arm (pressure does seem to stave off the cold), stopped to ask the lone person for directions. “Excuse me,” the young man asked, holding up a flyer, “Do you know where the Genesis Pub is?”
A worn, sexless face gazed up and wheezed, “Just down the block. Keep going, you won’t miss it.”
The man muttered a “Thanks,” and tried to move on but the woman hanging on his arm pulled back. “Thank you for the help… eh…”
The old faced split with a toothless smile and said, “Call me Baby, honey.” The woman smiled back and pulled out a five dollar bill out of her pocket. “Happy New Year, Baby.”
Baby took the bill and tucked it into the pile of blankets, whispering a “Thank you,” with a head tilted low.
The man pulled his girlfriend away scolding, “Emily you shouldn’t give them money, you don’t know what they’re going to spend it on.”
“Well it’s my New Year’s resolution to be more charitable,” she said as she elbowed him playfully in the ribs, “Wouldn’t hurt you to do the same Derek.”
The couple passed before they could see a tear roll down Baby’s cheek, leaving a clean path through soot and dirt, seemingly dissolving wrinkles as it went.
The straggling group of friends neared Baby and didn’t see the tear either, they didn’t even look down. Baby wheezed a “Happy New Year,” at them and one man said, “About damn time, this year sucked.”
Baby had a coughing fit as they passed by, and a girl in the group made a quip about tuberculosis.
Once they had left ear shot, Baby pulled a weathered hand from the blankets and clicked on a metal counting device. One for Derek, eight for the lagging friend group. A smile grew wide once again and Baby cackled in a manic, quiet glee, “That’s enough for this year! That’s them all!”
Inside the Genesis was a party fit for the end of the world, a setting dystopian in a subtle way. Everyone was wearing pointy party hats and many had novelty drinking shirts that said things like “Drinking Team Captain” or “Drinking in the New Year.” Some were even in costumes, including a Big Bird, Santa Claus, and Father Time. The bartenders had stopped charging for drinks and were pouring freely, adding to the anarchistic vibe that accompanies a good New Year’s Eve bash.
Derek, Emily, and their group sat at a table full of beers and half a dozen shots of whiskey. The group was loudly discussing their resolutions. One friend leaned in at an exaggerated tilt, his loosened tie plopping into a puddle of beer on the table as he loudly explained to Emily that this was the year he was going to turn things around, “No, seriously.” His boyfriend sat back in the chair next to him, staring off into the distance as a sort of inebriated ennui settled over his consciousness.
At 30 minutes to midnight, nobody even noticed the door creak open as Baby slipped in, surprisingly agile in a mismatched pair of old boots. A room of costumes provided adequate camouflage.
The girl that had made the tuberculosis comment on the sidewalk earlier was leaning heavily on the end of the bar, her eyes glossed over. She gripped a wad of money in one hand, waiting to get the attention of a bartender, but far too drunk to realize that the bartenders had left. Baby sidled up next to her, the girl noticed that.
“Hey… weren’t you outside earlier?” She slurred, leaning back for a better view, and a less distinct smell. “You can call me Baby,” said Baby.
“Look, I’m really sorry.” The girl’s eyes were sad, “I’ve had a really tough year too…” But Baby held up a hand, “Let’s not talk about last year. Let’s talk about… next year.”
The girl swallowed hard. “Yeah. Next year. Next year I’m gonna fix it.”
Baby pulled the girl close, “That’s the spirit. Tell me how good you’re gonna be.
Emily’s eyes had started wandering around the room. She had never been much of a drinker. The more she looked around, the stranger the bar seemed. There was a whole wall of photos from New Year’s past, going all the way back to black and white. She tugged on Derek’s sleeve, “Hey does this place like, only do New Year’s Eve parties?”
Derek, interrupted halfway through a conversation he already couldn’t remember, scoffed, “Baby, that wouldn’t make any sense. They wouldn’t be able to stay open off of one night a year.” He turned back toward the group, “Hey has anyone seen Jasmine?”
Emily got up to use the restroom, humming along to the song currently playing, “…I’m just a soul whose intentions are good, oh lord please don’t let me be misunderstood…”
She turned down the narrow hallway to the restrooms, and almost ran smack into Baby, who was chatting with an extremely drunken guy in a dress shirt stained with cranberry juice who was absolutely bawling. “You’re like, so right. This is a chance to turn things around. This is a real chance for a new beginning.”
Emily tried to catch Baby’s eye to give a knowing smile, she’d babysat her fair share of drunks. But as Emily walked by, she was suddenly unsure if it was Baby. There was no longer any dirt to that face, the wrinkles were gone, and somehow… did Baby have teeth now? She caught a flash of enamel as Baby murmured to the drunk guy, “You’re gonna need a plan if you’re gonna turn things around, sweetie. Tell me what you’re gonna do. Tell Baby how you’re gonna make it all better.”
Emily ducked into the restroom and tried to shrug of the incongruities of the night. Baby must have dentures or something. There were three stalls, but the only one with a clean toilet also had a broken door that she carefully adjusted into semi-working condition. She sat on a cold seat and was accosted by a hot smell of vomit from the toilet next to her. She wasn’t sure why she and Derek were spending New Year’s Eve in such a dump, but it had seemed like such a good idea earlier on in the week. Now she couldn’t even remember whose idea it was.
She flushed the toilet. It was the only thing she’d encountered in the bar that was functional as anything other than an alcoholic. In fact, it was so functional that it sprayed water back up on her dress. She sighed, washed her hands and checked her phone, where she had a strange number of texts about missing friends.
“Where’s Jasmine? Lol”
“Hey have you seen Amanda?”
“Is Brett with you?”
Damn drunks wandered like cats. As she walked out into the bar, she noticed that Baby and the drunk guy had disappeared.
The table her group had been sitting at now had a few empty chairs. As she sat back down, Derek slurred into her ear, “Ten bucks says Amanda and Brett are hooking up.”
She rolled her eyes and then squinted quizzically, “Hey did it… did it get brighter in here?”
Derek made a bad joke about, “Must be me,” but she shook her head, “No dude, something’s weird here.”
Emily looked behind the bar and saw the bartenders were gone, and now the only person behind the bar was a person about her age wearing a white sequined dress and leaning over the bar chatting with a distraught looking young man. The sequined dress seemed to be glowing, but the person wearing it seemed oddly familiar.
Emily walked up to the bar and tried to wave down the sequined dress. “Hi! Hello! I’m Emily!”
Sequins didn’t even look her way, “Yeah hi Emily, one second girl.” Something was whispered to the young man, who picked himself up off the bar and staggered around to a door near the restrooms that said, “Office.”
The person in the white sequined dress watched him go, and as the door shut behind him, they turned to Emily and said, “I really hope he doesn’t piss on the desk.”
“What’s your name?” Asked Emily, attempting friendly.
The glowing figure flashed a flawless smile and said, “I’m Baby.”
Emily forced a laugh. “Ha. Ha. That’s so weird, I met someone outside named Baby…” She purposely leaving space for Baby a chance to explain whatever it was and take responsibility for whatever was happening.
Instead, Baby laughed and said, “Everybody’s a Baby on New Year’s, it’s a new start.” The smile disappeared and Baby looked straight into Emily’s eyes for a startling second and muttered, “Shouldn’t you be getting home Emily? It’s getting late.”
Baby then walked over to the office and opened the door, beckoning a number of morose party goers in before following them, and as the door closed, Baby looked back and winked at her without a smile.
Emily took a random shot off of the bar because she needed it, because this wasn’t the booze. Something was up in that bar and, “Oh shit, that was fireball, gross.”
She walked back over to her table, where Derek and two others were the last left seated. “Derek, I want to go.”
Derek tried to turn his head without turning his body, and almost fell out of his chair. “C’mon baby, I don’t want to spend the countdown in an Uber!”
“Derek, seriously, I want to go. NOW.”
As Derek scoffed, Emily looked up to see the door to the office, glowing bright from the inside. The door swung open and a kid that looked about eleven years old walked out. The kid was the only one that walked out and was glowing so much that you couldn’t even see its face.
“Hey does anyone else think it’s weird that there’s a kid in the bar?”
Nobody seemed to hear Emily.
“DOES ANYONE ELSE THINK IT’S WEIRD THAT THERE’S A KID IN THE BAR AND THAT KID IS FUCKING GLOWING?!”
The music had stopped and now a bar full of drunken, disgruntled faces were staring at her. “I mean, does nobody else think something weird is going on?”
A guy a few tables away hollered, “Sit down.” The crowd chuckled.
Emily started to say, “Why are all our friends missing?” But as she opened her mouth, the lights in the bar dimmed and a spotlight shone on a karaoke machine in the corner. The kid stepped into the spotlight and picked up the microphone. “Hi everyone! I’m Baby. Are you ready for the countdown?”
The bar slurred a cheer together.
“Before it’s time, let’s take a minute to focus on everything we’re going to do better next year. Let’s all make resolutions!”
The same monotone cheer.
Emily noticed Baby was glowing even brighter “No!” She yelled, “Guys don’t! We have to leave now!”
“You have to leave now!” Baby yelled into the microphone, causing feedback into the cheap karaoke speaker. “We’re not starting the countdown until you go!”
The entire bar stood up at once and moved toward Emily. “What are you doing?” She screamed, “This is crazy!”
Derek grabbed her by the arm, “You’re being weird babe. Wait outside, I’ll be out in a minute after the countdown.”
Emily felt hands all over her, pushing her towards the door, but it was too dark to see who was touching her. Before she could protest further, she was out on the sidewalk, the door slamming behind her. She heard it lock, and she stood there shaking from fear, anger, and cold. She looked down the street and saw the pile of blankets where Baby had been, now they danced untethered across the street.
She could hear drunks inside yelling out their resolutions and she banged her fists on the door in protest.
Baby began counting down, “10…9…8…”
A glow from the bar shone from under the door.
“7…6…5…4…”
“Derek I swear to god!”
“3…2…1”
“DEREK!”
From inside, “HAPPY NEW YEAR!”
The bar erupted in a rendition of “Auld Lang Sine” and with every word the bar got brighter and brighter. The building started to shake so hard that dirt fell from the roof and Emily stepped back out onto the street, convinced that it would collapse.
Then, as soon as the song ended, the entire bar went dark and silent. Even the open sign in the window turned off. Emily stood there in the cold, quiet dark, and for just a moment, she heard a baby coo.