

"I'll walk you home" I looked up to see boss standing in front of me, shop keys twirling in her slender fingers. I put down the 3-piece shaker that I was finished cleaning. "You know; I don't need a walk home every time I work late." Shifting uncomfortably, my hands moving to grab the cloth to clean the bar table. It was a busy day, from opening to closing bodies and stories moved in and out of the bar. All being passed onto me. Of course, they never go farther than that, the People, the Lilim; they all drink in poison and talk out more. In some way, I feel a sense of happiness when they open up, the youthful excitement of being let into a secret. But then I go home, I sit, drink and realize it's draining me. To be surrounded by the good and the bad, the movement of life in others, and I wonder where I'm going to be after this. I wonder where could I have gone. My trance was broken by Gill "I'm leaving, see you tomorrow Boss!" As he yells from the back room before the sound of the closing door follows him. Boss yells back, giving an acknowledgment as I let my mind wander again. This time it takes me to Lenor, my ex-girlfriend. My dead ex-girlfriend. Where would we have been if I set aside my problems and came back to you? With my hands still moving mechanically over the bar table and my thoughts somewhere else. I don't hear Boss repeating my name. "Jill? Jill? Julianne?" I heard that one, and for a moment I'm eleven again in middle school. Being mocked about liking that damn show. 'Model Warrior Julianne'. I still can't stand the sound of her name. My name. "Why don't you ever walk home Gill?" I snap, losing the little patience I had left in the night. "Why have you been wiping the same spot for the last 10 minutes?" She's calm, pointing to the rag that was being suffocated by my hands. I shoot a glance at the clock: 11:10. 'What the hell is wrong with me.' "Sorry Boss. I'm just really tired." I sigh and sit down on the bar stool. "That's all?" She asked. I nodded, casually lying. "That's all." "Come on then, let's get going." She smiles at me as I lift myself from the barstool. "And Jill, we're done work. It's Dana; not Boss."