*July 23, 2043
Late at night*

**Anonymous**: Are you awake?

**Elena**: Who is this? How did you get my number?

**Anonymous**: This will sound like a prank or a scam, but please keep reading. I am texting you from the future. You can call me Ian. I know this message will be hard to believe, but let me prove it to you. Tomorrow, you will receive a promotion at work as Lead Designer. Congratulations! You will hear from me again at a later date.

With knitted brow, Elena stared at the text messages from the stranger. She opened the contextual menu and was about to block the anonymous user but her finger simply hovered over the screen.

>Tomorrow, you will receive a promotion at work as Lead Designer. Congratulations!

Tomorrow, Elena was giving a presentation on the Seaworld project, not discussing her career prospects. She had best get some sleep. 

She turned off her phone but did not delete the messages.

Try as she might, sleep would not come easy, but eventually she fell into a deep slumber in which she dreamed about mechanical clocks.

<center>
![separator_00021.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/Eo1wxJ2DR4smMvx2EDJhKfF5ZpZRQ2wKir6LNYbxtMoRzZPXiVbYiHsTodpfGMFARwL.png)
</center>

*July 24, 2043
Mid-afternoon*

“By all accounts, the project has been a resounding success. We commend you,” said Jonas, the company CEO. 

“We are happy to have achieved the goals,” said Elena with youthful exuberance, “the team worked so hard.”

She had just finished giving the presentation to key stakeholders in the company. The project team had tracked some key metrics at her behest in order to determine performance and maintain a postmortem record. The info-charts came in handy during the presentation.

After answering some questions, she was about to wrap up her presentation, when Macy, the CTO, spoke up and dropped a bombshell on Elena.

“We have been discussing your future in this company and would like to make you an offer. As you know, we have vacancy in the Lead Designer role, and given that you have demonstrated such capacity managing the team, we thought you would be a perfect fit.

For a moment Elena felt as if she had just fallen into an endless hole.

She stumbled forward and caught herself.

“Are you alright?” Macy asked her.

“Yes,” said Elena. “I’m just overwhelmed with joy.”

“It’s been a difficult project, and a lot to take in at once. We'll discuss details when you get back from vacation. Some well deserved R & R is in order. Again, congratulations!”

The audience in the room broke into applause. Her team cheered.

On the way home, she felt mixed emotions. She should’ve been happy about her promotion, but instead she felt a sense of unease. 

The stranger, Ian, had been right about her promotion. How did he know?

She waited that night for Ian to contact her and brag about his lucky guess. For a brief moment, she wondered if it had been indeed a lucky guess, or if he really was a time traveler. 

She didn’t hear from him again that night. She didn’t hear from him at all the rest of year.

<center>
![separator_00022.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/Eo8LzpGoETPFvfs8g869CdkNAsx1FJa6TukjUMCGew5NK87b6NKUt1AsM6kgAMeRo2r.png)
</center>

*January 1, 2044
Shortly after midnight*

**Ian**: Happy New Years! Guess who? It’s your favourite time traveler.

**Elena**: How did you know about the promotion?

**Ian**: I told you already. I’m from the future.

**Elena**: I am going to report you to the police.

**Ian**: And tell them what exactly? That a stranger claiming to be from the future predicted your promotion?

**Elena**: What do you want from me?

**Ian**: I want to help you.

**Elena**: I’m kind of in the middle of something called New Year's celebrations.

**Ian**: This afternoon, when you and your family have your traditional New Year polar bear swim in the bay, your sister is going to suffer an asthma attack after she takes the plunge into the icy waters. She needs her medication, so make sure you remind her to take it with her.

**Elena**: You are crazy!

She put her phone away. The last thing she needed was some wacko ruining her New Year's festivities.

“Hey, everything alright?” said her sister, handing her a martini.

“Just some weirdo on social media.”

“You do attract the crazy ones,” Sofia said.

“Listen, I know this will sound strange," Elena said taking a sip from the martini, "but could you just bring your puffer to the swim?”

“My puffer?” said Sofia. “What for? I haven’t had an attack in years.”

“Well, you know me, and my woo-woo feelings.”

“You’re the psychic in the family,” Sofia said laughing. “Remember that time you dressed like a palm reader and scared the beejesus out of grandma. Haha!”

“Please, don’t remind me. I still feel so bad about it.”

“Come, let’s go back to the party.”

“Don’t forget the swim later today,” Elena told her.

“Agh! Dad’s crazy for making us go as adults.”

***
*Later in the afternoon*

“Three, two, one!” 

People counted down in unison then broke into a run across the snowy beach and jumped into the cold ocean water shouting and laughing.

The cold water hit Elena like a shock. In spite of herself, she let out a high pitched squeal. The temperature was five degrees Celsius below zero, so Elena lasted less than a minute before she headed back to shore.

In all the commotion, she had lost sight of her sister. Then she saw her doubling over and clutching at her chest with her face turning purple. 

“Sofia!” shouted Elena rushing towards her sister. “Sofia!”

Sofia put her arm around her sister. 

Soon others showed up and helped carrying the coughing girl to shore.

“Did you bring your inhaler?” Elena asked her.

The girl motioned to her belongings on the sand.

Elena rummaged through her sister’s bag until she found the medication. She then watched as Sofia pressed the object to her lips and inhaled deeply, her chest rising with each puff. All the while, her sister’s eyes were locked on hers with a look of gratefulness and bewilderment.

***
*Nighttime*

**Elena**: Are you there? How did you know that would happen to my sister? Answer me!

There was no reply.

She threw her phone on the bed. This stranger knew details about her personal life that nobody should know or had a right to know. Even if somehow he had managed to glean details of her life from her social media account, there was no way he could find out about her sister’s condition.  If by chance he had found out about it through other means, perhaps a hack of medical records, how in the world could he know that Sofia would suffer an asthma attack on New Year’s day during the festival? That was impossible.

Elena read and reread the thread of messages. The sender had not asked for money or anything. He had in essence saved her sister’s life and just disappeared. He should've been gloating with an *I-told-you-so*, but instead there was only silence.

<center>
![separator_00023.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/EogLvrJaDtotH1FqY1e84CDkAZRcDVBvZCRNUeMcR7SkCtx4gbqBNvwStLr2sFEVL4S.png)
</center>

*May 17, 2045
Morning*

**Ian**: Cancel your trip.

**Elena**: You! I want to talk to you in person.

**Ian**: Cancel your trip.

It had been over a year since she had received any messages from Ian. Not since that fateful day at the beach. She texted him back with a barrage of questions but the enigmatic man did not reply.

It was absolutely crazy to be making decisions about her life based on some anonymous messenger claiming to be from the future. This trip to Sweden was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her career. Why should she cancel it based on a veiled warning from some random Internet stranger?

***
*May 25, 2045
Evening*

Elena’s shoulder shook and her whimpers were followed by a stream of tears. On the television screen, images from the plane crash showed a rising plume of smoke over the mountains. The plane had been struck by lightning and gone down over the Alps. All passengers on board were presumed dead.

**Elena**: Where are you?
**Elena**: Why didn’t you warn them?
**Elena**: I want to SEE you!!

<center>![00108-1234.gif](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/Enyo2YaKGCs8bPu9FebLQAyFaVUrQMyfoHJ2sqqDPUXekwsHpokcHk3CmkqcLp1Suds.gif)</center>

*Oct 4, 2045
Evening*

**Ian**: Are you awake?

Elena saw the message appear but did not answer it.

**Ian**: On your way to work tomorrow on the 7:45 express, you will see a man seated in the second car. The seat across from him will be empty.

***

*Oct 5, 2045
Morning*

As the train slowly came to a halt at the station, Elena peered through the windows, but it was too dark to see. She felt a strange sinking sensation in her stomach and barely waited for the train to stop before she jumped on board.

She walked down the aisle looking left and right. Then she saw him. A young man seated near the window, typing on a laptop.

When she sat across from him, he barely looked up, acknowledging her presence only with a polite smile then returning to his work. 

She tried to catch his attention by clearing her throat.

He seemed really engrossed in his work and would not look up.

Finally, she said, “Ian?”

He stopped typing and looked up at her as if noticing her for the first time.

“Are you Ian?” She repeated.

He nodded with a quizzical expression.

“I’m Elena,” she said.

“Nice to meet you, Elena.”

She was silent, expecting him to say more.

“What game are you playing?” she said to him.

He looked down at his laptop. 

“I’m not playing any games,” he answered. “I was just working.”

He turned his laptop towards her. The screen was filled with numbers and diagrams.

She sighed.

“If you don’t tell me what is going on, I am going to tell the authorities.”

He sat up straight. 

“The authorities?" he said looking around. "Why? I haven’t done anything. I don’t even know who you are.”

She tried her best not to raise her voice, but she did raise a finger and wagged it in the air.

“You have been sending me messages, claiming to be from the future, and-“

She stopped herself. The look on his face was one of genuine puzzlement.

He reached over and closed his laptop then began putting it away in his backpack.

Elena’s phone dinged with a notification alert.

**Ian**: Don’t let him leave. Show him this.

Lines of code took over her phone screen.

“Wait!” she said to the man who was about to leave. She raised her phone and showed him the message. 

He looked at screen and after scanning the code, he took a sharp breath. He squinted as if not quite believing what he was seeing.

“How did you get this?” he said, grabbing her phone. “Did you write it? This is my code but rewritten. It solves many of our problems," he mumbled as if talking to himself, "the entanglement sequences, the paradoxes, the coherence collapse- Who are you?”

Elena prided herself in being a good judge of character, and looking at the genuine surprise and confusion of this man, she knew he wasn’t lying. He really didn't know who she was.

“I’m Elena Sommer,” she said, “and I think we’ve known each other for a very long time.”

She never heard from Ian again but lived with him happily ever after.

<center>
![Time_Travelers.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/AKAq6Dt3jcXcGoPfpYNtvJtucvm9unfyqqypG2JynktfF4aoVPLhZs3jCFTY4pg.png)
</center>

Thank you for reading my take on the prompt "[Time Travel](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-fiction-prompt-153)". 

<center>
![00113-1235.gif](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/litguru/Eo6C8LLMgSWGTUNKGqgbYTXYMFoFpef871CQEkM5CKiuJi1feMJyiksQvW6UcYHz5Tu.gif)
*Images and animation generated by @litguru using Generative Art software*
***
[Twitter](https://twitter.com/litguru23)
[Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/litguru23/)
[NFT Showroom Gallery](https://nftshowroom.com/litguru/gallery)
[InLeo Threads](https://inleo.io/profile/litguru)
</center>