The Vessel

 

It was a small modern cottage surrounded by lush garden of various plants on a hill, by the river near a village. Living inside was a young couple, maybe at their early 30s, with a swarm of pets from cats to different species of birds. On its backyard, a medium size pond was full of fish. The pond was connected to a river not so far from the hut and it flowed to small artificial canals that streamed through the garden, allowing the plants to stay hydrated and the fish to swim freely.

The couple called their home as The Vessel. the building had two stories, a balcony with a great view from the top of a hill, and a semi-outdoor kitchen. Outside, a neat yet lush garden surrounded the wooden cabin, with small canals streamed endlessly, the plants were even greener than the fake plastic one in department stores. During the day, some wooden birds’ house could be seen in some branches of different trees. Different birds came everyday. The couple basically didn’t pet the birds, they only had some cats and rabbits while the birds were all wild; they came and disappeared as they wished.

The man was a teacher. He taught in a small primary school in the village and regularly invited the kids from that school to study in The Vessel. In his free time, he did free writing in his personal blog and gardening,  The lady was tough yet lovely. She was the one who interpreted the imagination of the man and ultimately designed The Vessel, putting the thoughts of both of them into a blueprint of ideal home. In her current circumstances, she actively helped the man teaching, did some experiments and scientific works to support the community, and establishing hand-made clothing brand of her own. In the past, both of them were the slave of modern city life which was full of negative social judgement and irrational demands. They left everything behind and moved far away to an unknown land of happiness where they finally could build their vessel.

-SHLI-

Aren’t they dead, dad?

He stood firmly next to a huge wooden pillar. His dark green hair was waved by the chilling breeze of late autumn. His eyes were locked on to the bizarre view in front of him; a bunch of monuments that his dad had ever told him about: the deadmen memorials.

He was confused; why would the deads need monuments? Why bother having such vast space for them whom no longer exist in this world? Sometimes they even cut trees, killing more creature for the sake of such monuments.

His dad said that the deads have moved to different world that was separated to this world. “I would not disturb the inhabitant of this world if I am no longer here, unless I could come back one day,” he paused, “can I?” the dad smiled and slighly shook his head. “Then this monuments are useless, no wonder you don’t want one, dad.”

 

Picture credit: haunted cemetery

Kontemplasi Singkat: Rumah

Sore hari merupakan waktu favorit kedua sahabat itu untuk duduk di balkon kayu bagian belakang lantai dua rumah pohon Jingga, berdiskusi tentang apa saja sambil ditemani segelas besar cokelat panas kental dan secangkir kopi hitam tanpa gula. Aela mendekap gelas cokelatnya dengan erat sambil sesekali menyeruputnya perlahan sementara Jingga fokus membaca halaman ke-sekian ratus dari buku yang didapatnya beberapa minggu lalu di toko buku bekas. Di meja kayu, cangkir kopi mengepulkan uap panas yang menguarkan aroma wangi khas kopi hitam pekat tanpa campuran apa-apa, di sebelah cangkir, setumpuk buku lainnya tersusun rapi. Dari langit, suara burung gagak bergema di kejauhan seiring memerahnya langit, semilir angin meniup dedaunan pohon ek yang rindang meneduhi balkon beratap transparan itu.

“Jadi, selama ini kita telah melanggar kodrat kita sebagai manusia. Kita mengurung diri kita dengan sengaja.” Jingga menutup buku di tangannya bersamaan dengan ia mengakhiri ucapannya. Aela menunggu, ia yakin sobatnya itu belum selesai bicara, sambil perlahan menyeruput coklat panasnya. Gadis itu menarik napas, sesuatu terlintas di pikirannya dan hasrat menunggunya sirna, “itu sebabnya lu jarang pulang ya? Terus lu suruh gue jagain rumah lu begini tiap lu ngilang? Tiap lu ‘jadi manusia beneran’, iya?” Jingga terkekeh pelan, “gue tahu lu mau ngomong apa abis ini, dan gue udah bisa respon statement yang bakalan lu ucapin itu sekarang juga.” Tantangan yang dibalas dengan dengusan Aela.

“El, what is home to you?”

“A place where I feel safe and comfortable. A place to drawback from the madness of the world.” Jawabnya sambil meletakan gelas coklat yang hampir kosong.

Jingga kembali terkekeh pelan, sementara itu Aela mengerutkan dahi, menahan mulutnya untuk tetap diam, “Manusia zaman dahulu menganggap seluruh dunia adalah rumahnya, El dan mereka lebih pandai beradaptasi daripada kita dan manusia lain di zaman sekarang. Mereka dulu terbiasa dengan berbagai macam bahaya, madness as you described it, people dealt with it instead of drawing back. Kita sekarang senang dengan segala sesuatu yang aman dan nyaman, seraya melepaskan diri dari berbagai madness yang sesungguhnya nggak terlalu mad,” ada jeda, yang kemudian dipotong oleh Aela, “kitanya aja yang lemah ya Ga?” Jingga mengacungkan jempolnya.

“Jadi, kalau gue tanya, where is your home? Lu jawab apa?”

“Untuk saat ini, ya rumah gue lah.” Jawabnya seraya memain-mainkan ujung gelas coklatnya yang hampir kosong.

“Jadi, kenapa gue mau lu jagain rumah pohon gue tiap gue pergi motret kemana-mana?”

Aela terdiam agak lama sebelum akhirnya menjawab, “so, I can escape from my comfort zone and perceive wider ‘territory’ as my home?” Ujarnya setengah ragu.

Jingga mengangguk sebelum akhirnya balas bertanya, “Menurut lu, apa menjadi manusia modern berarti harus terus-terusan tinggal di tempat yang sama dan sembunyi ketika kita merasa insecure? Pernah kan, merasa nggak nyaman dan khawatir justru karena kita di rumah terus-terusan? As if we don’t go anywhere?”

Aela mengangguk pelan, betapa setuju ia dengan pemikiran Jingga namun di sisi lain, pikirannya berkecamuk ingin berontak hingga akhirnya ia berkata, “then why don’t you bring me with you?”

Jingga tersenyum, “as you understand my point and agree with it, then you will be with me on my next trips,” ujarnya seraya melempar ponsel yang ditangkap dengan sigap oleh Aela.

“Flight pukul delapan pagi, Puerto Rico? besok?”

“Scroll down,” ujar Jingga sebelum menenggak habis kopi hitamnya.

Ada empat tiket lain menuju empat negara berbeda di empat benua berbeda. Aela menggeleng seraya terkekeh, “You don’t need to ask, I am ready to come home, to the world.”

 

 

The Game

From the outside, he looked like any ordinary boy with normal appearance and typically cheerful and carefree vibe of kids at his age, but what inside his head was his own world with unimaginably imaginative plot that he kept only to himself, though sometimes he unconsciously involved others by saying something unexpected to friends, teachers, parents and people around him. Most of the time, he would make a back-up line right after he realized his imaginative world breached into the reality.

This morning

It was normal sunny morning outside with the birds chirping and everyone was busy to get ready to work and school but not to him. Everyday was a new stage of game with new missions and achievements waiting.

Monday, 18th September

I am on my way to the place where I will hon my skills, a place called school. Homework is daily mission and stationaries are your weaponries.

“Mom, I think I forgot bringing my potion.”

“Eh? You mean your tumbler?”

“Oh come on, you start to be like Mrs. Parker.”

“Well, sorry about that. Here, bring mine. It has extra regeneration effect that will buy you time.”

“Sweet! Infused potion!”

“Yes, Infused water… Oops.”

“Mom!”

I think mom starts to put herself away from the game. Boring. But nevermind, I am at the gate of the dungeon now. Ready for hunting and leveling up.

“Get in kid, I am about to close the gate.”

“Chill, Gate Keeper, I know what to do.” He forgot that he was talking to the security guard of his school. As he realized, he ran away in panic, “see you Mr. Green!” The security shook his head as the boy ran faster.

Should not let it come out of my mind wildly. Self control. Mr.Green, the teachers and most friends are NPCs. AI controls them. Now first lesson is history and there will be a series of micro-test. Guess I will have to time travel and fix some fake history. 

During the test

There are five stages which I have to do either orderly or randomly. But since this is rescuing the bent history, I have to make it quick.

The first stage was about treason. It is said that Julius Caesar was killed by poison. I prove it wrong by stopping the one who was about to change the history and finally witnessing the death of Caesar as he was stabbed by the senators. Done with that, I move to the next stage.

“Joey, is that the text book? I told you to rely only from your notes, didn’t I?”

“Of course it is the time machine I built myself, Sir,” silence, the whole class was about to burst into laughter, “I mean… notes.” Laughs everywhere. Only a girl sitting on the corner of the class stayed calm looking at Joey. She seemed amazed.

Boy you mess it again. Talking to NPC as if they are another player. I have to finish this mission fast so that I can move to the other part of the map.

“Sir I am done.” He confidently handed the paper as the teacher received it and allowed him for early break.

Now bonus stage. Should I go to boost my strength and agility? Or my intelligence and wisdom? Or maybe sharpening the sub-skills related to those status?

“Do you wanna restore your health point?” Joey frowned. It doesn’t have any mocking tone on it. Besides, it is girl voice. He turned back and saw his classmate. ” May I join?”

Is she another player? Or she just mocks me? If so, she is probably a support type.

“Are you okay? Wanna go to the clinic?”

She chuckled, “shouldn’t we go there to respawn instead of restoring health? Or, am I wrong?”

Damn, she is surely the one.

“Well.. Let’s go then. By the way, you are?” He was nervous.

“Jill,” She introduced herself with a smile on her face, “and I play D&D too.”

Well, I thought I was the only weirdo in this place. Glad to fine companion then.

“I am glad to know that someone is actually thinking what I am thinking about: relating all these into game.” She couldn’t hide her excitements. Joey was surprised that she responded to what he just thought about. “Well, I thought I was alone too. So we shall set the same objective for today: defeating the mad scientist who tries to revive dinosaurs.” What he meant was biology test by Mr.Rick but Jill agreed to the idea of defeating mad scientist. “Let’s expand the map as well after that. I am new here so I have so many dark spots in my map.” Joey nodded responding to the girl.

After School

Mission completed and new companion joined my faction. What a day! Tomorrow won’t be the same as I can team up with Jill dealing with the challenges.

“You seem so jubilant, wanna share some tales?” Mom was preparing for dinner when she saw her boy was smiling and humming a backsound of video game. “I met another player, mom. So I think you can retire now.” Mom chuckled, “whoa, I bet he is not as good as me, though.”
“We’ll see about that. But anyway, it is a she.” He replied. Mom’s eyes grew wider as she couldn’t hide that she was surprised, “female player?” Joey nodded, “yeah, we defeat the mad Darwinian together. Stopping him to clone dinosaurs and also we explore the map to unlock new places.” Mom listened attentively as Joey continued his story about Jill, “I see. So you and Jill went home together eh? She lives nearby? Oh and I shall expect an A+ for your Biology test.” Joey sighed, “I know right mom, you are no longer in the game.”