Nyx | A flash fiction story
86 of 💯
Miranda shook a lime-colored shaker vigorously, showing off a thick bicep acquired solely by mixing drinks for the past few months. As usual, Dino was resetting the VR Casino machines after closing the bar when his eyes caught her. He opened a wide smile, barely any teeth in his mouth.
“I gotta say, I took a leap of faith when I hired you,” he said with a strong lisp. “Sad girl, easily impressed — remember how much you loved that mocktail I gave you that day? — I had to give you a chance. But I thought I would have to fire you after a couple of weeks, and look at you now.”
She put down the shaker and opened it. She stared down at its contents with a smirk.
“Good job, Miranda,” Dino said as he crouched behind one of the machines to press the reset button.
“Thanks,” she said, eyes still in the drink as if waiting for a cue, “but it’s Nyx now.”
Dino got up slowly, a hand on his lower back. “Pardon?”
She closed the shaker and put her bicep to work again, this time with a slightly circular motion. “I’m changing my name,” she said. “In mythology, Nyx is the goddess of the night.”
Dino raised his eyebrows, crossing the bar towards a vacuum robot that was stuck between a chair and a wall.
“And, you might not know, but when I’m not here, I spend a lot of time in Atlanta Inc.’s little virtual universe.”
“Oh, you still go in the Aether? I didn’t know.” He kicked the robot back into its trajectory.
“I do,” she said, still shaking the drink. “I’m kind of a big deal, actually. No one knows who I am in real life, of course. For them, I’m ‘Mama M’. People call me ‘Mother’. Turns out that Nyx, the goddess of night, was also the mother of Aether, the personification of the bright sky. I thought it was fitting.”
“Interesting,” Dino said, approaching the counter. “And what happens to Miranda now?”
She put the shaker down. “Miranda… is past. She was a brave, innocent girl. She believed this city was paradise, and she did everything she could to get here — she even got… assaulted in the process. But she got here. And she got a nice job, with a boss who is actually a good person.” She winked at Dino and he blushed. “She won! I’m proud of her. But it’s time for her story to end.”
She poured the contents of the shaker into a tall glass and gave it a little spin. Dino pointed at the blue liquid spinning inside, speechless. When the contents of the glass slowed down, it turned into a bright orange.
“That’s the mocktail I gave you that day!” Dino said. “I never taught you how to make it!”
“Yup,” she said. “You said a magician never reveals his secrets. And you know what?” She took a sip of the drink and licked her lips. “You might be a magician, but I’m a goddess.”
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