A Warning from Seven Years Ahead

One afternoon, I received a text from seven years in the future. The sender was me, Delilah Hanson. I assumed it was some new kind of scam, so I didn't even bother reading the message before firing off an angry reply. [Drop dead, scammer!] The sender responded with a photo of an empty bottle of sleeping pills. [I'm not a scammer, but I really am about to die. Break up with Caleb. Today is the first day he cheats on you. His first love just came back from overseas. Her name is Savannah Gordon.] I froze. The whole thing was so ridiculous that I almost laughed. I was Caleb Wheeler's first love! Right then, the door opened behind me. Caleb walked in with a woman beside him, smiling as he introduced us. "Delilah, there's someone I want you to meet. This is Savannah, my foster sister. She just got back today." Chapter 1 "The house isn't ready yet, so Savannah will be staying with us for a while," Caleb Wheeler continued. "Oh, and let the cook know we'll need another place setting at dinner. Have them make something light. Savannah just got back from overseas, and she's probably still adjusting after the long flight..." Caleb continued talking, but I couldn't hear a word he said. I stared at the message on my phone, too stunned to make sense of it. "Delilah?" Savannah Gordon's gentle voice pulled me back to reality. She gave me an uneasy look. "Are you okay? You look a little pale. Are you uncomfortable with me staying here? I can always get a hotel..." Caleb immediately frowned at me. I finally came to my senses and forced a smile. "Of course not. You're Caleb's sister, so you're family to me, too. Stay as long as you need and make yourself at home. You two should catch up. I'll go talk to the cook." As soon as I was out of earshot, I angrily texted the person on the other end. [Caleb says Savannah's his foster sister. How could she be his first love? You're lying! Who are you?] Five minutes later, a reply appeared. [I'm you, seven years from now. [Tell the cook not to use black pepper. Savannah's allergic. [You and Caleb will have a huge fight tonight, but it won't make a difference. Even without the pepper, Savannah will find something else to blame you for.] I didn't know whether to believe her. After hesitating for a long time, I passed along the warning. At dinner, Caleb brought Savannah to the table. Without hesitation, she sat down beside him, taking the seat I always used. I stopped in my tracks. Savannah looked up at me with an innocent smile. "Is something wrong?" Caleb glanced at me, but didn't say anything. The sight left a bitter taste in my mouth, but I sat across from them anyway. Savannah gave me a faintly triumphant smile. After only a few bites, however, she suddenly grabbed her throat and began coughing violently. "Ugh..." Caleb jumped to his feet. He pulled her against him and patted her back. "What's wrong?" She slumped weakly into his arms. "Black pepper. I'm allergic. I can't breathe. Did Delilah..." Caleb's expression changed instantly, and he rounded on me. "What's wrong with you? Savannah is allergic to black pepper. Did you do this on purpose because you didn't want her staying here? How could you be so selfish?" I stood there, too stunned to speak. My eyes stung as I tried to understand how Caleb could believe I was capable of something like that. "You never told me she was allergic." "Stop making excuses! Move, I'm taking Savannah to the hospital." Just then, the cook rushed out, carrying a trash can. "Mr. Wheeler, you've misunderstood Ms. Hanson! She warned us ahead of time not to use any black pepper. Look, we threw it all away. We even cleaned the grinders just to be safe." Afraid Caleb still wouldn't believe him, the cook held out his phone with the security footage pulled up. "We checked everything carefully." Caleb froze and looked down at the screen. The footage clearly showed the kitchen staff throwing away every seasoning blend that contained black pepper after I gave the order. Nothing was added to the food afterward. Meanwhile, Savannah had stopped gagging the moment the cook appeared. The color was already returning to her face. I turned to look at her. "Are you feeling better?" Only then did Savannah seem to realize she had been caught. Unable to keep up the act, she quickly tried to explain. "I'm sorry. I think I panicked and worked myself up. Please don't blame Delilah, Caleb." Caleb looked away from the footage and turned to me, guilt flashing across his face. "Delilah, I..." I knew what he was about to say, but it no longer mattered. I now believed the person texting me really was me from seven years in the future, and I needed to talk to her. "I'm not hungry anymore. I'm going upstairs to rest. Enjoy your dinner." Chapter 2 [Am I unhappy seven years from now?] After I sent the message, the other person went silent for a long time. Then my phone rang. She was calling me. I answered. My own voice came through the speaker, but it sounded older, hoarse with pain and stripped of all hope. "Seven years from now, you and Caleb are married. You have a beautiful, romantic wedding. You even have a son named Andy." A small spark of happiness had barely begun to stir inside me when she continued. "But you're not happy. Your life is miserable. "Savannah never moves out. She and Caleb cross every boundary imaginable, but whenever you confront him, he dismisses your concerns and insists she's only his sister. "When you're eight months pregnant, you catch them together in your own bed. You nearly bleed to death giving birth to Andy." Her voice broke, followed by the sound of quiet sobbing. Listening to her felt like having my heart carved open. "Caleb feels guilty afterward. He cries, apologizes, and swears he'll change. You believe him. With a newborn to care for, you can't bring yourself to leave. "But when Andy is three months old, Caleb starts sleeping with Savannah again. Before long, he stops feeling guilty altogether. "He becomes disgusted by the loose skin on your stomach, the dark spots on your face, and the way postpartum depression has affected you. "Even the child you nearly died bringing into the world starts calling Savannah 'Mom.'" She then sent me a photo, a family portrait. Caleb had one arm around Savannah, while a boy who looked about five sat across their laps, grinning at the camera. I was the only one missing. I should have been there. Listening to her, I felt her pain as if it were my own. Only after she finished speaking did I remember the photo she sent earlier of the empty bottle of sleeping pills. My voice trembled. "The pills. You took them, didn't you? What should I do? How can I save you? How can I save myself? Are you going to die?" The future Delilah let out a long sigh, and her voice gradually grew weaker. "Probably. The pills are already taking effect. Caleb took Savannah and Andy on vacation. The staff probably won't find me until tomorrow. Break up with Caleb. Walk away and never look back." The moment she finished speaking, a sharp crash came through the phone, as though it had slipped from her hand and hit the floor. Then the call went dead. I broke down, sobbing so hard that I could barely breathe. It felt as though I were already trapped in that cold, empty room seven years from now, watching my own life slowly slip away. I had no idea how long I cried before exhaustion finally set in. Sometime later, Caleb quietly opened the bedroom door. He sat beside me, gently pulled me into his arms, and looked at my swollen, tear-filled eyes. "Delilah, I'm sorry about what happened today. I..." I lifted my tear-streaked face and looked at him. "Caleb, we need to break up." Chapter 3 Caleb went rigid. Thinking I was still upset about dinner, he leaned in to kiss away my tears and spoke gently. "I know I was wrong. Savannah has always been fragile. I only lost my temper because I was worried about her. "She cried for a long time afterward because she felt so guilty. She wants to apologize. "Can't we just put this behind us?" I turned away from his kiss and pulled free of his arms, and then looked him in the eye. "I know Savannah was your first love." Caleb's expression darkened instantly. He grabbed my wrist. "How did you find out? Did you have someone investigate me?" Pain shot through my wrist. I looked up at him, my eyes filling with tears again. "Does it matter how I found out? You brought your first love into our home and lied to me about who she was. Then, you yelled at me and accused me of trying to hurt her. Don't you think I deserve an explanation?" Caleb fell silent. After a long pause, he finally gave me a weak answer. "We broke up a long time ago. She's like a sister to me now." The words "like a sister to me" cut through me. My future self's words echoed in my head: Caleb cheating on me while I was pregnant, me nearly bleeding to death during childbirth, the loose skin on my stomach, my son calling another woman Mom… I wasn't letting myself go through that. I tore my wrist from his grasp, grabbed my purse, and headed for the door. "Only you know whether you really see her as a sister. We're done." The moment I opened the bedroom door, I found Savannah standing outside, listening. Tears streamed down her face. As soon as she saw me, she rushed forward and grabbed my arm. "Please don't leave! Caleb and I were young and stupid back then. This is all my fault. Please don't fight because of me. If you don't want me here, I'll leave. Everyone hates me, anyway. I might as well die!" The moment Caleb heard that, he forgot all about me. He pulled Savannah into his arms and snapped at me. "What the hell do you want, Delilah? She's begging you to forgive us. Isn't that enough?" For a moment, I could almost see the future. I was eight months pregnant, standing in the doorway of our bedroom after catching Caleb and Savannah together. Caleb was glaring at me with the same hatred in his eyes, as though I were the one who had betrayed him, demanding to know why I couldn't just forgive him. Back in the present, I didn't say another word. I pushed past Savannah and kept walking. Caleb started after me, but Savannah suddenly cried out in pain. He immediately stopped and turned back, pulling her into his arms and comforting her. I walked outside and called for a cab. The wind was bitterly cold, but it only made my thoughts clearer. A cab pulled up beside me. I had just opened the door when Caleb grabbed my arm. His face was tight with anger as he tried to drag me back toward the house. "You're coming back inside! Savannah is threatening to kill herself because of you. You need to come back and apologize to her." I ripped my arm free and refused to argue with him. Savannah came running outside. She grabbed my sleeve and blocked my path, sobbing uncontrollably. The driver took one look at the scene, shook his head, and pulled away. As I struggled to break free, Savannah kept dragging me closer to the street. Right then, headlights cut through the darkness as a truck came barreling toward us. Savannah suddenly sprang to her feet and threw herself at me. The truck's brakes shrieked, and everything seemed to slow down. I saw terror flash across Caleb's face as he reached for me. But Savannah was falling backward, too. At the last second, his hand changed direction, and he caught Savannah instead, pulling her into his arms. The truck hit me. My body flew through the air before crashing onto the pavement. Agonizing pain tore through me as warmth spread beneath my body. Just before I lost consciousness, a voice sounded in my mind. [The timeline has changed.] Chapter 4 Seven years in the future, Caleb stared at the dozen unanswered calls he had made to me, unease tightening in his chest. I had never acted like this before. Usually, I would fall apart. I bombarded him with calls and messages, demanding to know how much longer he planned to torture me, why he had cheated, and why he was treating me this way. Then I cried and begged him to come home. Today, however, there was nothing. An entire day had passed, and I hadn't sent a single text, much less called him. Caleb could no longer sit still. He got up, put on his coat, and walked past Savannah, who was holding Andy as they watched cartoons. "I'm going home for a while. You stay here and spend time with Andy." Savannah immediately stood and blocked his path. "What's wrong? Is Delilah having another breakdown? "We finally got to take a trip together. Just ignore her. She does this every time, making threats and acting like she's going to hurt herself. "If you give in now, she'll only do it again." Caleb hesitated, but he still wanted to go back and check on me. Savannah sighed and tried a different approach. "You just promised Andy you'd take him to the amusement park tomorrow. You can't break a promise to your own son." As Savannah spoke, she gave Andy a pointed look. Andy immediately ran to Caleb and wrapped his arms around him, crying. "Daddy, don't go. Don't go back to that evil witch! It's her fault I can't go to the amusement park. Stay here and take Mom and me instead. You promised. You can't break your promise!" A sharp pain shot through Caleb's chest. He stroked Andy's hair and gently corrected him. "Andy, how many times have I told you? She isn't an evil witch. She's your mother. You shouldn't call her that." Andy looked up at Caleb, tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry. So you won't leave, right? I'll be good. When we go home, I won't call her an evil witch anymore. I'll call her Mom." Caleb nodded. He decided to stay. But all night, he kept checking his phone, lighting up the screen and turning it off again more than a dozen times. Still, no message came from me. I never answered his calls, either. At 4 a.m., Caleb finally couldn't take it anymore. He booked a seat on the earliest flight home. Savannah stirred as Caleb got out of bed. "Why are you up so early? The amusement park isn't even open yet." Without looking back, Caleb said, "Delilah hasn't answered me all day. I'm worried something happened, so I'm going home to check on her. You stay here and spend time with Andy." Before Savannah could stop him, Caleb opened the door and left. By the time his flight landed, his unease had turned into dread. He kept urging the cab driver to go faster. Then he saw an ambulance parked outside the house. He didn't even wait for the car to come to a complete stop. He threw open the door, stumbled out, and ran toward the house. "Delilah!" Panic tore through his voice. "Delilah, what happened? Answer me!" No one responded. The household staff gathered anxiously outside the bedroom. Caleb shoved past them and forced his way inside. A white sheet covered a body on the floor. One of the paramedics stood and looked at him solemnly. "Mr. Wheeler, I'm very sorry for your loss. Mrs. Wheeler died from an overdose last night. She's gone."