Back From the Apocalyptic Future

006 - A Freak

Arifin knows how stupid it is in people’s heads. There’s no way he can prove it, that he is just coming back from the post apocalyptic future.

  

He is not a stupid, and not a naive kid. He now understands what people will think of him after giving such a warning. But still, he knows so well what kind of disaster would happen to them.

  

He just cries desperately with pathetic face as all those laughters shower him. As much as he wants to prevent everything, yet he feels so helpless to convince them all.

  

“No, I mean it!” he mumbles with a pathetic face. He slowly turns away by looking down as he hides his sorrow. “This is not a joke. You just have no idea what I have gone through.”

  

And again, he accidentally meets eyes with Andini, the girl he has loved since childhood. At this moment, he remembers that this girl died during the meteorite fall which shattered all his dreams in the previous life.

  

“Andini! I know this is stupid. But please, don’t go near the city on February 13th. Your house is in a safe zone. Just stay at home.”

  

Suddenly, that girl’s face is contorted. Without Arifin realizing, this girl has long known about him who has been deliberately following her to whichever school she attends too. But only this time she expresses her despised gaze without hiding it.

  

“Don’t talk to me, freak! I know you’ve been stalking me this whole time. Are you that desperate to get my attention? To be honest, I really can’t stand seeing your stupid face anymore.”

  

The fact that she finds Arifin with a long silver hair only makes her feel even more eerie with that oddity. But she just thinks that Arifin is now wearing a stupid wig to hide his stupid look after the bullying he received this morning.

  

And then, a guy walks in front of him. He is Andrew Kurniawan, the senior from the 2081 generation. That guy is not simply passing by, but also takes Andini with him to the parking area.

  

“Do you know him?” asks Andrew.

  

“Don’t mind him. He is just a freak,” replies Andini.

  

This whole time, Arifin thought that he had a chance, and had been regretting losing Andini after her death because of the fall of the meteorite. Only now he realizes that they really never meant to be together since the first place.

  

“There! That’s him!” The voice of one female occurs and distracts Arifin’s attention.

  

It’s Mrs. Marie, who is bringing two securities to handle that commotion. Arifin’s face is still looking so blank as those two securities hold his hands and take him to the Dean’s office.

  

He looks so lifeless and numb. It's like he no longer has any desire to live at all. He knows how hard it will be, how terrible the days he is going to go through. His face looks so tired to think that he has to repeat it all.

  

After taking Arifin to the Dean’s office, the very first thing that she likes to deal with is that silver hair. She thinks it’s a wig like the cosplayer. And so, she just grabs and pulls it rashly.

  

“Arrgh! That hurts!”

  

Arifin reacts by instinct and grabs Mrs. Marie’s left hand. That woman feels so in pain because of that grip, and immediately lets go of Arifin’s hair.

  

“You? How dare you?”

  

Arifin stands up and stares flatly at her like a genuine adult. He might just be an 18 years-old teenager by the look. But the current Arifin is actually a 28 years-old mentally.

  

She somewhat feels intimidated, but she forces to keep the ground and shows her arrogance.

  

“What’s wrong with your head? It’s not that long you...”

  

“Marie! That’s enough!” The Dean enters the office. “Let me talk with him for a moment.”

  

He is a young Professor Irwan Sanjaya. He is only 43 years old, but he already has so much accolade that he is worth enough to be the Dean for that faculty. And unlike Mrs. Marie, this man looks so calm and wise, full of charisma in the way he behaves.

  

He just stands right at the door without saying anything. But Mrs. Marie knows that she has to leave that office. But she still takes the chance to threaten Arifin before leaving.

  

“We are not finished yet!”

  

Right after she leaves the room, the air around Prof. Irwan suddenly changes. He just takes a deep breath and then shakes his head with some nonchalant smile. He walks to his chair just like nobody, and begins talking to Arifin in a friendly manner.

  

“That's what happens when women are too serious about careers. Already at that age, she hasn’t married yet.”

  

It’s quite effective to lighten up the mood. Arifin forces himself by giving a smile, even though his mind is still busy thinking about the odd phenomena he is currently experiencing.

  

The Dean invites Arifin to have a seat, while he himself prepares two cups of coffee. He then puts one cup in front of Arifin before taking a seat in his chair.

  

“I can’t believe you can come up with this kind of joke. But really, it’s funny indeed. I couldn’t even hold my laugh with your creativity.”

  

Professor Irwan tries to play along with Arifin’s joke, thinking that it was only a prank. But Arifin keeps his flat face. And that’s when this young professor starts to think that he might just be misunderstanding the situation.

  

“Are you telling me you were serious with that warning?” he asks.

  

“It doesn’t matter. No one would believe me,” replies Arifin.

  

“Believe or not, it is simply about arguments and the data you can bring. Did you notice the coming of other meteorites out there?”

  

Arifin shakes his head, and Professor Irwan just raises one of his eyebrows. Hence, Arifin gives more info to him.

  

“You may not know this. But even before the incident in Russia, there had already been several incidents of meteor rain in America a few months ago, also in China. It's just that they've been very secretive and isolated since the end of the great war.”

  

That’s when Prof. Irwan starts taking Arifin’s words seriously. “No! I already heard some stories about the incident in America? But just like what you said, this should be something that can't be easily known by someone like you. How did you learn it?”

  

“I just know,” replies Arifin flat.

  

Arifin starts to think that this will only be a wasteful effort. He then gets up, but Professor Irwan rushes to him and convinces him to stay for longer.

  

“No, please! If you learn something from whatever site you have visited, why don’t you share with me. No matter if this is just a hoax, just try to talk about it for a while.”

  

“Why would you willingly take me seriously?” asks Arifin with a curious face.

  

“You see! In the old days, it’s not that hard to identify a meteorite approaching our planet. We can predict when and where it will fall. I know our current condition is a bit different globally after the great war. But countries like America and Russia should be able to see it coming,” explains Professor Irwan.

  

“But they didn’t see it coming,” Arifin interrupts. “There are more than 2 million people who have died in Russia. And half of the population of America have gone,”

  

Professor Irwan’s face looks so blank for a moment. He can estimate the number of casualties in Russia, but his calculation doesn’t reach that number.