The Visitors.docx

8/9/2019 The Visitors.docx

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The Visitors

Written by Violita Febriana

Bina Nusantara University

In the year of 2035, people would get many visits from the future. The future selves

would pay a visit to the present selves, either to change a course of event, to meet long lost

beloved ones, or just out of curiosity to see what it is lie bac in the past. Their visits aren!t that

long" they only last from 3#$0 seconds. $5 seconds the longest.

%e call these people from the future the visitors.

These visitors start to enhance numerously in 2020. &rticles about people claiming they

got visitors from the future started syroceting in every boo shelves and maga'ines stalls. T(s

and radios would constantly tal about the visitors daily, twenty four seven nonstop. The images

of )tephen *awing and other time travel scientist nerds swarmed +aceboo timelinesthe

social media of that timemaing e-planations about these visitors.

It was a huge clamor bac then. ut that was all $5 years ago. /ow, getting visitors from

the future is lie getting your report card" people don!t get hyped anymore. They reali'e that

getting a visit from their future selves would mean they have unimaginably regrets in the future

what other reason would someone visit the past if not for fi-ing it

1eople would get an-ious about getting visits from the future nowadays. They would

cross their fingers, hoping that they wouldn!t have to meet the visitors. They!re frightened.

They!re scared of what the future message carrier hold for them.

I personally don!t see getting a visitoras a big thing. ut that year of 2035, in mid#&pril,

the fourth month of my $5 year of e-istence, I learn and reali'e that for a long period of time,

I!ve developed a strong misconception of the visitors.

4id you hear &nnabel from class $0& got a visitor recently6 (ivian whispers

enthusiastically.


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*mm I!m positive that I won!t.6 %hilst slurping my ice cream.

*ow are you so positive6

ecause I now myself. I don!t see traveling bac in time is necessary. I would convince

myself every day that changing the past is not necessary.6

*ow would you now %ho nows that 30 years from now you will get addicted to

gambling and got divorced from your wifeyour third wifeleaving you with a huge amount of

debt and live from scrapping for food somewhere in a ghetto &nd then you as yourself :*m, if

only I didn!t get addicted to gambling and could tell my young self not to try gambling!.6 )he

tries to mae a hypothetical future of me.

I glance at her and smir in amusement. That!s not possible.6 I try to finish off the

conversation.

;T it could be6 )he leans and pointing her melting ice cream at me.

*ey watch it6 I complain as it almost drips on my shirt.

(ivian didn!t bring up about the visitors after that on our way home. )he diverted the

conversation and start taling about the new =oogle =lass that is about to launch in Indonesia in

>une. It was a fun tal. %e joed around and laughed all the way home.

I really need some time not taling about the visitors at the moment. It!s a sensitive topic

for me since couple of months ago.

?other I!m home6 I yell as I put my shoes on the shoe rac.

It was a normal day for me at school, nothing in particular happened. ?y house is too,

@uiet as usual. ?other would prepare dinner around this time.

?om, have you bought the mil6 I yell for the second time.

?om6 I yell for the third time.


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I enter the itchen and find it unusually @uiet and empty. I do feel somewhat weird about

the air. I chec the fridge and, *mm there!s the mil. )he must be home then.6 I thought.

ut why hasn!t she responded Is she out again

/o, her shoes are at the shoe rac.6 I thought again, correcting myself.

I head upstairs to chec if she!s in the reading room. ?om, why haven!t you prepared

dinner6

I!m in your room sweetheart.6 )he finally responds.

?y room I told her not to go in my room I rush to my room and, %hy %hat are you

doing

I find her standing idly, not even an inch of movement. )he!s somewhat in da'e, looing

at my booshelf in awe. )he stiffly turns around with a confused face and fro'en still.

?omAis everything alright6 I!m starting to get worry.

*oney. 8ou!ve just gone bac home6

8es.6 I approach her cautiously. Is everything!s oay6 I as again, impatiently.

)he pauses for a second. )he loos lie she!s constructing a word to say to me.

?other6 I gently touch her shoulder.

%e!ve just got a visitor,


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*ow can you be so sure6 I stop her with a bit of anger.

%ell,6 )he searches for a good comebac, how can you be sure she was a bad omen6

)he argues lightly, trying to calm me down.

ecause the last time a visitor came to our house, dad left.6

Bverything becomes still for a moment. The sound of the ticing cloc got clearer. The

air in this room suddenly got heavier, my chest suddenly got heavier, and I can see how I have

also put that heaviness onto her. I can see the shoc in her eyes.

*oneyA6 )he tries to reach me.

>ust forget it. I!m going to my room.6 I avoid her approach and @uicly dash to my

room. I just want to forget the whole thing. (isitor this, visitor that, I hope the world would just

stop taling about them. %hy would they even come bac to the past %hy would human want

to change the past so bad %hoever made the time machineA

I slam the door @uite loud.


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I don!t want to get visited by them, ever.

*ello6

*ello.6

(ivian ga'es at me blanly, speechless. That!s funny.6 )he spouts out the obvious.

That!s what I thin. ut I now my mom" I now if she!s lying. )he wasn!t hiding

anything when I ased her.6 I continued drining my can of mil.

*mm I see. ?rs. %ijaya isa terrible liar, I mean, even I would now if she!s lying.6 )he

nods.

ut why would a visitor come all the way from the future just to say :hello! That never

happened before.6 )he poses a detective lie pose.

This is a mystery for us to solve6 )he points out her inde- finger to the air.

Us?6 I as mocingly.

&wh come on, this would be lie )herloc *olmes and his sideic, 4r. %atson6

/ow she!s pointing her inde- finger at me. 8ou!ll be 4r. %atson.6 )he smiles

satisfyingly.

I slide her hand off of my face. Dnoc it off. I just want this e-perience toAgo away. 6 I

throw the empty can of mil to the distant.

(ivian instantly stops her teasing as she sees the obscure sorrow in my eyes. )he!s my

best friend, so of course she would now. I can!t hide a thing from her since fourth grade when

she moved beside my house.

)he sits down beside me and leans her face close to the left side of my face, trying to see

clearly the frown I!m putting right now.

)oAhas your father contacted you6 )he ass cautiously.


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I reposition my sitting. Call /o. Te-ts /o. *e hasn!t called me since he left. *e only

contacted us via te-ts through my mom. ut that was lieA3 wees ago.6 I sigh desperately.

*e even didn!t tell me why he had to leave on such short notice.6 I frown.

(ivian rests her shoulder onto mine. I!m sure he!ll call. 8ou now my intuition!s always

right.6 It!s true. )he has a sharp intuition.

*e!d better be. ecause if he doesn!t, I!ll have to go to &merica and bring him bac

myself.6

I raise my head and give her a sincere smile. I!m still haunted by the visitor that visited

my dad, but her cheer lifts my spirit a bit. Thans.6 I nudge her lightly.

&nyway6 )he suddenly pops, almost giving my heart a heart attac. 8ou should totally

buy your mom something &pologi'e for yesterday6 )he ferociously messes my hair.

9ay 9ay Cut it out I will6

*er smile blooms twice bigger. =ood boy6

Is it cheesy for me to buy my own mother a bou@uet of lilies I now that!s her favorite

flower, but (ivian insisted that I should buy her something nice. =iving a female a bou@uet of

flower is nice right I don!t now. &t least that!s how T( shows portray :giving something nice

to a female!.

?other I!m home6 I shout endearingly.

A

A

*mm. /o response Is she out again


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?other6 I chec from one room to another. +irst the itchen, where she usually is

around this time, and then the reading room, where she usually is when she!s not preparing

dinner.

I!ve checed all the rooms, including mine, and yet there!s no sighting of her. I guess she

really is out.

>ust after I concluded my search, suddenly I heard a noise coming from the itchen. ?y

heart almost got its second heart attac today.

?om6 I shout cautiously.

I!m pretty sure there wasn!t anyone in the itchen when I checed it. The door was

tightly shut so there shouldn!t be a trespasser. %hy does this feel lie a horror film all of a

sudden

/o time to thin. I immediately tae the closest potential weapon there is" the umbrella. I

wal slowly lie one of those ninja assassins in films.

&s I!m nearing the door, with rapid dash I

*&6

jump and shout simultaneously with all my might and the attempt to frighten whoever

or whatever it is in my itchen.

&nd nothing. /o one or nothing is in my itchen. ?ust be my vivid imagination.

1erhaps it was the wind.6 I try to cheer myself.

*m I!ve just noticed something. ?om left a note on the fridge.

Gonna be late. Fixing the car, its jammed again.

Heat the soup in the fridge if youre hungry.

ove, !om.


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9h she is out. %ait, the car is jammed again *ow come I didn!t now it was

jammed6

I jammed it because I need to tal to you,


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not capable on thining straight at this point. There are a lot of things I need to comprehend right

now.


12/18

In the future, there will be a rapid decrease of habitable lands due the to-ic residue of

human!s weaponry and so will the human population. They don!t reali'e that their conflict also

causes suffering to the nature.6

&nd now, the world I!m leaving in isAit!s just the complete opposite of yours. %e

would have to wear mass when we go out, clean water becomes scarcity in almost everywhere,

life e-pectancy decreases by 2F.3G...6 *e stares blanly through me. I can see the sadness in his

eyes. &nd the worst thing is,


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%e don!t allow people to interact with their past selves too long. %e only give them $5

seconds top, and that!s it. ut as one of the inventors, I thin I!m allowed brea that very rule.

+or you.6 *e grins mysteriously.

%ait.6 It just hit me. 8ou!re one of the inventorsA6

That!s right.'ou!ll be one of the inventors of humanind!s very first time machine.6

I!m dumbfounded."will%*&T

9h and I was the one who told your father, our father, to tae the offer to partae in the

development of the time machine in &merica.6

89; were the visitorbehind my dad!s

9ur dad.6

u%hy 8ou didn!t lie it when he left, did you6

9f course I didn!t. ut it was for a greater good. *e!s not just an ordinary accountant.

*e!s an important piece in the development of the time machine. *is sill would be valuable

somewhere else. 8our dadour dadwas a genius, smarter than you thin. *e was one of the

few Indonesians who managed to partae in the development of Chronosthe machine I named

you!ll name. Tae pride in that.6

*e even didn!t tell my mom a thing6 I ignore his last statement.

ecause the development of Chronos is top secret in your time. It!s a state

confidentiality. +amilies of the developers are not allowed to now. ut I!m telling you this

anyway.6 *e sloppily replies. I guess I don!t change much in 30 years.

I!m having a lot through my mind right now. Bvery single information he gaveAit all

sounds surreal. I!m frightened and e-cited all at once.


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yourselves" of what!s to come if you don!t do anything to change it. 4o not be afraid of us, be

afraid ofyou. e afraid to lose what!s important. 8our humanity.6

This is a reminder for you


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I was justArela-ing.6 I couldn!t tell her that I just met my visitorand what the future

have in store for me. ?aybe one day I will tell her, but not today. I!ve had enough cra'iness for

one day.

In the living room6 )he furrows her eyebrows.

Is that weird6 I try to end the conversation. %ell, no.6 )he replies in defeat.

%ell, anyway, I have something to tell you.6 ?om diverts the subject. )he sits down

close beside me. The car!s in the repair shop now. There!s something wrong with the engine but

it!ll all be fi-ed by ne-t wee. I wonder if I mistreated it hmm.6

(o you didnt mom. ")the future me did.

&nyway, that!s not that what I want to tell you.6 )he grins satisfyingly. I now you

don!t want to tal about this, but,6 )he hesitates for a while, 8esterday, when I met the woman

visitor, I found her @uite odd. )he looed lie me when I was in my 30s.6

)he looed lie you6 I as in awe.

8eah. &nd she had similar eyes to your fathers and to yours.6

I can!t predict what she!s about to say to me. ?y brain is still scattered.

ut what pi@ued my interest about that visitorwas, she was wearing a locet similar to

mine.6

The locet you got from grandma6

8es.6 )he continues, &nd, it was weird. The way that woman visitor looed at me. It

was as if she new me well.6

Amom6

)o anyway, after I left the repair shop, I went to the doctor.6 )he disregards my @uestion.

?om6 I try to stop her.


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I mean, I had my suspicions" I!m nauseous recently, I get tired @uic, my emotion has

been up and down lie roller coaster, I!m craving for more food than usual

?9?.6 I raise my volume a bit. %hat are you trying to say to me6 I as impatiently.

)he sighs and tries to get a hold of herself.


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8es. I!m not afraid of them anymore. I!m not afraid of the future anymore.6 I embrace

her this time. Than you, ?om. Than you for being a great mother.6 I conclude today!s warm

evening with a sincere gratitude.


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%H+?-?- *H& %+* 'U *"*&/?-?-

& te-t from (ivian. I grin amusedly at her usual dopey te-t. I have a feeling I!m going to

have a long e-planation to do to (ivian tomorrow.

I close my phone and head to sleep.

+or the first time in a long time, I!m looing forward to tomorrow.

Documents

The Visitors.docx