Last year, I told myself I wanted to write a book. I started writing some... then scrapped it. I started over, and finished the story, and I came back to this little bit of writing I attempted back then, which is vaguely in tune with both the the beginning and ending of the story. Without further adieu, I present a prologue for the story, for anyone interested.

If you can fake control, then do you have control? Take a minute to think about it. You're a smart, resilient individual, are you not? You can survive anything if you just stop and take a minute to think about whatever it is you're doing, before you do it. That's being aware of action and consequence. Karma is a bitch, and we all know what comes around goes around. You have to be a good person, because that's the key to being happy.

It really is that simple, but as human beings, we're known to complicate things. We complicate our lives with things that don't matter. We compromise our integrity so we can build the perfect world around us, and in retrospect, it always seems so empty. We wonder why it isn't enough. Where did we go wrong? We sacrifice our souls for mass-produced machinery to feed our ego, because we need something more. We need something we can never find. We need.

They say money can't buy happiness, but it can. Most people just can't find the right outlet, because they're looking for it in a material possession. Happiness is love. We have to love each other, because we're all we've got. Neglect us and we become something worse. We become horrible people.

We try to hide it, but there's no hiding from what you feel in your bones to be true. We as a species can do horrible things to one another. We get sick and twisted because we don't understand what real love is. True love can seem like a fairy tale, so we fake that too. We can learn to fake a lot of things. We convince ourselves that we love something, even if it's what we do, and even if we do heartless, lonely, really bad things.

People distract themselves from their thoughts, because they know that deep down, we're all going to die, and never come back. I know, I know... it's a harsh reality and a bleak outlook, and that's exactly why we avoid it. Remember that whole "you're a smart, resilient individual" bit? Well, that's not true. I was simply appealing to your senses, as any good horoscope would do. You're going to die, and be forgotten, because no one lives forever.

No one sees the supernatural. You always just missed it. If it happens, it happens to someone else, and you're not there. No one saw Jesus come back. No one living, anyway. We have to go on faith, because the good book says so. The good book that's been rewritten so many times...

I'm not here to insult Christianity or any religion, for that matter. Believe what you want, but don't shove it down anyone's throat, and don't base it off 1950s sci-fi. Then again, no one knows with certainty that they're right and you're wrong. The truth about death is empty. There simply is no truth about it.

People have been searching for the meaning of life for ages. Really, there is no meaning, and we're just here to make up our own meaning. On our own, and all alone. You don't have to be a hippie to know that violence and war isn't the answer. Yet somehow, we're expected to overlook the nihilism of mother nature and believe in something greater... that life is worth living, and everyone deserves a chance. Even you.

We all dream about the pursuit of happiness. Go after whatever you want, while you still can. Yet, people conveniently forget to love each other because they get greedy. They hone in on their pride. Empathy is necessary. One has to understand that people have feelings. People hurt. Most of us will never know what true love is, and we will always feel alone. Want to know something ironic? The world is growing smaller every day.

In mass-production and overpopulation, it's surprisingly easy to find yourself more alone than ever, since people don't connect the way they used to. Cell phones and the internet have turned us all into zombies. The more people we have, the more nameless we become, and the more we fall from grace. We become the people without love--the trolls who ruin it for everyone else because they can't understand what love is.

As any good D&D nerd would know, there's a big difference between intelligence and wisdom. You're allowed to be dumb as fuck so long as you're reasonable. No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, including you. We're all flawed, and we all have issues.

Stereotypes exist because trends exists. Intolerance exists because of ignorance. You're no better than anyone else, and karma will eat you alive if you let it. Again, we already know this, but we don't always listen. Humans are a stubborn, arrogant breed by nature, and while morality is good to a degree, sometimes, you need to let it go. Sometimes, you need to party. Like the world is going to end, and you need to know you're alive.

You can't live in fear, or it only gets worse. No one lives forever, and all you can do is hope that someone remembers you in this point of history. Which is to say, the history that no one can truly confirm or deny due to the fact that we we're never going back there except in our dreams. In our memories.

What are our memories, if nothing more than a collection of increasingly distant thoughts that peak our interest, pulled from our infinitely complex bio-computer of human brain that we as a species still don't fully understand? Well, be that as it may, we define our nature by what we learn in life, and there's nothing better than a good story to teach us a new way of looking at life.

We need the auteurs to show us the way. We need to fake control, and take the reigns. We need to let go of everything and make life our bitch. If we can't go back to yesterday, whose to say we can't redefine it? In this day and age, nothing can be proven anymore. Anyone can go online and photoshop the facts, and if anyone can do it, then what is the real truth?

Act the part and you become the part. Pick a bad role, and you become a bad character. Critics will beat you down no matter how hard you try. Lose yourself, and forget the haters. It only matters if you let it. Now's the time to make a change, and embrace a new day. It's time to be fashionable, rock the world, and fall in love.

I've burned too many bridges, and here I am, about to burn one more. I have to let go of my morality, only for a moment, to do a terrible thing... but after tonight, I'll never look back. The plan wont fail. I'll do this one thing, and I'll be rich. Then, I can do anything. I'll be set for life, where I can make my own American dream, and have control. I'll be fashionable. After tonight, I can be whoever I want to be, and I can do anything in the world, for the rest of my life...

To be clear, none of this is going to be IN the book. This is only a quasi-relevant outtake, and it should probably be burned.