Student creations – The Year 3000, a short story

By Ashlyn Sheshynna

The future seems to be something so distant, expecially when it is a century away. But what if you were able to see what the future holds with just one move on the chess board? The Year 3000 explores the journey of Averil and Saira in pursuit of returning back to the present after they have been transported 978 years into the unknown and well evolved future.

Nobody knew where they were, just a second ago Averil and Saira were in their room playing chess, a moment later they were gone. Not many realised their disappearance but those who did, didn’t question it because it wasn’t unusual for them to be everywhere at once.

Fast forward to the year 3000, a bright light appeared and out of  nowhere stepped out two girls. Passerby didn’t bat an eye at the extraordinary occurrence, they’re in the year 3000 for Pete’s sake, teleportation has been invented. It’s normal for people to appear randomly.

The two girls were confused, just a second ago they were back in Melaka and now in some foreign lens surrounded by nothing but blue.

Blue? What do you mean blue? No they didn’t have time to ponder, they needed to get back home.

They immediately rushed over to a nearby stranger and asked “Where are we?” The stranger answered “Kuala Lumpur of course”. Well that was helpful, they thought sarcastically.

Now they were even more confused, in what world is Kuala Lumpur surrounded by a glass dome and filtered with an aqua hue.

They continued making their way through the crowds, when suddenly they approached a billboard promoting the album of the year, “Best album of 3000”…

The year 3000… Dumbfounded, they came to a realisation that they were stuck in the future. Everything is blue because they’re underwater. The world sank due to global warming and now there’s human civilisation among marine life right at the bottom of the ocean.

Never in their lives did they think they would experience anything remotely like this.

At the corner of their eyes they spotted a library and their first course of action was to head over and find some answers. In the library they were greeted by a nice old lady, there was something about her that made her appear peculiar to them.

They explained their situation and their confusion to her. To that she gasped as her face morphed into an expression of shock and disbelief. She whispered for them to follow her, she pulled a random book out of the shelf and suddenly a passageway to a secret room appeared out of thin air.

They traced her footsteps and made their way to a room filled with high never-ending shelves of books. She explained to them that this is where they kept all books related to magic. She was a witch that knew how to get the two of them back home.

“Was there a specific item that you girls touched right before you got transported here?” The old lady asked.

“We were playing chess just before we arrived here and I checkmated Saira while tipping her king over….” said Averil.

“Aha! The king! That’s the portal!” Said the old lady.

“Portal?” Ask Saira. It’s a magical item that transports those who touch them to another place in a different time, whether it be past or future, in your case the future I believe.”

“How do we get back home? ” asked Averil.

“You will need to find a corresponding item, that would be a queen chess piece from the year you’re from, you should check the antique store down the street.” The girls thanked the old lady for her help and made their way over to the antique store.

The stars must have aligned. Right in the display window was a chess set from 2022, they entered the store and discreetly reached for the black queen. A second later they were back home in their room.

It all felt like a fever dream, it shouldn’t have been real, it couldn’t have, but they had all the proof it was, on their hands a black paint stain from the chess piece was present.

“What an experience, too bad no one would ever believe us if we told them” said Saira. Just a moment later their mother burst through the door exclaiming “Girls! Tea is ready!”.

Both girls gave each other a knowing look while following after their mother.