The Parchment

The Parchment(Gabriella Effendy) The Museum of London is usually crowded. This afternoon is an exception.

The only visitors(aside from me) can be counted with my fingers.

•A beautiful young lady that looks rich. She is wearing an expensive looking coat, high heeled boots, miniskirt and black stockings. She has long golden hair and a pair of sky blue eyes.

•A boy around 18 years old who looks busy taking notes. He is wearing a black jacket that looks thick, a white shirt and brown trousers. His hair is maroon colored and he has a pair of grey eyes that shines with intelligence.

•A tall lanky man. He is wearing a brown trench coat, trousers and boots. His hair color is black just like his eyes. His skin is whiter than the other two.

Excluding me, there are only 3 people in total.

That is the first weird fact. The museum being almost empty is something like a phenomena.

I ignored it.

Then, I walked around the museum, checking the artifacts and stuff. I realized that there were a lot of new things on display. I was getting confused when a parchment caught my eye.

I had just visited this museum yesterday and I am 95% sure that it was not there before.

That is the second weird fact.

I still ignored it.

I stared at the parchment. It was a weird one. The paper was old but the ink looks like...pen ink (like standard pen ink, not fountain pen), which is supposed to be impossible since this parchment is over 100 years old. Plus, it's located inside a high-tech glass box. There is less than 0.01% chance that someone would bother to open the glass box just to write on it with pen...right?

Third weird fact.

Now, I am starting to feel a bit suspicious.

Then I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I turned around. The lanky man is standing right behind me and he is staring at me.

"Why is your outfit so weird?" he asked.

I looked at my outfit. A plain cotton T-shirt and denim jeans with sneakers. Perfectly normal.

"Is there something wrong with my outfit?" I asked back.

He looked at me as if I just spoke to him using Martian language (the language of the “people” of Mars). That is when I realized that even though at first glance his outfit seemed normal, when you looked harder, there was something weird. It is glittering. His outfit is glittering like snake skin glittering, like snake scales. I looked at the other visitors again. Their outfits are glittering as well. And they are all wearing winter clothes.

Wait. I thought the current season is supposed to be summer?

The lanky man is still staring at me (my outfit specifically), frowning. His eyebrows arching and he kept on mumbling. “Plain cotton T-shirt.” Then he looked at my sneakers and smirked.

"Read that parchment." he said.

And then he walked away, just like that.

I stared at the parchment again. And then I noticed something. The words looked extremely familiar. In fact, they are alphabets and they are written in English language. Modern English language.

Weird. I thought this parchment was supposed to be 100 years old?

I decided to follow the advice of the lanky man. I read the parchment.

"I, Dr Carl Hazen, have experienced an incredible event today. After many years of research, hard work and headaches, I have finally finished my project. A paper time machine. So, depending on my theory, this paper will transport people through time. It will be activated once the code has been read. The code must be read by a certain type of voice.

To be more specific, the paper is designed to be a time machine only when the man that has the voice that is “identified” reads the code. If it's not an identified voice or if the identified voice did not read the code, the paper will remain as an ordinary paper.

Aside from this project, I have also completed another project. A prototype time machine. It is a machine in the form of a vacuum. You press the button and it will automatically produce a small portal that will be able to transport you through time after 10 seconds.

I have decided to sell the prototype time machine to the company that offers the highest price but I will keep the paper time machine for myself. That way, if I ever need to escape, I can just use it. After all, who can chase a man through time?"

Wait. Dr. Carl Hazen...that name sounds like the name of my colleague. The one who thinks he is a genius. The annoying guy who always asked me to be his “partner”. The guy who is obsessed about Science and time-travel? Why on earth is his name on this 100 year old parchment? Is it possible that he’s the writer of this parchment?

That is just plain insane. This must be some other Dr.Carl Hazen. I checked the description on the glass box.

“A piece of paper from the diary of Dr.Carl Hazen. The man who has managed to invent a prototype time machine.”

I checked the photo beside the description.

A freckled face with bright green eyes and tousled red hair greeted me.

That is him alright, the Carl Hazen I knew. My colleague. Though he looks older.

I looked for the signature and that was when I noticed the word “P.S.”

I read it.

"P.S, I have decided to carry out the experiment today and I will use my colleague, Larry, for this experiment. So, if this experiment works, he should be in the Museum of London 100 years from now, that way he will be able to read this paper.

So, to everyone who reads this, if you just so happen to see a man wearing plain cotton T-shirt and denim jeans with sneakers, please ask him to read the code below.
5 March 2014."

And all of a sudden the glass box unlocked itself and a very very strong wind surrounded me. It felt like heavy rain on a stormy night. And then I feel like a big stone hit my head. Afterwards?B lack out.

When I woke up, an extremely familiar face is grinning at me, Dr.Carl Hazen.

"So, how was the future, Larry?"