Safe Distance {based on a writing prompt}
The bar was reaching closing time. Tony wiped down the counter again without noticing he was doing it, just as he did every night. It was almost a meditation taken on every few minutes, keeping him grounded to the present moment. There was something about physical chores that helped keep his mind from wandering, his ears from tuning in to the conversations happening around him.
He knew all the faces in the room, as if these patrons were a part of his family. He knew things about each of them that he didn't even know about his own family, and that was treading far too close to the invisible – but very present – line he drew between himself and the rest of the world.
They didn't know much about him, aside from the fact that he was as attentive as they needed him to be. He poured strong and tended to every half-empty glass before anyone had time to ask for a refill.
It made life easier to keep his customers at a distance. In fact, he kept most people at a distance – even his own family. The place in his life where friends should exist was filled only with coworkers and patrons. Once he put the apron away and locked up the bar, he retreated to a very solitary existence. Not because he didn't want friends, but because he learned the hard way that he could only know peace if others didn't get close enough to discover – experience – the secret he guarded. He discovered it quite by accident when he was 22 years old, and he would carry the guilt with him for the rest of his life.
Writing group time is done!