Vintage Diaries.

4. Experiment

Earn clenched his aching chest as he cried loudly. He was sitting at a bus station quite far from his home. After seeing his mother's condition, he couldn't bear to stay there any longer.

He felt extremely guilty, guilty for being born, guilty for being the reason behind his parents' sorrows. He started wishing that he was never born. Then his parents wouldn't have had to put up with a marriage in which neither of them was happy.

Earn quickly put on his cap as he saw some people approaching the bus station. He didn't want to be stared at at the moment. 

"I think people like him should be sent to the mental asylum." The woman in the black skirt told her friends.

"That's right." the short-haired lady agreed.

"But he used to be a renowned scientist in the past, you know. Maybe he did invent the time machine. like in the movies." the cat-eyed lady said. 

"Time machine, my ass!" The black-skirted lady scoffed. "You know what, I heard that he used his own grandson to test out that damn machine. The kid had gone missing ever since that day. It's been close to a year and there is still no clue about the kid."

The other two ladies gasped at the information.

"And now he is looking for volunteers for his experiment. Who in the right mind would do that?" The black-skirted lady sneered. "That too without any rewards in return." She showed her friends the advertisement that was given out by the old scientist.

"What if that kid had actually gone to the past or the future?" the cat-eyed lady said curiously.

The other two women looked at each other and burst out laughing. 

"Idiot, such things happen in films, not in real life." The black-skirted lady said crumbling the advertisement paper in her hand and throwing it to the floor.

The trio soon caught a taxi and left the bus station.

Earn picked up the crumbled paper with trembling hands. Just as he was studying his contents, he got a text from his mother asking him where he was. He lied to his mother that he was at his friend's place for an assignment when he got back home.

He didn't want his mother to know that he heard her conversation with Ban. The flowers and candles had already been removed without a trace. If he hadn't witnessed everything on his own, he would have thought that nothing had happened there.

Getting back to his room, he threw his bag on the couch and directly headed to the bed. He took out the advertisement again.

"Pakorn Sitham." He read out the details given in the ad. He quickly searched for the name on his phone. He was impressed by the old scientist's achievements. After much complementation, he decided to take up the chance and volunteer for the experiment.

The next day morning, Earn got out of the house really early. He wore casual clothes, planning to bunk school and took the fake ID that he used when he hit clubs with him instead of his real ones so that he could convince the old scientist that he was an adult. He hailed a taxi to his destination.

As Earn got to his destination, he was greeted by the sight of a building that looked a lot like an abandoned factory. He pushed open the rusty metallic door which made a creeky sound as it moved.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" He called out. "Dr. Pakorn? Are you here?" He asked again, wondering if he had come over too early.

He had been so eager that he could bearly sleep the entire night. He didn't want to be caught by his mother either, that was why he slipped away from his house this early.

"Khrab?" a weak voice came from upstairs.

Earn looked in the direction of the voice and saw an old man with white hair walking towards him. He identified that man as Dr Pakorn at first glance, despite the fact that the man in front of him looked way older than the photos he had seen on the internet.

"Who are you?" Pakorn didn't find the person in front of him familiar.

Earn introduced himself with the fake name that was on the fake ID and explained why he was there. He used a believable cooked-up story to convince the old man of his motives

Pakorn narrowed his eyes observing Earn for a while and sighed "I am sorry, kid. You should go home." He turned around.

"Dr Pakorn, please don't send me back like this. You are my last hope." Earn begged.

"I don't know how you got this brochure. But I am no longer doing this experiment." Pakorn climbed the metallic stairs and headed inside, leaving Earn alone.

"My surname is Thanachart. A Thanachart would never give up until he reached his goal. I will be back." Earn swore to himself.

True to his words, Earn started visiting the old man on a daily basis. Days, weeks and months passed by and he was starting to see some progress.

It was a day before his Papa was returning home that the old man finally relented and agreed to do the experiment the one last time. 

Earn was over the moon to hear the decision. He told his mother that he would be sleeping over at his friend's place and headed to the old factory.

Pakorn took him to the innermost room of the factory aka the experiment lab/

When Earn finally got to see the time machine, his jaw dropped. It was very different from the machine he had expected. It looked more like a crystal coffin to him.

"Listen, when you are time travelling you should never meet up with your past or future self. If you do, you will cease to exist." Pakorn warned earnestly.

Earn nodded in understanding. He had now grown closer to the lonely old man who was like a grandfather to him. 

"So when you enter the year to which you want to go back to, you should keep that in mind," Pakorn advised. "Which year do you want to go to?"

Earn was now lying inside the bed-like structure of the time machine with Pakorn handling the controls. He thought for a while and answered. "Nineteen ninety-five."

Pakorn entered the year. As he pressed the go button, the glass lid of the crystalline structure closed with Earn inside it.

Earn smiled at the tensed-up old man. He was nervous too. But everything was worth it for his parents' happiness. He gave a thumbs up to the scientist, showing that he was ready.

Pakorn nodded at the young lad and pressed the red button.

Slowly a white gas was released inside the coffin-like structure. Earn felt like his consciousness was been sucked into a vacuum. Even with his eyes tightly shut, the experience felt really scary as he felt that he was losing control over his body.

Eventually, Earn felt his world turn black and lost his consciousness completely.