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Interested in my book NYX MYTH?
Read the prologue here, let me know what you think, this is the diary narrative world before the fantasy story begins…
PROLOGUE
UNIVERSITY PUB
Year: 2003
Canberra, Australia
One Wednesday night, students celebrate finishing exams in a pub close to the university district. Beer flags hang from the low ceiling, and neon signs flicker where solitude lurks outside among tumbling leaves. Inside, the fire crackles and beer glasses clink. This pub is a student’s second home—a place of laughter, embraces, a place to fall in love, and even somewhere oddly placed fifty-year-olds can read with a glass of wine. It’s dark enough for internet couples to meet on awkward first dates—a pub where imperfections disappear like dignity into the night. A pool player splits the opening break while painted nails twist straws in a drink that “some guy” bought.
At the bar, two university friends settle in. It’s time to test boundaries before the choking ties of the forever-destined workplace—time before people officially grow up.
Millar finishes his beer. “My round. Three dollar beers. Same again?”
“Yeah sure. I’m putting a song on.” Collins lumbers his broad shoulders to the juke box, sparking a cigarette.
Millar returns with two cold beers. “What did you put on?”
“The End - by the Doors.”
“Hey can I bum a smoke?” Millar lights his cigarette. “So yerr… I got a text today… from Elle.”
“Ah yeah – and?”
“I think she’s going to break up with me… tonight.” Millar puffs out a tempest.
“I don’t know what you see in her anyway. Everyone thinks she’s a bitch. You got a buck? I’m putting another song on for you.”
Before Millar can respond, Collins interrupts. “Millar, you remember Jess and Mandy?”
Everyone has that youthful glow—smiles and uncomfortable hair adjustments make way for conversations between the opposites of sex.
“Hey Millar, are you coming on the boat cruise? Collins is in…”
“Ah girls. You know I-”
Collins slaps Millar on the back. “Don’t worry girls, I’ll get Mills there! He’s just having a slight dilemma tonight.” Collins disappears to the juke box again.
“You should come Millar… Sally will be there?” The girls grin widely, sipping the last of their vodkas.
“Yeah I’ll try to make it.”
“Are you okay Millsy? You’re looking a little pale,” Jess prods.
“Yeah, I’m cool. Maybe I’m tired or this beer is having the wrong effect.”
“Pucka up softy!”
A lonesome fifty-year-old glares over his reading glasses from by the fire, then settles back to his page and merlot.
“What’s this song?” Millar checks his phone.
“This my friend is called ‘Take It As It Comes’…” Collins puts his arm across his friend’s shoulders. “…once again… by the Doors.”
Millar thinks, how can someone grin with both mouth and eyes? Collins’s eyes shoot sideways to Mandy as the song plays:
Time to live…
Time to die.
Take it as it comes…
Don’t move too fast if you want your love to last…
Collins howls and slams his drink down.
The lonely fifty-year-old departs in a disgruntled fashion, book tucked in armpit. He passes the internet lovers discussing favourite food groups and exits into the cold night.
Millar isn’t your ordinary guy. People find him interesting, sometimes a little sensitive—it’s the praise he seeks that drives this clown. He has a knack for over-analysing, delving into the details. To him, the world is a collection of thoughts, conversations, and simple formulas where things must get along. Things worked in Millar’s world.
“Get a load of them.” Millar points to Mandy and Jess as they are introduced to a group of guys.
“Yep, the modern-day woman…” Collins rocks on his stool.
“Everyone thinks they’ll just settle down at 30. I don’t think it’s that easy.”
“Thirty is the new twenty! My round!” Collins belches.
Over by the fire, the chair where the fifty-year-old sat sits empty. On the arm, a pair of spectacles is left behind.
Millar peers down at his newish pair of shoes. Like most things in life, Millar usually gets what he wants.
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