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CONTENTS EDITORIAL'S NOTE NON-FICTION POETRY FICTION TEAM LITMAG
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CONTENTS 1 4 17 29 48
Editorial note DEAR EVERY MOMENT COLLECTOR, What are the stories that you still remember even though it passed for a long long time ago? “We have realized that every person in this world has the moments that they want to keep, and need to let it go.” We want to remind you of the moments in your mind no matter how delightful it is or how doleful it may be, it will become your interesting stories and memories in the end. Whether you grab this magazine with intention or without, we’re glad that you are here. So, please stay for a while and see what’s inside this volume. In this volume, we would like you to reach your heart and touch those emotions like they were your own including the feeling of sadness, the touch of heart breaking, the fulfillment of hope, along with these all wonderful pieces of non-fiction, poetry, and fiction. Maybe, you might find something that you want to keep in mind on and on. Sit back, relax and let stories from us make you feel “momentum” in you.
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“Lit your life, Magnify your view with LitMag MFU”
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The Cold Summer by Thayida Boonin The summer smile blinds me It leads me to a frozen land Only the tear is my friend
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NON-FICTION
Non-fiction is a content based on stories, situations, or experiences that happened to people in the real world without any imaginary configuration or addition. The details in nonfiction works can be understood straightforward without relying on imagination and interpretation. Regarding time and accuracy, non-fiction could be present in the series of events and narrations based on the already-happened reality such as history, biography, and statement. Since nonfiction is based on reality, the presenting narrations could be implied that it is the real events that happened on real people in a certain time period. For this reason, the aspect of reality can intensify the emotions of readers to feel those certain moments like people can be terrified and outraged after they knew that the war and massacre stories they have read are based on true story, as well as how hopeful and delightful people could be after reading a real story about a girl who has to deal with her sister. In this magazine, we have included those kinds of non-fiction works which we hope that those written pieces will move you into certain moments and feelings the authors would like to express. Hopefully, the non-fiction works selected by us will be the reflections for your awareness and perceptions toward reality.
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“Momentum" BY NASAMON SAISORN
Photo by Jackson David on Unsplash
I heard a wonderful story about a child. When he was young, he lost his favorite eraser and started to cry very hard, as if the world was ending. But when he grew up, he didn't cry anymore. He just thought he could buy a new eraser instead. This story reminds us that ‘everything shall pass.’ Sometimes, we might be sinking in something, sadness or happiness. But time always changes. When time passes, you are not the only one who lose something.
When time passes, whether it’s hard or not, just make sure that you don’t regret it. Do your best and be proud of it. People always make mistakes. But when time passes, it becomes a great story. So, make your own story. Don’t be afraid. Life is too short. Enjoy your moment.
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The white box
I was there, sitting in the corner of a small room. I had been crying until my throat burned and it was hard to breathe. It was a normal day, sunny with a clear blue sky. But my heart kept beating harder and harder. I had woken up at 9 AM, because I had an important appointment. After I got dressed, I woke my sister and my brother up, so that they could take a shower. They finished their shower
BY ONPREEYA CHIRANUKOM
quickly, but I had to wait for them to get dressed. They took forever, especially my sister. She seemed oncerned about her dress. She kept asking me, “Do these jeans look good on me?�I replied, "They look awesome, but can you hurry up? We have an appointment!"
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After I said that, my brother and I looked at each other. Before everything had happened, we used to be the happiest family. We traveled together, had meals together, laughed and lived together. Now, all that had disappeared. I could not remember the last time we had been happy. However, we kept thinking that maybe it was because of the age difference. Our thoughts were not the same as when we were young. We tried to take care of each other, when in fact it was not enough for us. One night, my brother and I were woken up by our sister's voice. We were upset because it was 3 AM, and we had to go to school in the morning. But we were too afraid to stop her, so we eavesdropped on her conversation. But it was not a conversation. It was an argument. We tried to listen to what she and her boyfriend were arguing about. And we finally found out that she was extremely angry because she had discovered that her boyfriend was cheating on her. We were both shocked and looked at each other in the eye. “What should we do?” my brother asked me. I answered, "This is not our business. Go to sleep. We have a morning class." But I was thinking something very different. I kept asking myself, “Is it real?” He seemed to be a good guy because he had taken care of all of us for a long time. At 3 PM, my brother and I came home and saw that our sister had stayed home as usual. However, her face had changed from the day before. Her eyes were swollen. Wrinkles had appeared on her forehead, eyes, and cheeks. We had never seen those before. We stared at her sitting lifelessly on the floor. It seemed that her mind was gone. That day, we didn’t tell her anything, because we knew that she didn’t want us to bother her.
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Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
At 3 AM, my brother and I were woken up again by our sister's voice. We knew that she was having another fight with her boyfriend, so we tried to continue sleeping. It was not easy.For a whole week, we were woken up every night around 3 AM like this. Finally, we decided that we could not bear it anymore. One night of the following week, our sister and her boyfriend started to quarrell as usual. My brother and I woke up and decided to talk this out with them. We went to their room and knocked on the door. My sister shouted "What the f***? It’s none of your business. Go to bed!" I responded, "This is not your problem anymore. We need to talk now!” Then, she opened the door. I spoke to them with a calm voice. "I think you both should stop fighting. We haven’t been able to sleep for days. You guys should make a decision. Do you still want to live together? Or you want to break up? It’s up to you." They kept quiet and stared at me. After I finished my speech, I went back to my room and shut the door. The next day, we went to school and came home. We were hoping to see our sister waiting for us, but we found her boyfriend instead. We both walked toward him, and started throwing questions at him. “Is it true that you cheated on her?” He replied, "I never cheated on your sister. Never!”
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"And who is the woman on the phone that my sister talked about?" I questioned him. He said, “She is my business partner. She called because she wanted to say Happy New Year to me. That’s it.” “Can I talk to your partner right now?” He responded to me strongly, "Of course, I hope that it makes everything clear." I called the girl and talked to her for half an hour, but I still didn't trust him completely. I told him, "It’s hard to believe, but I have always known that you love my sister and you have worked really hard for us. Give me some time and I will definitely help you. The evidence shows that you have been loyal to my sister." After that conversation, I tried to find whether he really had cheated on our sister. I called every single friend he had. They all said the same thing, that they didn’t know whether he had other girls. “When he visits us, he just talks about business, business, and business,” they said. I talked to his relatives, and they were also not aware of any lovers. For two weeks, I tried to search for the truth, and could not find any evidence at all. Then I was certain that he had not cheated on my sister. One night, they had another quarrel. I knocked on the door. She opened it. “What is your problem?” "Listen to me, sis! He never cheated on you. I asked every single human on earth who knows him, and they all answered the same thing," I said. “You are just a stupid girl. You don’t know what men can do! Leave us alone!” she scorned me.
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"Okay, If I was stupid, I would not stand right here and talk to you. Stop shouting at me. Listen to me carefully. I think you two should separate for a while. Think thoroughly about your relationship, about what you guys have done. And talk. Just talk!" They kept quiet. Then, they stepped back into their room and shut the door in front of my face. I shouted, “What the h**** is that! I’m trying to help you guys!” On the following day, I went to school with my brother. When we came back, my sister’s boyfriend was gone. She was sitting on the floor quietly, staring at the window. Of course, my brother and I wondered what had happened. We called her boyfriend to ask him. My younger brother started, “What happened, bro? She seems not happy at all.” He said, "We just broke up because your sister slapped my face when I tried to explain all those things that we quarreled about." “What!” My brother and I were extremely confused because we didn’t think that she could slap his face. "Not only that. She tried to shoot me. And it scared the h**** out of me! Why do you guys keep that gun in the house? I thought she was going to kill me”, he told us. “Oh, shit!”, I said. “I didn’t think she would use the gun to threaten you.” He replied, “What could I do? I packed everything and ran away.” My brother asked, "Do you still want to come back?".He whispered sadly to himself, “I won’t go back with her.” Then, he hanged up the phone without saying goodbye.My brother and I kept silent for a while. That night we stayed with her for the whole night to make sure that she was fine.
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The next morning she began her usual routine—taking a shower, sweeping the floor, and having lunch like nothing had happened. But it wasn’t as usual. She turned into an aggressive and irrational woman. She called her ex-boyfriend to chide his previous behavior. Not only this, she became even crazier when she told us that one of her ex-boyfriend's friends had incited him to have an affair. She continued doing this for almost two years. We tried to stop her, but we couldn’t. She became snappish. Even more, she often called his friends and accused them of ruining her love life, using rude words that she had never said before. For almost three years, my brother and I tried everything that we could. We encouraged her to find a new job and meet new people. But things seemed to get even worse. She was not the same person we used to know. She had become paranoid. Moreover, she was always quarreling with everyone around her. My brother and I kept looking for a solution, and finally we found it.
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After my sister finished dressing up, we were able to reach our appointment. I left my sister and my brother waiting at the front, and I approached the old woman who was sitting on the desk busy with her work. I spoke to her with a trembling voice. “This document shows that she has a problem. What should I do?” She examined the document. At that moment, I was extremely stressed. I could not hold back my tears. I was scared that she would find out what we were doing. All kinds of emotions stirred in my head.Half an hour later, a man arrested my sister, tying a rope around both of her hands. She reacted frantically. She shouted at the man, "What the heck are you doing? It’s not me who is supposed to be tied. It should be him." Then, she turned her face to me and shouted, “What the f**** are you doing? You said that we were coming here to check up our brother’s health!”
Photo by Jonathan Zerger on Unsplash
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I kept silent. I could not speak or even breathe. Neither could my brother. The man brought my sister to a two-storey building, quite a scary place, painted in white and barely without windows. There was nobody when we arrived, but I could hear the screams from inside quite clearly. My sister seemed to realize where she was. The man brought her inside the building, and she started to cry with a loud voice, "They tried to assault me, sister! Please help me." My heart was broken; I felt the tension in my chest and tears streaming down as I held my brother’s hand.We both cried, and I asked him with a trembling voice, “Did we make the right thing?” He kept silent, and we kept crying. Later, we arrived home. My brother turned on his computer, but I went straight to my bedroom. When I opened the door, I could only see a white room without any decoration. I ran as fast as I could to the corner of the room, sat down and hugged my knees. I started to cry louder and louder, and kept asking myself, over and over again, “Did I do the right thing?”
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But I Got It by Jerapat Deesamer Hey, I’ve got no one, but I got it. My wing couldn’t spread out and I fell because of it. My face was grinning, but tears filled it. My love walked away since it never started.
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POETRY
For us, “Poem is the pictures and sounds expressed in words from people’s Lands.” It reflects not only the author's stories and experiences but also the feelings of the moment–like hopeful, sorrowful and sympathetic. Those expressions sometimes are figurative languages depending on the author’s styles, so poem is just like an art of words. When you read a poem, you ought to think a little bit further. There must be something beyond the text. There must be the covert messages that the authors want to convey to you. Just try to make some guesses–we call this the interpretation. There is no right or wrong in poem interpretation. Nevertheless, it is something dynamic, subjective, and rational. It is just like when you try to find the meaning between the lines of your favorite songs. Once you get the messages, you can't get them off my mind forever.
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Photo by Siwakorn Limjarern
"Lust" BY NATTANAN KHAMKAEN AND TANAKRIT SAENRAT
A baby's breath blooms in the summer Greeted with a gentle breeze and warm sunlight Come, come, let's pick and hide it in your chamber You and You who knows can flower it at midnight Apis has taken hundred nectar flavors Can this compare to your old bird of paradise? Oh! a withered flower from last winter Come, come, put this breath on your vest, an advice Does a ring on the left hand run straight to one's heart? Commitment between us is forgery Forget your big day and think about us My body, your body, they will not forever last Let's make love till both of us are sweaty Let’s enjoy our short trip without discussion.
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"NOUVEL" BY ROMYAKORN KULWORAWANICHAPONG
The night has a thousand eyes, and the day but one. So the light of the bright world dies with the dying sun. The mind has a thousand eyes, yet the heart is one. Then the light of a whole life dies when love is done.
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Photo by Siwakorn Limjarern
WHERE IS MY SPRING? At first glance of my sight, my spring has come. Your smile, your laugh makes all the flowers bloom, Golden light radiating warmth is welcomed. My dearest summer sheds away my gloom. But now, not exist, no sign nor warn Nowhere on earth nor heaven you’re present. Losing you makes me daily deadly mourn. How dare you take away my only present? Oh! dear Demeter, I now feel you so, I cry my heart out as heavy rain, Freezing winter sticks with me like shadow, Cause life without you is life living in vain. Whoever steals the apple of my eye, Will do what it takes to return mine.
BY THAYIDA BOONIN, PRAPAWARIN NOOPAN, PARATH TAOCHALEE, AND PIYARAT DUANGMALA
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ONCE 17 BY TANYALAK SANOUM
1. Change 18-08-2019
time change, people change just 0.01 cm between us
but didn't think it's gonna be that
but it's like one-hundred miles
fast __________
same eyes, but different feelings
at the end, she passed the 17th without
__________
any shade of him, not knowing that tomorrow and the day after
she brings her overwhelming
tomorrow
nostalgia back to her beloved for 8,763 milesher mind
will be the same
is full of hope and excitement
after passing that day for 1 hr 12 mins
both of them are meeting each others __________
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something important is long gone
2. Deep 214 hrs 2 mins the sweetest smileʼs covered by those bitter tears that happy face turns to be filled with unanswerable questions sadnessʼs eating up her heart. here comes hopeless and empty. sheʼs stuck with thought and feeling bitting into her very mind and soul every day.
__________ sheʼs not mad at him at all sheʼs mad just because everything seems going well, but it isnʼt
she lets herself being with
every day, she isnʼt only in
the clear glass cup
despair
and pure liquor inside
but also sheʼs in hope
wishing them erase all her pains
the hope that one day sheʼll be back to be the old her, the one
such a toxic love
who is happier than the standing sad girl right now __________ it takes around 214 hrs 2 mins before sheʼs consciously awake __________
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3. Heal 11 : 50 pm nothing can heal myself,
but it works
except myself
sheʼs better
- she suddenly realizes
bodyʼs rested, heartʼs healed
__________ those sweet smile, lively eyes it takes time
expression, and familiar laughter are back again __________ and today she gets strong enough she can look back at those moments with the blank stare and feels nothing __________ even though how much bad things are faded away, good things are still kept
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LIKE A FLOWER, SHE WANTS TO SURVIVE BY DEKI PEMA Everything is hazy and blurred in front She made her way to the top With determination and positive vibes She began yet another journey Insecurities and fear crept in As she made her way through the crowd With all eyes on her Every head turned her way She kept stepping forward She could feel their gaze Blood rushing through her nerves Still, she kept focused and determined She heard whispers and grumbles She heard insults and criticisms She had been looked down She had been kicked out and tossed aside Yet she rose and continued She had goals to meet and achieve Lives were connected to hers With invisible yet strong fibers She knew she couldn't give up The fibers would also give in And the whole fabric would loosen She couldn't let that happen
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So, she took it all in She turned negative into positive vibes She sought encouragement in discouragement She rose every time they pushed her down She used their insults as motivation She felt each of her cells dying Yet she kept her pace and kept moving She had to tell the world Everyone who saw her as a looserThat attitude and personality That behavior and manners That thoughts and wisdom Is all that counts Not wealth! Not poverty! Not beauty! Not ugliness! Not youth! Not old age! Everyone is a different kind of flower With different colors and fragrances With different shapes and sizes With different times to bloom And different times to wilt With all those differences and particularities Yet every flower is beautiful Blooms in her own way Dances along with the waves of the bay Brightens some sad soul's days Captures hearts as she stands tall under the sun rays With weeds all around
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And grasses tangled up The flower stands tall and pretty She's struggling to be a flower Spreading fragrances of love and peace With all her insecurities and fears With all those challenges and obstacles With the weeds and grasses tangled up She chooses to grow taller and prettier As a flower, she wants to survive
Photo by Siwakorn Limjarern
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REST WAR IN PEACE BY NAKIBAH ARWAEDO, INNAS ABDULHAKIM
Why not let wars and conflicts rest in peace? Wherefore let innocents yield to monsters? Is it because “wars are peace”? Or because you think “violence is power”?
Who knows better than you the reason of the loss, You who lost love, home, and the hope of living? “Mommy, please give me the warmth that I lost”. “Mommy, I cannot bear the frosty drifting”.
Does the planet of sorrows ring your heart? Or does the bloody river flowing just ever ring any? An arrow of humanity should pierce your heart When the world of ignorance comes to its end
Let the hate and pain melt into lessons Build love, you to them, wards off all the crimson
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When you go by Thanawut Sreejak When you go, you laugh and smile Why am I sad? Sit still and cry
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FICTION 27
Fiction is a literary narration of imaginative stories. Despite the word “imaginative,� some events and characters can be partially based on true entities in the real world as a source of imagination. Imagination can be in the past, present, or future, but for the future, it is nearly pure imagination since one can not be certain how the future will be like. For this reason, it is optimal for an author to write fictional stories out of a current real situation to predict and narrate the futuristic world. Presently, technology and robots are new prevalent powers trying to dominate the world, yet it does not fully succeed at the moment as humans are still humans having consciousness and morals. However, it is irrefutable that technology will finally succeed to control the world, and humans will soon forsake their nature in the near future. In Acadia, this story of the technologically advanced town in the next 50 years when humans are gradually losing their humanistic nature will be like a reminder for us to reconsider if technology should be allowed to be so dominant in our lives. After reading, we might start to feel thankful that the world in which we are living still has birds to see and people to love.
"Arcadia" BY JERAPAT DEESAMER
I “I won’t need anything anymore!” Zitoa Rainer, whose skin was dark, not from genetics but from sunlight, was on his knees and crying out in the middle of the crowd. His screams still resonated inside his head, and he felt muffled and muted. No one seemed to hear, no matter how loud he screamed. He was there amidst the crowd but still
II
felt isolated. After the sound of
The sun was radiating
the explosion and the smell of
through the windowpane of the
burning, he had done the best
house, located a mile away from
he could. There was only one
the capital. Zitoa was sitting on
thing he could think of.
a comfy blue leather sofa. It was a Saturday and he was watching
“Please, I wish it could be the same again.”
a show from his portable device. He was happy. He was a worker. The will to work had never faded out from him.
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Like others, he needed to earn a living. Besides him, his wife, Auriella, a woman with black long hair, dressed in a dark blue dress, was immersed in online shopping. She had to go to work in the next ten minutes, but she was not worried because she worked at home together with her husband. She had decided to shop for a little longer when their portable devices, both hers and Zitoa’s, blackened out. An urgent piece of news abruptly appeared on the screen of their devices. They both grunted, as they simultaneously came out of the virtual world and into reality. It was about to 8 o’clock, the time for the morning news. “What the fuck?” they both whispered in an undertone. “Good morning. Wheelie at 8.01AM, on Tuesday, April 1st, 2059.” “How come they cut off people’s life like this?” exclaimed Zetoa.
“Thanks to the successful development of our city, which
has resulted in us having the highest GDP compared with other countries around the world, the government’s enacted the ten-year policy “Free for All” to allow all citizens in town to purchase as many products, goods, and services as they wish without any costs. The quantity of things will be limited according to the Ministry of Goods and Property. Firstly, everyone must go
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Photo by Efe Kurnaz on Unsplash
to the town center for registration before noon. After that, everybody will be able to purchase all they need online via their own portable devices. The policy will be commenced at noon, today. And that’s the way it is. Next…”
III “This is what I’ve been waiting for my whole life!” Zitoa told his wife. He could see the same excitement in her shimmering and lively eyes. “We need a plan! I already have a list, a wish list. My dream is going to become true, Zitoa, my love. We will have everything we want, and this will be our happiest time. You see this? It’s all that we need. The latest portable gadget, a fancy couch, a car, a new house – a big house, I mean… like a mansion– and what was the car you told me you craved for?” “The Shelby Mustang,” answered Zitoa. “What! That’s a hundred-year-old car, isn’t it? You are out of your mind. No, the newest blue Corvette. That’s what we need, Zitoa. Come, let’s go fulfill our needs!” Auriella spoke cheerfully and rummaged through the closet for her best outfit. “You’re right! I love this moment! Anyway, aren’t you supposed to be working now?” Auriella seemed displeased at the interruption. “Work? Why do we need to work when money is useless? No one needs to work anymore, sweety,” she said and continued changing her clothes. “We are going to the Cloud.”
Arcadia
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IV Outside, the wind had stopped blowing. Zitoa and Auriella rumbled through the street. People were gathering here and there to engage in small talk. It was very unusual for this town. People had not communicated much with each other lately. They had started to isolate themselves, to be within their own reality. They had entertained themselves, bought themselves stuff, and lived only with themselves long before the technological revolution. Those were the only things they did. “I haven’t seen people socializing like this for a very long time,” whispered Zitoa to his wife. He had almost forgotten the cliché that “humans are social animals.” “There it is.”
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Auriella did not seem to hear her husband whispering. The heart of the city, Arcadia, also known as the Cloud, was vibrantly decorated with a magnificent heptagon building that flew over the place where the seven avenues met. Long time ago, people used to work day by day. However, after the technological revolution, production was done effortlessly without any human labor. And henceforth, after the launch of the brand new policy “Free for All”, all the people’s wishes would be satisfied without costing any ARC, the currency used in Arcadia. And all the wishes were going to be provided from the heptagon construction flying up there. Zitoa could see a large crowd of people excitedly gathering and waiting to fulfill their desires under the south gateway of the Cloud. At the far end, some were trying desperately to push themselves through the crowd. In front of a large glass booth, where a robot was doing its registration job, people were queuing up. Some did not even know that they were dealing with a human-like employee. Zitoa and Auriella finished their registration at eleven. Aside from that, they also had to get approval for implanting another portable device, called Virtuoso, which was totally new for them. It was only a diamond-shaped chipset which had to be planted in the middle of their forehead and would enable them to access virtual reality at any time.
Photo by Efe Kurnaz on Unsplash
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Shortly after, the tension rose among the people who had already registered, as they headed off to the giveaway. It seemed to be a nonsense conflict. “Why are they fighting over there? Anyway, how do you feel, Auriella?” asked Zitoa, delighted after the registration. “I’m a bit dizzy. It’s just weird,” replied his wife holding her knees with her hands. “But I think it will be great fun!” “We won’t have to wear that Cyclop-like headset anymore. Tonight, the chipset will bring us to the virtual world. We will be able to visit any places we want! Come on, there is still a little time before noon. First, we will go to see the Corvette. How does it sound?” Zitoa kissed her on the cheek, even though he was going to do it on the forehead.
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V A fortnight later, Zitoa and Auriella had everything they needed. Apart from the usual routines, they spent most of their time immersing themselves in the virtual world. The Corvette they had just bought was now a useless piece of metal parked in the garage, next to other two futuristic vehicles. Most of the town had modernized itself; outdated stuff had been replaced. The couple was ecstatic. The town was just like they had imagined it. A long time afterwards, they were talking even less to each other, and there was no more sex. Zitoa might not have been so certain as to call their relationship “love” anymore. He tried to approach her when she was moving away. It was as if the first time he had met her and started to flirt with her. He had been fully engaged in their relationship, but he had already failed when they were flirting 30 years ago. She was already obsessed with her own world, and estrangement started to grow between them. It was as if two planets started to move apart from one another and finally became strangers. If they were the same planet, her planet now was another one of his and pulling out of their interrelated trajectory, and his planet became an insignificant asteroid. While Auriella was escaping into her world, he entered to his and found something interesting. He found one name of the virtual channel written in blue letters: “The Retrogressive World 50 Years Ago.” People could not live without Virtuoso anymore. He pressed in the thin air, and his world retorted back into the beginning of the 21st Century, to the year 2019, when technology had not yet stolen human lives from their bodies.
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He was in a small cubicle inside a building surrounded by glass windows. From there, he could see countless skyscrapers. He must have been so high above the ground. His shirt was stained by coffee, and he felt water on his cheeks. In his hand, he was holding piles of paper. He realized that he was collecting his things and getting out of the office. After he finished packing all his things, he would never come back. Shortly after, the screen shifted, and he was in a train with a cup of hot coffee in front of him. He turned to the left and saw two books that he had brought with him to read during the commute. He loved reading, and now he felt relieved, even though there was something vaguely disturbing deep in his mind. He reached for a book. Instead, with a trivial bit of flashing thought, he picked up his phone from the empty seat next to him. The picture glitched and became a familiar bar. There was the neon light, his friends, and plenty of good-looking women. There was a party where socialization was real. The picture again blackened out, and he found himself walking down from a driveway. He spotted a house. It was plainly decorated. There was an old motorcycle and a truck parked in the garage. He walked up to the porch and looked through the windowpane. He saw a woman wearing a casual white T-shirt and jeans. In front of her, there were two little kids. She was feeding them with steaming porridge, which she had to cool down by blowing. As soon as the kids and the woman noticed him, they smiled and ran right to the door. The woman stood still, in the verge of tears, and the kids vanished.
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Photo by Efe Kurnaz on Unsplash
VI When the alarm rang, Zitoa
Coming from a family of
sat with an uncertain thought,
farmers, he became an office
before he came to
worker to make more money.
enlightenment. It was an
Eventually, the picture of the
overwhelming feeling that
virtual world 50 years earlier
he could not explain.
reminded him what was the meaning of life.
Zitoa used to talk about having a family and children
During the short period of
with Auriella. Having a good
time he was there, he realized
time with his family was what
the importance of achieving
he wanted the most. So he tried
something, of losing before
very hard to satisfy his wife,
winning, of failing before the
as they were both young
next stage, and of loving those
and immature.
who loved him back.Â
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At the moment, the situation in the country was unsustainable. There was no work, no motivation and no determination. The country had slowly begun to collapse. The morning atmosphere was not appreciated any more. The sound of birds could not be heard. The sunrise was not shining on anyone’s skin. Even the beauty of nature was finally obliterated. The technology which once connected people, now consumed people like a curse. An hour before midnight, he decided to have a conversation with her wife.
“Auriella!” he shouted at her, and shook her body to wake her up. “What’s wrong with you, Zitoa? Don’t you see what I’m doing?” groaned Auriella. The light from her diamond was still flickering. “We need to talk,” said Zetoa plainly. “I’m all ears.” “No, you aren’t. Unless you stop this fake reality world of yours, we won’t understand each other.” Auriella stopped. They were now face to face. Zitoa looked deeply in her eyes. He could feel the isolation.
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Photo by José Martín Ramírez C on Unsplash
“Do you think this is the relationship that we wanted?” Zitoa sincerely questioned her. “No, of course, it’s not. But it is the way the world is right now. Without all these things, I have no idea what to do. A world that we can create, control, and command, this is what we want. I’ve got everything I wanted, food, a house, a car, clothes, and you. This revolution brings us closer. "We don’t have to worry about anything.”
“We don’t have to worry? Because you never open your eyes and go out from your blind world. The country is collapsing, Auriella. There are no doctors and pharmacists left in the hospital while patients lie everywhere. The government’s policy was not a solution. This is not how the country should be. Peace can’t be achieved while there are still people’s needs. They fight each other over the free stuff!” Zitoa paused for breath. His face was red. Auriella could see the perspiration on his forehead. She could feel her own prespiration too.
Photo by José Martín Ramírez C on Unsplash
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“And this! This freaking artificial world they give us from this Diamond crap. And what about the real one? Is this how people should be? Why don’t we have any kids? Why aren’t we having a family? What is the meaning of our life? We have no work. That’s bad enough. But to have no love? That’s unbearable, Auriella! Please, do something and take action with me. This is not how society should be. There must be someone who has the same feelings as I do.” Zitoa finished his speech and looked right in his lover’s eyes. “Nonsense, Zitoa. No one will have such a rebellious thought as you. This is what the future is. I won’t change anything. Living in a virtual world is enough for me. I can call it freedom. I call it independence.” Auriella finished and sighed. Her Diamond started to flicker again. Zitoa stood still. His entire body was numb. “I have to do something. This is not right,” he mumbled and turned his back to her. He covered his face with his hands.
Arcadia
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VII He set out at once to the large enigmatic architecture that flew in the sky at the heart of the city, the Cloud. He arrived there in the morning of April 19th. He was under the shadow of the Cloud. He knew he was now facing the most powerful force in the country, the government. He was afraid, but his determination to see a better society compelled him to take action. There must be someone inside this building that could change this dreadful community, he thought. Then, he turned his face upwards and started shouting.
“I can’t stand it anymore! My friends have become robots. I am surrounded by robots. Even my wife is now like a fucking robot! What are you all trying to do? This robotic society without money is not going anywhere. We can’t survive under this Cloud, your Cloud! Society is going to die. Everybody will die because of the deteriorated minds and bodies! Humanity comes to an end. Don’t you see it?”
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It was as if he was howling in the middle of the night. Except for the sound of the advertisement on the big screen under the Cloud, everything was silent. People around him had stopped and were staring at him. Most of them seemed to think it was pointless, except for a group of youngsters. They seemed to understand him. He had touched something in them, and they started to come and stood behind Zitoa. “We are humans,” he said turning back to the crowd. “Have you already forgotten the feelings we had when we still worked? Have you already forgotten the feeling of having goals in life? Have you already forgotten the feelings we had when we failed and tried again, when we finally learned something? Have you already forgotten how it was when we went to a party with friends, or to see movies and ate sweet popcorn? Have you already forgotten those feelings? Those were the feelings of humanity. It is our nature. We are not like that, or that, or that, like everything around here. And we don’t need this shitty diamond to provide us with a fabricated world. Open your eyes, my friends, and appreciate the people around you. We are not supposed to be stuck in this robotic world. The ‘Free for All’ policy is crap and it can’t develop us or this country. We must move on and be part of the real world, not this robotic world. Humans have feelings, and humans know love. That is the meaning of life.” Zitoa stopped.
the crowd of people smiling slightly. They had approached him, and now they began to shout. This was the meaning of his life.
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Photo by Efe Kurnaz on Unsplash
A sense of achievement had surged into him as he saw
Photo by Andrew Haimerl on Unsplash
VIII Afterwards, the crowd grew and grew. The sun was setting in the horizon. They had been under the Cloud for almost a day, and they were making an impact. They became a massive power again. Zitoa looked around, and he saw his wife standing at the edge of the crowd’s circle. Auriella was teary. Even at that far-distance, he could see hope in her eyes. She began to make her way through the crowd as the deafening sound of a siren blared. People had to cover their ears. Darkness crawled in slowly. Zitoa was trying to reach his wife, but the crowd was in chaos. At that point, he saw a group of small birds flying out from the back of the Cloud. They were the troopers of the Robo-Army flying closer and closer at high speed. People scattered. They had not forgotten their sense of survival. The sound of laser beams pierced out in countless numbers from the flying armed troop. They were targeted by an automatic tracking system before bursting out a blue lightning beam. “Almost there, Auriella,” cried Zitoa at the top of his lungs. He was reaching her.
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Then, Zitoa looked around and saw that flames had been ignited all around the city. The darkness of the night was mixed with smoke and the smell of burning. What was burning was the flesh of his recent acquaintances. They were being beamed, beamed by the blue laser. Everything happened right in front of his eyes. A woman suddenly vanished as though she was vaporized and became mist. “Noooooo!” He was aghast. Finally, he reached her. Auriella was in his arms. There was nothing to talk about. They were speechless. Fear filled their bodies. They just looked right into each other’s eyes like they used to do. Her eyes were still blue, but now they were filled with tears. The troopers besieged them. “No! I won’t need anything anymore!” He shouted at an indifferent flying trooper in front of him. His body was immobilized. He had done his part. He had made a change. Finally, it came to an end. The tip of the trooper’s weapon started to glow, but Zitoa remained still. The light became bright, and he saw the beam coming right at him before everything became white at last. His eyes widened, and his mouth gasped. He felt a touch. It was his wife, Auriella, who had thrown herself over him, to protect him, to let him live. She disappeared right before his eyes, and there was only one thing he could think of. “I wish everything could become as before.” After that, another piercing sound burst out at once. He, too, vanished.
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IX In a white room, the light is blazing from plenty of luminescent ceiling lamps. Silence fills the room. Transiently, the man wakes up. It takes a little time for his eyes to change the focus and adapt to the dazzling white light. He feels his hands clenched and his head is heavy. Most parts of his body are almost senseless. A moment after, he is able to get up and sit on the bed. He looks around. There is a myriad of white beds set in rows to the far end, on his right and on his left. At first, his head is filled with confusion. Then, after turning his head, he comes to a realization. He sees a sizable table topped by a flat monitor, no larger than 24 inches.
On the screen, it says:
Arcadia: the Next-50-Year Modernity He looks up and sees the dark reflection from the digital clock on top of the monitor. There is a virtual reality headset wrapped around his forehead. He looks at the monitor again and sees from his reflection that there is no more Diamondlike shape or anything else on his forehead.
Photo by Efe Kurnaz on Unsplash
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A series of images emerge in his mind. With a clamorous noise, crowds are running in different directions trying to save their lives. Then, the looming picture of a woman appears. A moment of enlightenment surges in him. The meaning of life, the nature of humans, and the feelings of sadness, loneliness, amazement, anxiety, and love, all arise at once. This is life, he realizes. He looks at his hands, and they are white and clean. He sees his wrist-watch, and at this moment, his heart leaps. It is from his wife. It has been so long since they were together. He had left her because he could not tolerate her obsession with two girlish dolls. She would always stay in her room, dressed in her dark blue gown, pretending that the twin dolls were the daughters that she had lost long before in an accident. The man has never had a family. He abandoned her because she could not fulfill his wish. He had left their house to work in town for a tech company. Surely, he was paid a lot of money. He was fed up with a deluded woman who earned no money and was stuck in the past. Suddenly, the door at the far end opens, and two men dressed in a black suit come in. They are both carrying a square digital pad. The man examines them from a distance. The men in black suits wave at him, and call him into the room to their right. “Hey, man, how did it go? It was awesome, right?” says one of the two men. “Before you go, please fill out this document to assess your satisfaction with the trail,” says the other one without looking at him.
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Team LitMag Chatchanok Chalothonpises Editor-in-Cheif Prapawarin Kotchamit Assistant editor Siwakorn Limjarern Fiction and content creator Kunnida Chaiya Fiction and content creator Tammarat Singkarn Poetry Jerapat Deesamer Poetry Suebsin Boonsutti Non-fiction Chitsanupong Unkantha Non-fiction Sirinapa Jeamwarakul Non-fiction Thanchanok Sukumcharoen Arts and layout Chanakan Satrakom Arts and layout Lutpee Make Arts and layout Vlaodich Meguiso Arts and layout
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