Bob's Work Day of Chaos (Short Story)

[Magith1]

This is a story I was required to write for my writing class. It focuses less on the dialogue and more on the sensory detail and actions. In fact, there's not a single word of dialogue in the entire story! The plot pretty much explains itself throughout the story.

Hope you enjoy!

Bob woke up bleary-eyed from a poor night’s sleep. The faucet in the bathroom dripped all night long. The bed in his fold-out couch was lumpy, and stinky. Such was his life after his wife kicked him out. He turned on the dingy light, rubbed his eyes, and got up to drink some coffee to help him wake up.

He reflected on the fact that he had to take the bus to work now, because his wife even got the car. The bus was filled with homeless people, and seedy-looking vagrants. His humiliation was complete when he arrived late to work. His boss was not pleased, and made it clear. Bob skulked over to his desk, and began his boring day at work. His desk was in a cubicle, along with fifteen other bored employees in the central office. Looking up, Bob saw the water stains on the acoustic tiles that had been there since he started working there. There also seemed to be strange stains that didn’t even look like they belonged there, like left over pie, and tree sap.

As the morning progressed, the noise level in the office reached an almost unbearable level. This sales office was known for its aggressive personnel, and the noise level reflected that just about perfectly. He could hardly stand it. His boss came over specifically just to yell at him in front of all of the other employees. As soon as that man said the last word of his sentence, Bob snapped. He was pissed beyond the point of no return. He took out a pistol from his desk and put the barrel right between his boss’ eyes. The boss was taken by surprise by the sudden weapon to his face, and backed into a cubicle wall. Bob pulled the trigger, and his boss’ corpse fell to the floor, blood leaking out of the bullet hole in his head. The other co-workers were at first stunned, and then began to panic.

Richard was watching the scene unfold in slow-motion. He watched as the boss hit the floor, dead. Instinctively, he ran toward another room, and barricaded the door with whatever he could find. Then he frantically looked around for anything to defend himself with. He seemed to be in the supplies closet. All he could find was a staple gun. It would have to do.

He slowly opened the door, and peeked through. Many of his co-workers were either dead on the floor, or running for their lives. He decided it was now or never. Crouching low, Richard opened the door and snuck out of the closet, then quietly closed the door behind him. Right after he did, he heard a shot, and saw a bullet fly right over his head into the wall. He stood up and sprinted for cover, firing his staple gun as he ran. He made it behind a desk, and took a moment to catch his breath. A firefight ensued between Richard with his staple gun, and Bob with his pistol. Bullets and staples were flying everywhere around the room, while co-workers continued to run for their lives. Bob began to close in on Richard, shooting at the staples that were flying at him. Bob finally reached the desk where he thought Richard was hiding, but found no one. Richard jumped out from another desk, and tackled Bob. He stapled him to the ground. Richard was about to take the final shot on Bob to finish him off.

Bob looked behind Richard. He saw a shelf, with a broken front support. Bob took aim with his hand, and shot the remaining front support. The shelf fell over, and crushed Richard. The weight of all of the supplies on the shelf was enough to kill Richard.

Bob had finally won. He defeated Richard, and could continue his slaughter. Too bad it was only a dream. Bob woke in a cold sweat, and looked over at his wife. He laid back down, relieved.

[Magith1]

So, tell me what you think!