Zermatt: A Short Story

Have you ever feel like you are walking in a stunningly beautiful paradise even though, in reality, you are lost somewhere in this cruel world? If someone were to ask that, I would say “Yes, I did. I was lost in a natural paradise called Zermatt in a beautifully small country called Switzerland.” How it all started, how I was able to keep my stress in control, and how I was able to reunite with my warm family and come back here begins from me myself trying to fight myself from sleeping at the lobby of my hotel. Zermatt, a vacation town for the locals, have a very good climate, and after all that seemed-like-forever, chronic travelling in train, I was pretty worn out. While my parents chatted away with the staff at the Front, I was ready to

I absent-mindedly continue walking, yawning along the way. Then, when my music-streaming app (which is connected to my parents’ pocket Wi-Fi) shuts off my beautiful garden piano tune, I was shocked back to the reality. I have lost my parents. I started to panic, thinking of all negative possibilities such as not coming back here to Thailand, being stranded here forever, starving to death, and all other things related. However, as I looked around, I started to see why “destiny” brought me here. In front of my very own eyes, the best view of this town stands before me. All the clouds looked like they are dancing around the Matterhorn, the highest mountain that could be seen from Zermatt. The brick buildings, home to souvenir shops and mountain-view cafés, co-exist in harmony with shiny, wooden houses and hotels. The colors and the sounds created by the birds, the water streams flowing down the river, the sunshine, and many other things seem to be playing a symphony that combined colors and sounds of nature. Everything is so perfectly in harmony that I began stunned myself with them instead of being worried about my

I was not aware of myself that I wandered around Zermatt on my own, taking in all that perfectness into myself without realizing about the time. As I snapped out of it, I began to formulate my plan to reunite with my family. As I am doing that, a bell in my stomach sounded off vigorously. I realized that I must eat something, but it is not the time that restaurants usually open for dinner service. Instead, I randomly walk into a café and ordered a chocolate mocha and a strawberry cheesecake. The café was decorated in Vintage-style. The wood texture and warm lighting gives off a very comfy atmosphere. As I enjoy the richness of chocolate in my mocha and the softness and texture of Swiss cheesecake, I unknowingly opened my phone and entered the password on the receipt for a free Wi-Fi. (In Switzerland, cafés usually offers free Wi-Fi to customers. The password is usually printed on receipts, much like Starbucks and Holly’s Coffee.) As I waited for notifications to come up, I suddenly realized something. I can use this Wi-Fi to contact my parents! I quickly open my LINE account and looked for my family members. In the chatroom, they said that if I ever was able to see this, they will be waiting at our room in the hotel. Then, my eyes targeted the clock. In the chatroom, the messages were sent at about 10:30 AM. It was 6 PM when I looked at the famous original Swiss-made wooden clock in the café. After finishing my “dinner tea”, I