1: 1
One night, driving for Uber, I saw a few thugs dragging a girl into a back alley.
There wasn't time to think it through. I called the police first, then rushed into the alley and pulled the girl out.
The girl never came to thank me. What came instead were the police, at my door, to arrest me.
She accused me of molesting her, and that was how I ended up in prison.
With a charge like that, my time inside was brutal.
I refused to accept it. After I got out, I kept fighting to clear my name, and right up to the day I died I never managed to.
"What's going on?" I jolted awake from the dream, my whole body soaked in sweat.
Was it a dream?
If it was, it had been too real.
I thought of something and checked it, and a chill crawled up from the soles of my feet. It wasn't a dream.
Or rather, I had dreamed the future.
I glanced at the date. Three days from now was the day those thugs would attack that girl.
This time I had more time to prepare. And this time, I was going to step in.
Seeing the future isn't about dodging the danger ahead. It's about changing that future, and sending the people who deserve hell straight to hell.
......
Three days isn't much, but with everything I knew from seeing the future, it was enough to get some things ready.
I wasn't just going to send those people to hell. I was going to claim a life of my own out of this too.
Otherwise, seeing the future like this would mean nothing.
This was a chance. I had to seize it.
Three days later. The same street, the same alley.
That woman I could never forget, not if I were burned to ash, was being dragged into the alley by a few thugs.
She was crying out for help.
Late at night, in an out-of-the-way place, empty all around, mine the only car passing through.
Call the police. Get out.
Unlike last time, this time I'd brought a wrench.
Everything else was exactly like the scene in the dream.
The injustice of prison, the bitterness of dying wronged, the ugly faces of this human trash. It all sent the rage boiling up in me.
I gripped the wrench and charged into the alley.
In just a few minutes, the thugs were screaming and scrambling to get away, the worst of them with his nose caved in.
Odette Abbott was pale, huddled in a corner and trembling. I took off my jacket and draped it over her.
"I called the police. Don't be afraid."
She pulled the jacket tighter around herself, but couldn't stop shaking.
"Before they get here, listen to me for a second." I looked at her. "This is about clearing both our names. About whether we live or die."
"Let me tell you a few things first. About your secrets."
Her head shot up, her eyes on me. "I know who you are. Three days ago, I had a dream."
I froze, then pressed her. "You dreamed about what was going to happen today?"
She nodded.
"Then why are you still here?" I asked.
"Then why are you here?" she asked back.
