The Stranger Who Knew Everything:

It commenced with a phone name I wasn’t meant to reply.

i was walking home from paintings, the sky bruised with the final light of night, when my phone buzzed in my coat pocket. The display screen confirmed “Unknown Caller.” generally, I’d ignore it. but something made me choose up.

“hiya?”

There has been a pause. Then a voice—calm, male, maybe mid-Nineteen Thirties. “Don’t take the standard course domestic this night.”

I stopped walking. “who's this?”

“I don’t have time to explain. simply believe me. Take the lengthy manner. via the park.”

I hung up. My coronary heart turned into racing. It felt like a prank, however some thing approximately his voice—constant, pressing, familiar—made me hesitate.

I became in the direction of the park.

The path changed into quiet, covered with naked trees and flickering streetlamps. I stored glancing over my shoulder, half-waiting for a person to observe me. when I got home, I checked the news. There’d been a hit-and-run on my ordinary avenue. A female, same age as me, identical coat colour.

I didn’t sleep that night. day after today, I tried to forget. maybe it became coincidence. perhaps I’d imagined the relationship.

However the calls saved coming. constantly from “Unknown.” continually with warnings.

“Don’t visit the café nowadays.” “pass the assembly. a person’s going to lose manipulate.” “Don’t take the elevator.”

whenever, I listened. on every occasion, some thing occurred. A theft. A hearth alarm. A malfunction.

I started preserving a magazine. Dates, times, information. I had to make experience of it. Then got here the decision that modified the whole thing. It turned into late. i used to be by myself in my rental, curled up with my journal. The telephone buzzed.

“Don’t open the door,” the voice said.

I iced up. “What door?”

“The only a person’s approximately to knock on.” I stared on the door. Seconds later—

Knock.

Simply as soon as.

I sponsored away, heart pounding. “who are you?” I whispered into the smartphone.

“I’m looking to forestall something. some thing that already occurred.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m from the future. Your destiny.”

I wanted to laugh. Cry. Scream. however I couldn’t move.

“I recognise the entirety about you,” he stated. “Your scar below your left knee. The letter you never despatched. The way you count to five before you communicate in meetings.”

My knees buckled. I sat on the floor. “Why me?”

“because you’re the pivot. the instant the whole lot modifications. if you live on this week, the entirety shifts.”

“live on?”

“You’re being watched. now not with the aid of me. via a person else. someone who doesn’t need you to live past Friday.”

I didn’t leave my condo for 2 days. I kept the lights off. I blocked the windows.

The calls stopped.

Then Friday came.

I woke to silence. No name. No caution. just dread.

I checked the hallway. Empty. I checked the windows. nothing.

Then I noticed it.

A be aware slipped beneath my door.

It read: You should’ve listened.

I known as the police. They discovered no fingerprints. No signs of forced access.

but they did discover some thing else.

A smartphone. Hidden in the back of my bookshelf. It had recordings. Of me.

Conversations. Showers. Sleep.

Someone had been listening. watching.

I moved out day after today. changed my quantity. Deleted my journal. but I nonetheless wonder—became the stranger actual? was he seeking to assist me? Or became he part of it all? The ultimate call I ever received came a month later.

“Congratulations,” the voice stated. “You made it past Friday.”

Then silence.