The story
In the year 2039, Lisa, the protagonist, finds clues to inconsistencies in the past through several coincidences. After long research and many incidents, she comes to what seems to her to be the only logical conclusion:
The year 2020 has been repeated and no one is allowed to talk about the original year - the lost year.
Chapter 6
From all the walking, her feet ached. But she wasn’t ready to go home just yet, as her grandmother was waiting for her there. She just wanted to take a small detour on foot, to stay out for another half an hour. However, by the time she arrived home, she was relieved—any longer, and she wouldn’t have been able to keep walking. Exhausted, she stepped into the apartment and was greeted by a loud voice.
“Anne! There you are at last! He’s gone! Where could he be? They’ve taken him, I’m sure of it! What are we going to do? They’ve taken my boy!” Her grandmother paced the hallway in panic, throwing her hands in the air as she spoke.
“Nan, it’s me, Lisa, not Anne,” she said calmly, walking toward her with outstretched arms.
“Calm down first, and then tell me who’s gone missing. Do you mean Dad?” Her grandmother’s eyes relaxed slightly as she sank into her favorite armchair in the living room.
“Calm down first, and then tell me who’s gone missing. Do you mean Dad?” Her grandmother’s eyes relaxed slightly as she sank into her favorite armchair in the living room.
“Where are my glasses…?” she muttered, patting her hair. Lisa crouched beside her on the floor and took her grandmother’s hand in hers.
“Are you okay, Nan?”
Her grandmother looked Lisa straight in the eyes. “I can’t go through this again. 2020 brought us nothing but misery.” Startled by her grandmother’s words, Lisa let go of her hand.
“Not again? What do you mean by that, Nan?” she asked gently.
“Oh, here they are! I was sitting on my glasses the whole time. What a thing!” Her grandmother smiled contentedly and leaned back in her chair. Feeling slightly deflated and frustrated, Lisa sighed and stood up.
It was hopeless to get anything coherent out of her grandmother. Maybe the journal still held some useful clues that could give her insight into the situation from 19 years ago. Determined to find something in the notes, she went to the study and retrieved the journal from its box.
Even though she’d held the book in her hands several times before, it still felt like a little treasure to her. Its sense of uniqueness had not diminished. Lisa decided to read the entries in chronological order.
January 2, 2018
We rung in the new year! The year 2018.
I look to the future with joy, and I look back on the past year with joy.
What could be better than saying goodbye to a year and welcoming the start of another one with your closest friends and family?
Christopher visited us on New Year’s Eve, and our son stopped by as well.
Together, we counted down the seconds and toasted at midnight.
Once again, our boy came without a companion this time.
I truly hope that by next New Year’s, he’ll have someone by his side whom he loves dearly and would like to introduce to us!
We rung in the new year! The year 2018.
I look to the future with joy, and I look back on the past year with joy.
What could be better than saying goodbye to a year and welcoming the start of another one with your closest friends and family?
Christopher visited us on New Year’s Eve, and our son stopped by as well.
Together, we counted down the seconds and toasted at midnight.
Once again, our boy came without a companion this time.
I truly hope that by next New Year’s, he’ll have someone by his side whom he loves dearly and would like to introduce to us!
She already knew the next entry. Her grandfather’s wish had come true. Her father met his future wife, Lisa’s mother, later that same year. While reading through her grandfather’s entries and flipping through the pages, she noticed scraps of paper sticking out near the book’s binding.
It looked as though someone had torn pages out. The layer of paper scraps was thick—many pages must have been missing. Lisa flipped back to the last entry before the missing pages: December 31, 2019. Then she looked at the date on the first page after the scraps:
February 3, 2021.
February 3, 2021.
There were no entries from the year 2020, which struck Lisa as strange. She wondered why someone had removed those pages and what they might have contained. Instead of seeking explanations for things she couldn’t possibly explain, she continued reading.
February 3, 2021
There are times that challenge us mentally. Everyone fights their own personal battles. And there are times when you feel like giving up, because these battles are difficult, exhausting, and long. In those moments, you must ask yourself: why is it worth fighting for? What am I doing this for?
Maybe you just need to remind yourself why you made those choices back then, or why you took those actions. And for whom you’re doing all this.
There are times that challenge us mentally. Everyone fights their own personal battles. And there are times when you feel like giving up, because these battles are difficult, exhausting, and long. In those moments, you must ask yourself: why is it worth fighting for? What am I doing this for?
Maybe you just need to remind yourself why you made those choices back then, or why you took those actions. And for whom you’re doing all this.
The tone in this entry didn’t sound like her grandfather at all. He sounded changed—troubled, weary, as if he had endured a great deal. Lisa secretly hoped that the missing pages might still be in the box where the journal had been stored, but she had handled the box so many times that she knew they weren’t there.
Lisa didn’t believe the missing entries were hidden anywhere. It seemed only logical to her that whoever tore them out would have thrown them away as well.
Feeling a bit disappointed, she read the rest of the book. Yet, she found nothing that gave her any clue about her father. It couldn’t all be for nothing—there had to be a reason for the missing pages and her grandmother’s strange statement.
Some more of Grandpa's diary entries:
Under supervision of Prof. Andreas Ingerl and Gisela Matthes (HTW Berlin)