Ten minutes later, the bathroom door opened again. White steam spilled out through the crack as a truly exhausted Wendy Lynch pushed her way out and slumped into the chair in front of her computer.
A new email from the future had arrived in her inbox, right on time. She clicked it open.
[You have a letter from September 29, 2025.]
[So frustrating. Why was the tracking button I just bought on Jared Carter’s bag? I clearly remember putting it in Shirley’s backpack.]
[This is a disaster. Jared went missing, and now I’m a suspect.]
[Thank goodness I was with Shirley the whole time, otherwise even the waters of the Ochre River couldn’t wash me clean of the suspicion.]
By the time she finished reading, her face had drained of all color. She was actually a police suspect! An icy chill shot from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head, making her blood run cold. She only wanted to save someone. How did she end up dragging herself into this mess?
Pacing back and forth in her cramped dorm room, her mind was a chaotic mess. She forced herself to take deep breaths—once, twice—trying to use the cold air to extinguish the panic flaring in her chest.
"No, I can’t panic," she told herself. "The more critical the situation, the calmer I need to be."
She forced herself to break down every key piece of information in the email. First, this timeline differed from the very first email she had received. This time, the police had found a crucial piece of physical evidence: Jared’s backpack.
In the original future, the email only mentioned that Jared had vanished without a trace and that a two-day police search of the mountain had yielded no progress. But now, the police hadn’t just found his bag; they had followed the trail left by the tracking button straight to her! The timeline had been changed. The tracker she bought had easily altered the future.
However, this change didn’t resolve the situation. Instead, it dragged her—an absolute outsider—in as a prime suspect. Had she not been with Shirley Lowell the entire time, and had she lacked an alibi, she probably would have been thrown straight into a holding cell.
Just because she was temporarily safe didn’t mean she was in the clear. The police weren’t fools. A missing citizen was a severe matter, and they would undoubtedly investigate it to the bitter end. Once they started digging deeper, every single action of hers would be scrutinized under a microscope.
How was she supposed to explain her motive? Could she claim she had a premonition that something would happen to Jared? Or perhaps confess to being a control freak who fell in love at first sight, planting a tracker on his bag on purpose? Either excuse would sound utterly unconvincing and riddled with holes.
Without Jared’s whereabouts resolved, she would firmly remain a key person of interest. Even her past actions would likely be thoroughly investigated. The risk of exposing her secret—that she could receive emails from the future—would multiply exponentially! This secret was her ultimate foundation, the very trump card she relied on to survive.
Was it worth taking such a massive risk for Jared, a complete stranger? She didn’t even have to think about it; the answer bubbled up from the bottom of her heart immediately.
"It’s not worth it!"
She was neither related to Jared nor friends with him. Until recently, she hadn’t even known the man existed. To prevent his accident, she had gone out of her way to buy tracking equipment and had even visited Mount Galen in person to scout the location. Truth be told, Wendy felt she had already gone above and beyond. A single thought crystallized in her mind.
"Don’t get involved!"
If she simply did nothing tomorrow and refrained from planting that damn tracker, the future timeline would revert. Jared would still go missing, and the police would still find nothing. As for her, she would be completely removed from the equation. She wouldn’t be the prime suspect in a police investigation. She would just be a remarkably average intern, safely and quietly waiting for the next email from the future to propel her to success. This was the most rational and correct choice.
However, the terrifyingly realistic nightmare surfaced in her mind once again. She remembered the impenetrable darkness, the bottomless, eerie blue waters of the lake, and the shrill, desperate cries for help. Watching a life fade away right in front of her while being bound by an invisible force—that sheer sense of powerlessness and dread gripped her heart all over again.
If she chose to stand by and do nothing today, would she wake up in a cold sweat from this nightmare on some future night? Would she live the rest of her life suffocated by the guilt?
Wendy buried her hands in her hair, gripping her scalp in agony. What should she do? What on earth was she supposed to do? Reason demanded she stop immediately and play it safe, yet emotionally, a faint glimmer of conscience kept gnawing at her resolve.
Time ticked by, second by second. Outside the window, Nightfall grew heavier. After a long while, Wendy finally lowered her hands, a hint of exhausted bloodshot red showing in her eyes.
She would wait one more day. She decided to give herself—and Jared—one last chance.
Tomorrow was Monday. At midnight tonight, she would receive a new email. That message would be the key to deciding everything. If the information within it offered a perfect compromise—a way to save him without exposing herself—she would risk it one more time. But if it couldn’t... if the situation remained the same, or even worsened... then she would wash her hands of it completely.
With her mind made up, Wendy felt her overly strained nerves finally loosen just a fraction. She spent the rest of Sunday in a bit of a daze. Binge-watching shows and playing video games—pastimes that usually brought her profound relaxation—now felt as dull as chewing wax. No matter what she did, her thoughts uncontrollably drifted toward Mount Galen and the place known as Mirror Lake. Passing the time had never been such sheer torture.
Finally, the alarm on her phone rang once more. A new notification popped up on the glowing computer screen.
[You have a new email, please check your inbox!]
"It’s here," she thought.
Wendy took a deep breath and immediately clicked it open.
[You have a letter from September 30, 2025.]
[The scenery at Mount Galen is truly beautiful!]
[Kyler Lowell asked for my contact information. Does he have a crush on me?]
[This guy is already a P6 at such a young age. You could say he has a boundless future ahead of him.]
[It’s a shame his looks are too plain, otherwise I wouldn’t mind giving it a try.]
[...]
Wendy was utterly bewildered. Reading the contents of the email, she felt her brain short-circuit. Something was wrong! Something was very, very wrong!
There was absolutely no mention of Jared in this future email? Why? What on earth was going to happen during tomorrow’s team-building event? How did the timeline change yet again? Did her future self do something else to trigger another shift? And who the hell was Kyler Lowell? Why was a brand new character and storyline randomly appearing out of nowhere?