Sorry if there are mistake in words, grammar, punctuation, etc.
Utrecht, March 2025.
David Gijsbert Zimmermann was a Dutchman. His father, Wilhelm Zimmermann, was from Munich, Germany. He was half German. While his mother, Elisabeth Jennetje Kuipers, is from Den Haag, she moved to Eindhoven, North Brabant, Netherlands. After marrying Wilhelm. David has 1 older sister named Olivia. Olivia is married and has a baby.
David was born on January 13, 2000. So, he is currently in his mid-20s. David has wavy light brown hair and blue eyes. It is about 183 cm tall. He has graduated from his university; he is studying architecture. He wanted to pursue a master's degree, but he wasn't sure how to manage the time, as he was doing remote work. But he was too busy to work; he didn't have time to work on a thesis for a master's degree.
It's night. David was busy with his computer when he suddenly remembered his grandfather's story. He remembers when she was just 14 years old, his grandfather was there to celebrate with him. They spent all day and night talking and hearing about his grandfather's story; one of the stories he remembered was the story of his great-grandfather.
His grandfather said that David's great-grandfather was a Dutchman who lived in the Dutch East Indies, or Indonesia in modern times; he spent most of his childhood and adolescence in the Dutch East Indies. He moved there when he was 8 years old.
David took a sip of his coffee. He had been working on his computer all day. His phone rings; his father called him.
He wanted David to help them clean out his grandparents from his mother's house in De Rijp and keep the valuables before they called a house cleaner to clean up the rest of the house. They had been leaving the house for many years, and they decided to sell it after his grandparents died many years ago. To be honest, David didn't want to sell the house, because the house was full of memories, but his parents were right; the house deserved to have a new owner who would take care of the house and not just stand there and let the grass take over the house.
"Isn't the house too valuable? We have so many memories at home." David said. He was confused because it was too sudden; yes, indeed, they did abandon the house after his grandparents died. They would only come to the house once in a while to clean it so that it wouldn't look like a horror house.
"Sometimes, we have to give up valuable things. We have been leaving the house for years, so let the house have a new owner to take care of it." Wilhelm said. "I need you there to help clean the house. Olivia said that she can't help us, she just gave birth to your nephew, and she's busy." Wilhelm said.
David rolled his eyes. "Ugh, alright." David frowned. He hasn't met his newborn nephew yet, only looking at the baby photos Olivia sent him. Olivia said that she named her son Elias. Elias looks cute, and David loves him already.
It's early morning. David drove his car from Utrecht to De Rijp, taking around an hour to reach his grandparents' house. He sipped his coffee he bought from a convenience store before driving to De Rijp.
"Not bad. But it's a little sweet. How much sugar do they put into this coffee? They're going to make me have diabetes." David said. "Gosh, it's so cold today." He muttered. "I should have brought a heating pad," David said. His phone kept ringing; his parents called him, but he was too focused on driving the car.
David arrives at his grandparents' house. The tall grass makes the house look haunted. Her parents were already there, waiting for him to arrived.
"Wow, it seems like I'm a horror movie character who was stupid enough to buy a haunted house even though the owner of the house had already told me that there was a spirit in the house," David said. His parents looked amused. "Have you ever seen your grandson?" Asked David.
"Yes, he looked similar to you when you were a newborn." Wilhelm laughed.
"Oh, he's going to be the next David." David smiled.
David entered the house. He felt nostalgic. The house was full of life when his grandparents were still alive. But now it looks like a haunted house from the 1900s.
David started cleaning the house with his parents after sleeping for 3 hours. David went to his grandparents' bedroom. It was the largest bedroom in the house. He opened the doors. The room was very dusty.
"Ugh, we can't clean this house ourselves." Said David. He took a deep breath and began to open the wardrobe, as they would be storing the valuable stuff.
David found so many old books and old photos in boxes. There is a diary books that may belong to his great-grandfather. He opened the book and read it, most of the ink had already faded due to time, but he could still read it even took time to understand it.
"Oh, interesting. I feel like I'm in a movie who just found out about my great-grandfather's secret book." David looked amused. He decided to keep the books. He cleans the book of dust and other dirt. The books looked very dirty, and even the smell was a bit terrible.
It's already late at night. David had just finished taking a shower, and his hair was still damp. She sat on the edge of her bed and looked at the book. He opened it and read it again. There is a photo of a girl. She didn't think it was her great-grandfather's book, because the couple in the photo wasn't her great-grandfather. This is a photo of a white man and an Asian girl. He looked back at the photo.
Celebes, March, 1947.
"I hope we can be together and spend the rest of our lives together, without worrying about what people think of us."
David looked confused, "What is this?" Nonetheless, he seemed very interested in the book. He decided to keep the book with him. He lay on the bed while continuing to read the diary. It was supposed to be illegal to read someone else's diary, but it was a diary from decades ago; even the owner might have died.
He opened his laptop and searched for the photo. He thought maybe it was a photo of a celebrity from the 1940s or an important person because of the man wearing an old military uniform. Who knows?
He had scanned the photos and searched for an hour, but he didn't find anything. Maybe it was his great-grandfather's friend or liberation. What he found was a man wearing an old Dutch military uniform, and it was located in Celebes, while in the other photo, it was in Java.
David was in the attic; he found so many military items belonging to his great-grandfather and others. That's all old, and some of them are already ripped or eaten by termites, because of time. He found so many old album photos that he couldn't really see people in the photo because the photo was already damaged.
He was really curious about the items, so he decided to keep them all. He never knew if his great-grandfather was a soldier; all he knew his family was living in the Dutch East Indies because his father worked there, and he was a soldier during World War 2. He only lived in the Dutch East Indies for a few years before returning to the Netherlands after the Japanese occupied the Netherlands East Indies.
His father suddenly called out to him, "David, what did you find?"
"Only great-grandpa's old stuff," David said.
Wilhelm looked at the uniform, "It belonged to your great-grandfather. I had met him before he died. He died when you were 8 years old, if you remember."
"Yes, I still remember it. But, I never knew he was a soldier."
"He, but only for a few years," Wilhelm said.
"When and where?" Ask David.
"During the Second World War and the Netherlands East Indies."
David walked into the backyard. This house was built in the early 1900s. This is an old house, and he sits in the forest. He enjoyed the breeze. Actually, he wanted to take care of the house, and lived there, the house was quite large, ... good. He does remote work, sometimes he even needs to meet in person with clients, but that's okay. He looked at the scenery with nostalgia. He used to play here with his sister, Olivia, and his grandfather often told some of the stories he heard from David's great-grandfather. He recalled some memories of the story.
In the summer of 2011, Wilhem and Elisabeth took Olivia and David to De Rijp to see their maternal grandparents. David was 9 years old at the time, 2 years after his great-grandfather died. His grandfather, David. Walking around the yard. Her grandmother, Iris, was sitting on a bench, she was knitting. Their car arrived home. Olivia and David get out of the car and walk towards their grandmother. Iris greeted them and smiled warmly.
"I miss you both," Iris said.
David walked over to his grandchildren and hugged David. "We have been waiting for you two. Your parents said they would arrive at 11 a.m." David said.
"Sorry if we are late." Wilhelm said.
"It's okay," David said. "All of you must be hungry. We prepare food." David said.
They entered the house. The house is classic but comfortable. David put his bag on the sofa and ran to the dining table.
Olivia and David were sitting on a bench, their grandfather watering the flowers.
"Normally, you will tell stories you heard from your great-grandfather," David said.
David looked at them and smiled. He put down his watering can and walked towards them. He sat in the middle of Olivia and David.
"So, you two want to hear about another story?"
"Yes!" Both Olivia and David looked excited.
"Alright, I'll tell you two stories that I still remember. I'm old, you know. I've forgotten so many stories. So, in 1943, your great-grandmother was kidnapped by the Japanese army. They took him to the camp, and do you remember about his best friend? He tried to save her—"
David smiled as he remembered his grandfather. He had always liked his grandfather. David is still reunited with his great-grandfather. But unfortunately, he died when David was 7 years old; he died at the age around 89 years. His wife died a decade before him. Her great-grandfather was too old to tell Olivia and David about his life, that is why they would ask their grandfather instead.
David sighed, he got up and walked home. He will try to talk to his parents to don't sell the house, it's better if they just let someone to rent the house.