Cause and Effect Rowan Baxter-Green
It ended as it began , with an almighty crack and the smell of liquor . For a moment the bar seemed to grow absolutely silent . Then Jack let the broken bottle slip through his fingers and the world erupted in noise and chaos . There was blood on the floor . Dear Lord , there was blood and it was coming from the other man ’ s head , right where he had hit him . Had he hit him ?
His mind was a fog of alcohol and adrenaline , thoughts chasing each other in loops and twists . With shaking hands he clutched the sticky wood of the bar . He hadn ’ t started it . That much he remembered . The man on the ground had started it , with a thrown shot glass and a slew of angry words . But Jack had been the one to end it . Distantly he could hear someone ’ s one-sided phone conversation . He caught the words “ ambulance ” and “ blood ,” but the voice was so far away . Jack pried his fingertips away from the bar and felt them sting like lemon juice in an open wound . He let the noise of the room push against his eardrums as he watched the dark puddle slowly creep across the floor . He could not reverse what had happened . He could not run . He could not do anything but stand there and watch the scene unfold before him , a thousand consequences happening at once .
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