Archive for category: ENLIVEN Magazine

Renhard Sebastian

 (Top 10 Short Stories English Language Fiesta 2021)

 

“Foyth…”. The voice that keeps calling his name. that voice tingles in his ears from left to right whoosh… the wind howls towards him, gentle but strong. The voice itself is quite soothing, the more he hears it gives him warmth and comfort. “Should I open my eyes? Maybe I could give it a try….”. His body felt swayed like a falling snow.

“Maybe not now, the grass somehow feels fluffy,”.

“Foyth, wake up”. His eyes slowly open and reveal a figure standing in front of him as he’s lying under the lush tree. Their eyes met, an almond shaped pair of grey eyes, sleepy yet sparkling.

“ah, you’re finally awake, Foyth”. A gentle smile carved on her face. He grunts and reaches for his head.

She chuckled. “that sleep must have been messing up your head a bit, eh?”. She gave me her hand and helped him stand up from the ground. “we better get going before sunset.”

“going where?”. She raises her small backpack from the ground. “Just have a little walk, you wouldn’t mind right?”. She reached into her backpack and gave me a bottle of water. “Here, this might freshen your head”. She stepped away from under the shady tree, walking alongside a breeze that howled her raincoat.

He followed behind her, He moved against the swaying grass as he tried to reach out to her whilst looking at both of his palms that had a few grass on it. As the sun beamed above the light blue sky, he tried to trigger a glimpse of memory that resembled her.

“Hey Foyth… you forgot your little friend there”. She points back towards a camera that’s dangled on that same tree branch.

They stumble upon a hill that leads to a barrier to an abandoned highway with wild plants growing even in such tiny spaces such as cracked roadways. Buzzing road lights sparkling under the broad daylight.

She leans her body forward, gazing towards the light blue sky whilst keeping her hands in her pocket, as a gust of wind howls towards them swaying her hood in the process. she raises her hand revealing a twinkling necklace on her grasp.

Looking back into the far-away meadows made out as a greenish-brown background with a hazy sky up above. Even so, the tree remains there as the centre. The silence seems absolute.

The camera strap compressed with his neck as he weighed up his camera. as he panned his camera onto that tree. A small beep, followed with a blinding lighting flash.

Once the scenery of the dancing grass on a small field changes to a little town, a quiet little town surrounded by small grassy hills on the north covered by the clouds, the noon-zephyr blows from the twitter hills. Two small-billed birds chirped from the distance and began to fly towards the blue sky.

She leaned her body forward on the highway barrier, Foyth stood beside her and did the same thing. Her eyes are wide open at the same time she takes deep breaths, a smile resembling a reminisce on her face.

“It’s really peaceful here, isn’t it?” “yeah…it is”

“this kind of feeling… is this what home feels like?”

A quiet playground under the broad sunlight in front of them, the rustling leaves branches. A pair of dusty wooden swings, one was dangling from side-to-side, “maybe…”

She picked a sprig of phlox, a sprig of tricolor phlox tangling on the ground. She gazed towards the flower, and smiled for a brief moment.

“you don’t sound too sure…” the flower flees from her grasp. slowly swayed away down the hill.

“the word home is too contradicting to resemble that kind of feeling” “…”

From the far distance the sky began to rumble. The thunder whispers.

The dark sky comes in a view. The veil of leaves falls behind them. Tears began to relinquish from the sky, the raindrop splashed louder than the rustling leaves. Puddles formed and scattered on the roadway, reflecting the boundaries between the sky and the ground. A strong smell of the rain on dust appeared. Sounds of the vines fluctuated, revealing An umbrella rises above his head. Come on, says her eyes.

Puddles were splattered. They walked under the rain. For a brief moment Foyth glances to the dark sky, for no reason, he thinks.

“The sky seems relieved”

***

The rumbling rain extinguishes as they walk afar, the mossy stone brick structure sets a cold ambience between them. Flickering blue lights buzzing above their heads, Even so the darkness remains there. In each of every step they take reverberated the crackling concrete pathway.

“Interesting…”. Foyth glances towards her

“contradicting, huh?… what makes you see it that way?”. He tried to let his mind speak. But, the air suddenly felt heavy for him to breathe in, making his mind feel uneasy. leaving his words dangle on the tip of his tongue.

Silences approximate between them. only the same sounds remain to fill the emptiness. “if it’s about the bridge between your past and future. nobody could ever know,” She said That heavy feeling vanished.

A flower petals drop onto the ground. The last petal lay in the back of her boots. “You must be hungry after thinking about that, right?”.

“close your eyes,”. She said, He gave a puzzled look on his face. The necklace on her neck began to twinkle. the lights begin to flicker under their head. slowly the lights began to fade and dark voids were creeping closer.

The wind repels.

Whisper throughout his thought; His eyes slowly open vastly.

The sun sets on the horizon, as the sky’s painted red. Silhouette marks the sand and twittered cliff around it. The burbling waves are roaming, swaying into the ocean. Foyth was greeted with a cup of noodles in his grasp. A cup with nothing but plain noodles with pale yellow broth. And so the smell of curry flavored broth evaporates to the sky.

“It’s nothing like home cooked meals. But, hey it works,”. She softly smiled as she sat down beside him. The girl took off her pair of boots. Gently rolls off her socks.

Waves after waves sweep off the white sand off the shore. The pine trees dance alongside its own silhouette. Seagulls sings, march their way towards the sunset.

He took a slurp of the warm noodle.

“this tastes better, somehow”. He thought. The warm broth formed a harmony for himself. He gazes towards the clouds. Passing by slowly in the red painted sky. He wrapped his hand around the cup. He let his thoughts speak.

“What if all of this was a dream? and I wake up in the middle of it” “something awaits you the end of the journey”

“What do you think about the sky?”

She gave a quick glance towards him. She leans back gazing towards the sky. She lightly smiled.

“it’s completely naïve”. He responded with a brief chuckle. As he was about to take the last bite. The girl stood from the ground. Sweep a spare sand off her coat. “It’s been quite a day, Foyth. but I’ve to go,” The word ‘thank you’ was said from the tip of her lips.

Foyth rose from the ground leaving the unfinished cup noodle on the ground and stood in front of her. “so… this is a goodbye then?”. She raised both of her shoulders, and with a faint smile on her face she said to him. “Let’s just say it’s a farewell… at least for now”.

“Could you do me a favor?”. she’s asks him to take a photo of her and the scenery that was bestowed upon them, ‘to commemorate the day’ she said it passionately with her soft voice. He willingly accepts her request.

She jogged towards the swaying waves. She took off her hood, as a gust of wind howled her medium frizzy hair. Foyth pointed his camera towards her, The girl stood far away in front of him gazing towards the sunset on the horizon.

His lenses began to zoom in, turning up his iso to lighten up the visuals. Slowly focusing his lenses onto her. “Farewell…” he said, and then the light flashes into the scenery.

Foyth was woken up by a leaf that fell onto his head. Usually, he always feels nauseous right after he wakes up, but this time it’s an exception for him. He gazed into the afternoon sky and felt the breeze passing through him.

A quick glance to his side, he saw an unfinished cup of noodle on the ground. Next to it, his camera was turned on. A recent photo on the display. Foyth took a closer look at that photo.

The painted sky with the sunset, with the ocean reflected the scenes of the horizon. Amidst the whole scene, A girl with a white colored raincoat stood there gazing towards the horizon. A letter beside him says;

“I’ll see you again, Foyth” ~Sora He lightly smiled in relief.

Fatiha Nashwa Putri Hendryan

(Top 10 Short Stories English Language Fiesta 2021)

 

A little girl saw the blue sky with the wind that made her long hair move as if it had been dancing to the rhythm. Suddenly, a hand tapped her shoulder and broke the atmosphere.

“SHERAPOVA! WHY ARE YOU IN HERE? EVERYBODY HAS ALREADY BEEN WAITING

FOR YOU,” Nalesha screamed.

“Sha! Can you please calm down?” said Sherapova. “Just hurry up! The show is about to start!”

Jalu, Cakra, Nalesha, and Sherapova quit and focused on the show which was the interview with the most famous artist, Nadya Kusuma. That day, Garuda Senior High School (SHS) invited her as the speaker to teach the student about knowledge of art and can have the interest to become a person who had a profession related to art.

“Everyone, please welcome, Nadya Kusuma,” the MC shouted.

Every student stood up and gave applause to Nadya Kusuma. She had a bright aura that made people amaze her. At first, Nadya Kusuma explained some theories of her profession and some of her successful works of art that had been included in national and international art exhibitions.

When the presentation was over, it was time for Garuda SHS students to ask a question.

“Anyone wants to ask something to Ms. Nadya Kusuma?” the MC offered.

“My name is Sherapova, I want to ask about how can you be sure to be an artist?” Sherapova asked. “The key is doing what you like,” Nadya answered.

Sherapova had a lot of anxiety about herself, especially about her college. She was still not sure about being an artist, but a lot of people wanted her to take an art major at the University of Indonesia. At home, while she was watching television, suddenly she was interested in her father’s workspace. Her father was lost when he had an official visit abroad. Since that day, her mom told her that her father had already passed away, but she did not believe it at all. Her mom kept a lot of secrets from her and kept them in a room. She tried to open the door of the room, but it was locked. She had an idea to open the door with a bobby pin. She succeeded to open it and entered the room.

She could see a lot of books and files. She also saw her father’s photo on the table.

“I miss you so bad, dad. When will you be home?” she asked hopefully while dripping her tears.

Sherapova started to find various information about her father through the items in the room.

Looking at her father’s files, she just knew about her father’s job and what he actually did. Seeing his father trying to do justice even though he was criticized by certain people made her want to become like him instead of forcing herself to be an artist.

The next day at school, Sherapova would try to tell her friend about not entering art major at the University of Indonesia. Jalu, Cakra, Sherapova, and Nalesha had already made a promise to themselves to enter the same major and become successful artists in the future. Then, with a heavy heart, Sherapova had to break the promise she already made with her three friends.

“Nalesha, Jalu, Cakra, there is something I have to talk about with you, Guys,” Sherapova said. “I will not continue my dream as an artist, no matter what my mom will really hate it. I just want to do what I want, not others do.”

Instantly, the whole atmosphere changed. The facial expression changed as fast as lightning. “You break our promise, Sherapova,” Jalu said in a disappointed tone.

Cakra, Jalu, and Nalesha left Sherapova with disappointed expressions on their face. Sherapova felt guilty toward her friends. She went back home and tried to talk with her mom.

“Mom, I don’t want to be an artist. I want to become like dad,” Sherapova said. “Stop talking about your dad! He has already died!” Mom replied angrily.

“Your dad died because of his own fault and I don’t want you to follow him,” mom explained.

Sherapova called Nalesha and explained everything about her current condition and told Nalesha to persuade her two friends, Jalu and Chakra, to forgive Sherapova and help her. Finally, Nalesha managed to convince Cakra and Jalu to help Sherapova.

“Guys, I want you to help me find my father. I don’t have much information, but I’m sure we can find lots of clues in his office. About my mom, don’t let her find out.”

Sherapova, Nalesha, Cakra, and Jalu entered Sherapova’s father’s office slowly and carefully. The four of them began to rummage through the things in the room and tried to find clues that could lead

them to where Sherapova’s father was. While looking through the sheets of newspaper, Cakra found a newspaper that had been torn up untidy. When he read, it was written news about the owner of the Garuda Bangsa Foundation which was the Garuda High School Foundation.

“Sherapova, I think it can be an important clue,” Cakra said as he handed the piece of newspaper to Sherapova.

“Hey, I’ve found a savings book,” Nalesha said.

Sherapova took the passbook and checked page by page. There were many records of deposits made by the owner of the savings account. At first, she thought it belonged to her father, but seeing the huge amount of money, she was not sure about it.

“Krisando Natanda,” suddenly everyone in the room fell silent.

Kristando Natanda was a well-known name to all Garuda SHS students, the owner of the Garuda Bangsa Foundation, dubbed the founder of the best school in academic ability. It was related to the disappearance of a student’s parent at his school, strange but real.

Nalesha found a safe. She had an idea to open the safe hoping there would be more evidence they could find.

“Sherapova, what is your mother’s date of birth?” “19^th, why, Sha?”

“It’s finally open!” Seeing Nalesha able to open the safe made her friends amazed.

They found a lot of files and important letters. Sherapova took out a folder and checked the sheets one by one. She also found the teacher’s contract and the head of the foundation which had suspicious points. They also found Kristando’s villa address in Sherapova’s dad’s journal.

“What should we do next, Sherapova?”

“We will go to Mr. Kristando’s villa. He is the only person we can suspect now,” Sherapova said, staring intently at her father’s photo.

Sherapova and her three friends had arrived at the villa.

“We share the task. Nalesha and Chakra, you have to search this villa to find files or suspicious things.

I’m going to find out where dad is because I’m sure he is in this villa.”

Meanwhile, Nalesha and Cakra were searching the cellar, looking for evidence they could gather. Cakra opened a dusty safe. There were many files grouped according to the names of Garuda SHS students. Thousands of leaked questions were also seen in the room, and even the ranking order was manipulated all this time by the school just to maintain the school’s accreditation. They suspected that was Kritando Natanda’s biggest secret that Sherapova’s father wanted to reveal, so he could be kidnapped here.

In search of Sherapova’s father, Jalu and Sherapova found a suspicious locked room. Sherapova saw from the keyhole there was a man lying on the floor. A face that was very familiar and she had not seen for a long time, “father,” she said briefly. With all their strength, Chakra and Jalu broke the door, then Sherapova ran and immediately hugged her father who was lying limp due to malnutrition.

“Sherapova, what are you doing here?” her father asked.

“I am here to free dad and expose all the crimes of Mr. Kristando.” “All parents are involved in this,” her father said.

Hearing the words of Sherapova’s father, the four of them were shocked and did not expect that all the parents of Garuda SHS students were involved in the problem. Sherapova’s dad gave a flash drive containing all evidence of the teaching contracts, scores manipulation data, and exam papers to send to the education office.

“If we report this, all your plans to enter a top university will most likely fail. Our school will be destroyed and tarnished.”

“That’s our risk. We’ve come so far and we can’t just be silent by looking at the rot in the school. Justice needs to be upheld, right, Sherapova,” they said.

From the story, we can take lessons from Sherapova and her friends that nobody knows what the future holds. Their initial desire to become an artist, so their parents deliberately sent them to Garuda School because the guaranteed grades, did not turn out as they had planned. They even risked giving up their dreams in order to uncover the truth about the manipulation of grades at their school. Telling the truth rather than thinking about personal interests is a noble thing after all.

Zain Fauzan Naufal

(Winner, Short Stories English Language Fiesta 2021)

 

I look at the clock that is like watching me, it makes a click klok click Klok like a secret message that can not be touched by human language. At three o’clock in the afternoon, I’d been silent all day on the green sofa in front of an old-style webetop full of fire. It’s snowing so heavily out there, it’s approaching Christmas, but cold temperatures are really a threat. It was unthinkable that a man could live in such a terrible cold. But that assumption soon vanished when yesterday afternoon came my door was knocked on by something. I was in the kitchen preparing warm tea without putting up any preconceptions what was before. Perhaps it was Mr Franky, a side neighbour of the old house who loved to tell stories. I think he dared to break through the cold to get a cup of warm tea and a friend told me. Besides Mr. Franky I don’t know who else is on this street, I just moved to manhattan a week ago because of work. With a slow step I headed for the front door, when the door was open the bell attached above rang kling. But behind the cold door was not visible to Mr Franky or anyone else, there was only a metal tin. I’m trying to make sure again, I look around and there’s no one there.

The trash can was across the front yard, I brought the can inside. I just put that can on the kitchen table. I proceeded to pour hot water into a glass that had been attached to his side of the tea bag. I prepared also gingerbread snacks and chocolate cake. I returned to the comfortable and warm green sofa with both hands busy carrying tea and snacks. I just put myself on a green sofa backrest, the same knock was heard again at the front door, this time not once, but knocked many times. As soon as I got goosebumps, the fire inside the webetop was like a flashing extinguisher, the whole room felt dark and full of scary shadows. With little hesitation I walked towards the door. One long breath and then I opened the door. The result is nil, no one behind this door, only the cold brought by the east wind wandering. The next second I was really confused, like a fool at home. I’m trying to go further out to make sure it’s my leg that kicks something.

And something that feels light it turns out to be the exact same can as the previous can, I sort of felt de javu instantly. The can was exactly the same, as soon as I brought it in and stuck it with the can that was still on the kitchen table. This sounds silly, but I slapped my cheek pretty hard to make sure I had a dream or not and it just hurt and the palm stamp was slinging on my right cheek. Now that two mysterious cans are on my kitchen table, I’m looking at the old can, watching and cheering it on. When I shake the can, it turns out that there’s something that’s causing a light noise. I immediately opened both cans and found a piece of paper in each can. I opened the paper while walking towards the tempting green couch. Paper from the first tin is written

 

This is a letter from the future, precisely in 2129….

I just laughed.  “hahaha how funny people are on this street, they’re still using games like this.”

I know it’s weird and you will laugh before you read this letter.

 

I started to get a little suspicious, and got serious, in the last paragraph of the letter it was written.

 

Well if you’re curious, I’ll explain on the second paper.

 

I quickly opened the second fold of paper and inside there was a longer string of words than the first.

Let’s bet,

Later that afternoon, mr franky would come to your house complete with a blue coat and black jacket given to his son, he also brought a warm doll-shaped chocolate cake with a green smile on his round head. Mr. Franky will tell the story of his grandson who is in new York and his son who successfully became a stockbroker. Mr. Franky will be home at 7:00 if you don’t tell him to go home. You’ll believe it later, I’ll continue this letter tomorrow.

“Oh, my God, this time he tried me to pretend to be a fortune teller, who sent this? Or maybe my front neighbor wants to get acquainted with me. ah leave it alone.”

I put both papers on a round table next to the green sofa, I spent a cup of tea and snacks quietly without any interruption. I put a cup and a small plate for the cake into the kitchen. From then on, there was an uncomfortable feeling in me, I kind of expected something to happen, rather a mysterious prophecy that happened. But the feeling was the ups and downs between mystery and logic. Time felt weird that day, I don’t know what but I really don’t know, I just felt time became weird. I finished cleaning the kitchen, and was back sitting on the green sofa at 5 o’clock when at the door there was a knock and a weak sound from Mr Franky.

“Hi sam, are you inside?” shouted mr franky from behind the door

Hearing the sound my eyes turned instantly, slowly my neck as it was pulled pointing at the two papers that were on the table next to me. I really don’t know, confused and strange taste has enveloped my body so strongly. Behind the door, Mr Franky’s voice still sounded soft and slowly faded away. I opened the door to Mr. Franky and Gilaaa. Mr Franky stood in a blue coat and black jacket which was seen because mr franky’s coat was not tightly closed.

I really didn’t think by chance or rather the prediction of that mysterious canned letter especially after Mr. Franky pulled out a stuffed gingerbread cake with a green smile on his face making it all such a cryptic thing. Mr. Franky told me at length about his grandson and his son who were in new York exactly as it was written in the letter. Mr. Franky came home at 7:00 as I already know.

It was a long night, I had trouble sleeping, I didn’t want to sleep. I was pushed into a tumultuous feeling so that I was awake until the morning. So today I can’t stop looking at the outside window, I’m so curious what really happened. There’s no way I’m waiting outside, I don’t want to die silly waiting for that mysterious canned letter. So here I am now, on a cosy green sofa by the fireplace. It’s 3:00 and the letter hasn’t arrived yet. The feeling of drowsiness began to strike, and at exactly 4 o’clock, my door was knocked on many times. In one jump I immediately opened the door, wondering who was behind the letter more than anything. I opened the door quickly and the result was the same, no one behind it, just a can that was in the exact place I found it yesterday. With a feeling of impatience, I opened the letter and read it right when I got to the warm green couch.

This is the third letter, the last letter

You’ve heard the life cycle of difficult times will produce strong humans, strong humans will produce comfortable times. A comfortable age makes people weak, stupid people will produce difficult times.

I’m sending this to you in 2022, where the earth is being ravaged by viral and riots, wars, corrupt officials and more. I’m from 2050, it’s getting harder and people are racing to make tech and I’m choosing to create a time machine to see what the future looks like in 2129. I went to manhattan in 2129 and you know what I saw? Manhattan is a small town with a wooden bar, no skyscrapers and no ferary cars or flying cars. There are horsemen.

Look Sam, we never know what the future looks like. Living like dominoes, we’re connected.

Sam Whitney, Manhattan 2129

The next second, it was true that I was looking blankly into that paper, a letter from manhattan written by myself in 2129. Day after day I walked with a strange stare full of confusion. Until the 5th day after the incident, mr franky knocked on my house, offered me a gingerbread snack. I looked at that old man, full of loneliness. Because I don’t know what the future looks like. So that afternoon I treated Mr. Franky warmly and kindly as I did to myself.