The Future That Never Disagrees
- Peter K F Cheung SBS
- May 13
- 3 min read
FADE IN
Act 1
INT. BEDROOM - 08:05
Sitting up in bed, PETER is clouded with thought. His phone glows in his hand.
A Facebook post: Be responsible for your future self. Your future self can't disagree with what you're doing now.
Peter stares. Lowers the phone.
PETER (V.O.): Can't disagree...unless they don't exist.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In my 20s -30s, I was like a machine. Work and study. Study and work. No weekends. No waste - 200% efficiency.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I thought my logic was perfect. If I could only live to 36, I'd have done 72 years of living.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My future self couldn't complain. A wife, a career and properties.
Act 2
FLASHBACK
EXT. COACH - FANLING - 10:15 (May 7, 2026)
Peter sits by the window, two rows behind a cluster of family MEMBERS.
We hear: ...the columnbariam...the waiting time.
The coach pulls into a stop. Peter and late Emily's SIBLINGS get off. They see a large Taoist temple nearby.
SISTER: Peter, we're thinking of depositing Emily's urn here. It's convenient.
Peter looks at the Temple. Then at her.
PETER: It isn't Buddhist.
SISTER: It's Taoist...do you think Emily would disagree?
The question hangs in the air.
Peter opens his mouth. Closes it. He doesn't nod. He doesn't shake his head. He simply looks away - towards the temple gates.
FLASHBACK UPON FLASHBACK
INT. HOME, NT - DAY (Aug 1992)
Sitting room, G/F. Peter (38) and a weak SHARON (36) sit side by side on a sofa. Peter points to a most prominent section of a shelf.
PETER: I'll put you right there.
Sharon looks at that secion of the shelf. Then at him. Her eyes are calm. She says nothing.
PETER (V.O.): Here is our home, alive or dead.
END FLASHBACK UPON FLASHBACK
PETER (V.O.): I placed Sharon's urn there about a month later.
Peter looks lost. Soon, they part at the station.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Earlier. she told me that when Emily (65) got the diagnosis of terminal cancer in mid March, she didn't want to die.
Sighing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): She lived 31 more days.
RETURN TO PRESENT
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Be responsible for your future self, they say.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): This argument assumes a promise. That the future self will be there to be grateful. Or to disagree.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): But our future self can't even guarantee their own heartbeat. Who's responsible for that?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Emily's future self didn't choose to die. It just happened.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): A life compressed to 200% efficiency still ends at 100% death. Since Sharon's untimely death, I've reinterpreted my equation. I've become kind to my present self.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I know the present doesn't protect me. The future doesn't promise me. I'm holding a paradox with no handles.
The phone screen goes dark beside him.
Act 3
INT. BEDROOM - 22:15
Peter uploads an image of a signage at Huizhou West Lake to a draft on his laptop. It suggests an entrance to the future.
PETER (V.O.): The future that never disagrees is the easiet master to serve. And the easiest to betray - because it never writes back.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I can mortgage my present for a future that never complains. But a future that never arrives doesn't owe me gratitude either.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The only honest stance: Do the next thing. Not because it serves my future self, Because right now, I'm alive enough to choose.
The END
FADE OUT
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