The Perfect Present

Johan drew a long, satisfying breath and savoured the moment he'd laboured for seven interminable years. The path to this juncture had been paved with dedication, experimentation, and an unwavering determination. Now, he stood before a resplendent silver contraption that bore an uncanny resemblance to the cockpit of a helicopter. Johan knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this apparatus would inaugurate a new era and transform the course of human history forevermore.

But his journey hadn't been without its trials and tribulations. The greatest obstacle he'd faced was the need for secrecy. He couldn't rely on other scientists to aid him in his quest, for doing so would result in the government seizing his invention, patenting his ideas, and taking credit for his achievements.

Fortunately, he had a dear friend, Edison, who'd provided him with the financial resources necessary to bring his vision to fruition. Edison, Johan's best friend since high school, had come up with the idea for a time travel machine and entrusted Johan with making it a reality. It was a personal matter for Edison, a chance to rectify mistakes that had haunted him for two decades. Johan felt a deep sympathy for his friend, which spurred him on to test his scientific prowess and commit to the project. 

And now, after seven years of hard work, sleepless nights, and endless sacrifice, Johan had finally succeeded. All that was left was to put his creation to the test.

He climbed into the machine, settled into the seat, and flicked the switch overhead. The engine whirred to life, and the screen in front of him lit up. Johan typed in the date: 25122002.

He took a deep breath, buckled up, and hit ENTER. As the machine hummed to life, he closed his eyes, knowing that he was about to embark on a journey that would upend everything he thought he knew about the world.

***

Edison was immersed in his work, studying the newest ad that his creative team had concocted for Bıh̄n̂ā s̄wy, a big cosmetic brand from far-off Thailand. As CEO of Thompson Media, he usually left these tasks to his Chief Creative Officer, Siti Aminah. But with his arch-rival Harry Chin from A&C Advertising Agency lurking about, Edison couldn't afford to slip up with such a high-profile client.

As he peered over the final edit of the ad and the PowerPoint slides Siti Aminah had prepared, Edison's phone started to jingle. His best bud, Johan, was on the line, and from the sound of it, he was itching to share some big news.

"What's the rumpus, buddy?" Edison answered, a grin spreading across his mug.

"Check your WhatsApp, man!" Johan replied, his voice electrified.

Edison darted over to his computer and popped open the message from Johan. "What?! LOTR merch? Who the hell still sells that crap? I thought it went extinct."

"Well, guess what, Eddy-boy?" Johan said, his voice reaching a fever pitch.

Edison's jaw hit the floor. "Wait! Don't tell me you just time-travelled--"

"Yep! You got it, man. I just got back from Christmas 2002 to scoop up the merch I always wanted but couldn't afford back then," Johan said, sounding like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Holy shit, that's amazing news! When can I come see you?" Edison asked, his heart thumping in his chest.

"Anytime, dude," Johan replied.

"Alright, here's the plan. I'm heading home now to tell Ivy the good news, and we'll come over to see you tomorrow," Edison said, his mind racing with excitement.

"Sounds good, man. I'll fill you in on everything when you get here." 

"Thanks, Jo. See you soon," Edison said before hanging up.

Driven by the desire to fix things in the past, Edison finished up his work, scribbled some notes for Siti Aminah, and shot them over on WhatsApp. With his affairs in order, he grabbed his things and bolted out the door, eager to share the incredible news with his wife, Ivy. He trusted his company would be taken care of while he tended to this personal business.

***

"What?! That's incredible news!" Ivy exclaimed as Edison shared the miraculous news with her.

Edison's eyes welled up with tears as Ivy wrapped her arms around him, providing comfort. "I understand, honey. It's been a long road," she whispered consolingly. Edison had carried the weight of his parents' untimely death for two decades, plagued by guilt for not stopping them from leaving. He believed he had heard a voice within him urging him to intervene, but he had ignored it.

"I've been waiting for this," Edison choked out, his voice heavy with emotion. "What's the point of all of this?" He gestured around their lavish home, filled with expensive designer furniture. "I have all the money in the world, but I can't even share it with my parents."

Ivy knew better than to interrupt. She knew the depth of pain her husband was carrying and how much he needed to release it. She gently rubbed his back, offering him a safe space to express himself fully.

Suddenly, their four-year-old son, Thompson, bounded over to them, jumping onto the couch. "Why is Papa crying?" he asked, his innocent eyes wide.

Edison managed to force a smile through his tears. "Do you want to see your grandma and grandpa?"

Thompson's face lit up, and he eagerly nodded, unaware of the magnitude of his father's words. Edison and Ivy felt their spirits lift at the prospect of starting a new life where Thompson would have four grandparents instead of just two. Edison was eager to return to May 5th and fix everything.

Noticing the sound of clanking crockery and smelling the tantalising aroma of food, Ivy immediately chimed in, "Time for dinner!" She playfully nudged Thompson off the couch as the family sauntered over to the dining table.

Mak Cik Jamnah, their loyal maid, warmly welcomed them to a feast fit for royalty. With their spirits uplifted, the family eagerly tucked into the lavish spread.

***

Edison and Ivy stood before the unremarkable grey machine, a sense of awe washing over them. The wires and cables hung exposed, and the entire structure looked rickety, but it was intriguing nonetheless. The double seats were nothing more than plastic stools, their legs securely fastened to the cockpit-like interior of the helicopter-shaped contraption.

"Are you sure this is working?" Edison asked sceptically, tapping the metal surface of the door.

Johan cleared his throat, pointing to his LOTR t-shirt. "If this isn't proof enough, I don't know what is. Embrace this perfect present I offer you," he chuckled.

Ivy cut in, eager to understand what was going on. "Okay, so what's going to happen? What do we do?"

Johan took a deep breath, preparing to explain the process. "Alright, so here's the deal. You'll take a seat in that chair there, and I'll switch on the engine. It'll take a few seconds for the screen in front of you to light up. Once it does, you'll use the keypad to enter the date you want to travel back to."

Edison and Ivy nodded in agreement, eager to take the plunge.

"This baby can transport you back in time or forward into the future! I put a lot of effort into cracking the code," Johan flaunted, gesturing to the hundreds of equations scrawled on the blackboard on the wall, as if they were some sort of secret language.

"So, once we enter the date, what happens?" Edison asked, eager to learn more.

"Ah, an excellent question," Johan replied with a grin. "Once you enter the date, you'll be transported to 6am on that day. You'll wake up in your own bed, wherever you were living at the time. You'll have 24 hours to do whatever needs to be done, and at 6am the next day, you'll be automatically transported back here," he explained proudly, pointing to the machine.

Edison and Ivy exchanged a look of sheer excitement, their minds racing with possibilities. The thought of travelling through time was an adventure like no other, and they were ready to take on whatever lay ahead.

Johan's eyes glittered with a mix of excitement and nerves as he looked over at Edison and Ivy. "Are you both ready?" he asked, his words filled with anticipation.

"I am," Edison replied with confidence, while Ivy simply nodded, her expression betraying a hint of hesitation.

"Alright then, monsieur et madame, climb aboard," Johan said playfully, gesturing towards the seats before them.

Edison helped Ivy onto the machine, his hand clasping hers as they settled into their seats. Johan stepped onto the metal skid next to the door on Edison's side, reaching for the 'on' button on the ceiling of the machine.

"Excuse me," he said, as Edison moved back to give him room to manoeuvre.

Edison and Ivy held hands as the machine began to emit a soft hum, the sound gradually growing louder and more intense. Ivy shivered nervously, but Edison remained steadfast and composed. A 'beep' started to emanate from the screen in front of them, displaying 000000.

"Whenever you're ready, enter the date," Johan shouted from outside, raising his voice to be heard over the noise of the engine. "I'm closing the doors now," he added, pressing a button on the side mirror to send the doors on both sides sliding closed.

As the doors closed, the sound was suddenly muted, and Edison was amazed by how different his voice sounded without the reverberations of the outside world. He spoke to Ivy, stunned by the change in acoustics.

Ivy nodded, her expression determined. "Yes, let's do this," she said, her voice carrying a hint of apprehension.

Edison took a deep breath and entered 050503 on the screen before him. Pressing ENTER, he steeled himself for what was to come.

Suddenly, the world around them began to spin rapidly, everything morphing into darkness as the machine whirled them away on an unimaginable journey through time.

***

Edison awoke, feeling disoriented and groggy, his mind struggling to make sense of his unfamiliar surroundings. It took a few moments for him to realise that he was lying on his old bed, back in 2003, when he was just twenty years old and still living with his parents.

Sitting up, a wave of strangeness washed over him. He marvelled at his youthful appearance - longer hair, flatter stomach. And when a loud beep sounded, he was stunned by the sight of his old Nokia 3310 on the desk.

Opening Ivy's text, he struggled to remember the old-fashioned way of typing without a keyboard. "Yes. OMG, I'm so young. Haha," he wrote, feeling foolish and nostalgic.

Standing up, he took in the surroundings of his old room, feeling a pang of nostalgia hit him like a freight train. The familiar scent of his youth - sweat and musk - brought back memories, so different from the luxury he'd grown accustomed to as a wealthy man.

Staring at his reflection in the mirror, he was amazed by how angular his face appeared. With his pimply forehead and unkempt hair, he much preferred his older, more refined appearance.

Suddenly, he heard it - the sound of his parents arguing downstairs, the sound overwhelming him with a whirlwind of emotions. He missed them so much.

Without thinking, he ran downstairs, tears glistening in his eyes as he caught sight of their faces. The sight of his parents, so full of life and vitality, was almost too much for him to bear.

As soon as his presence was felt, his mother turned to him in confusion, sensing something was amiss. "What's wrong?" she asked, searching his eyes for a clue.

Overcome with emotion, he hugged them tightly without a word. When his father asked, "What's the matter?" he couldn't even find the words to respond.

Taking a deep breath, he pleaded, "Whatever happens, please don't go out. I love you both so much."

His father was confused, "How do you know we're going out?"

"I just know," he said, the words tumbling out in a rush. "You're going to court to sort out your divorce procedures. But please, I'm willing to do anything for you as long as you don't go out," he pleaded, masking his true fear behind the guise of concern for their relationship.

He couldn't reveal the reason for his panic - the certainty that they would die in a car accident later that day. So, he pleaded with them to stay home, using all his powers of persuasion.

Silence hung heavy as his mother grimaced in pain and his father's expression grew forlorn. Reacting quickly, he rushed to their sides, embracing them tightly.

They stood in the living room, lost in each other's arms, crying as the weight of past regrets and future fears weighed on them.

The rest of the day was spent cocooned within the safety of their home. His parents were still distant from each other, but they tried their best to keep the peace for their son's sake. Edison savoured every moment, doing everything he wished he had done twenty years earlier. He watched movies with them, chatted, played cards, and even cooked for them. He chastised his younger self for not being more present in their lives.

As the night grew darker and sleep beckoned, a sense of calm and peace washed over Edison. For the first time in years, he felt at ease knowing he would wake up the next morning back in the future with both of his parents by his side. He couldn't wait for Thompson to meet his grandparents and for his family to be whole once again.

***

Edison and Ivy stirred, awakening in the contraption with a woozy haze that clung to their minds like cobwebs. They regarded each other with bleary eyes, observing that they looked somewhat altered from the day prior when they had first embarked on the machine.

"How was it?" Edison inquired.

"Amazing," Ivy replied, a glimmer in her eye. "I convinced my parents to let me pursue my dream in ballet."

Edison's eyes grew misty as he recalled his own experience. "I saved Mummy and Daddy," he confided.

The metallic groan of sliding doors drew their attention, and the pair was greeted by the beaming visage of Johan. Eager to disembark, they were taken aback when Johan's grin faded into a furrowed brow of confusion.

"What's wrong?" Edison queried, noticing Ivy's emaciated appearance.

Johan's response was hesitant. "Perhaps you should return home and rest. There must be an explanation for this." As he spoke, the time-travelling device sputtered and coughed, and a frayed cable at the machine's rear sparked into a shower of electric flame. "It seems our contraption is in need of repairs," Johan observed, then added, “No regrets, okay? Repairs might take a while.” 

The couple was further bewildered to discover that their garments had been replaced by cheap, unbranded clothes that appeared to have been procured from a discount shop.

"What's happening to us?" Ivy implored.

Johan blinked rapidly, searching for a suitable answer while Edison examined his own body, astonished by how gaunt he had become.

"Perhaps the machine has altered more than just your appearances," Johan suggested tentatively, "but don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of this."

As they made their way to the parking lot, the couple was aghast to discover that their sleek Audi RSQ8 had been replaced by a modest Toyota Corolla - a disconcerting shift, to say the least. Though questions clamoured in their minds, they opted to keep mum, hopeful that answers would reveal themselves in due course.

Edison couldn't shake the peculiar sensation of driving an economical vehicle after indulging in lavish luxury for so long. Along the journey, they sat in silence, each grappling with the disorienting sense that their lives had been irrevocably altered.

But the true shock came when they arrived at their home. They gasped for breath at the sight of their dwelling, unchanged from ten years prior, with peeling paint and a decrepit appearance that hinted at years of neglect.

The disconcerting revelations continued as they entered the house, greeted by a shabbier Thompson and Edison's mother, confined to a wheelchair and receiving assistance from a middle-aged caregiver.

In a frenzy of disbelief, the couple sprinted upstairs, scouring every inch for any shred of evidence to explain the inexplicable. Pages upon pages of documents were scrutinised, phones and wallets rifled through in desperation.

And in due time, they unearthed the sad truth: Edison's parents had divorced seven years earlier, his mother's dementia had reached a debilitating stage, and he toiled away as a copywriter at A&C Advertising Agency, barely scraping by to pay for his mother's care. Ivy had failed to make it as a ballet dancer and languished in unemployment for three years.

The reality was crushing, but it could not be denied. They were adrift in a strange and unfamiliar world, where the rules had been rewritten and fate had taken a cruel turn.

The bedroom was sweltering, an oppressive heat that clung to their skin like a second layer. Edison and Ivy sat on the floor in stunned silence, struggling to come to terms with the stark reality of their new existence. They couldn't even afford an air-conditioner to provide some respite from the oppressive heat.

In an instant, Thompson appeared, his wiry build wearing a broad smile and moving about with an energetic exuberance of a child. It was a jarring contrast to the dire circumstances they now found themselves in.

Despite the confusion and despair that gripped their hearts, the couple mustered a smile, embracing Thompson with open arms. There was no point in regretting the past or the choices that had brought them to this moment. All they could do was cling to each other and hope that somehow, they would find a way forward. 

"Don't worry," Ivy reassured, "everything will be okay as long as we're together."