The Last Message

By Shristi Shreya

Sarah's phone buzzed just as she was about to step out of her apartment. She glanced at the screen  and saw a message from an unknown number. Against her better judgment, she opened it. 

“Hi Sarah. I’m you, 10 years from now. Don’t go to work today.”* 

She laughed, shaking her head. Another prank, she thought. She slipped the phone into her bag and  locked the door behind her. As she walked down the street, her mind wandered to the strange  message. What if it wasn’t a joke? The thought gnawed at her. 

At the bus stop, she glanced at her phone again. The message stared back at her, unsettling in its  simplicity. She looked around, half expecting someone to jump out and shout, "Gotcha!" But the  street was quiet, just the usual hum of morning traffic. 

The bus arrived, and she hesitated. The doors hissed open, and the driver looked at her expectantly.  She took a step back. “Not today,” she mumbled, turning away. 

With nowhere specific to go, she wandered through the park, her mind racing. Could it really be a  message from her future self? She sat on a bench, watching the ducks in the pond, trying to shake off  the feeling of unease. 

An hour later, her phone buzzed again. It was a news alert. “Explosion at downtown office building.  Multiple casualties.” Her heart pounded as she read the details. It was her office building. 

She dropped the phone, hands trembling. It couldn’t be true. But it was. If she had taken the bus, she  would have been there. She would have been among the victims. 

Sarah’s breath came in short gasps. She picked up her phone and stared at the message once more.  “I’m you, 10 years from now. Don’t go to work today.” How was it possible? Questions swirled in  her mind, but one thing was clear: someone, somehow, had saved her. 

A sense of gratitude mixed with fear washed over her. She looked around the park, half expecting to  see someone watching her. But there was no one. Just the ducks, the trees, and the whisper of the  wind. 

She stood up, a new resolve forming within her. Whoever had sent that message had given her a  second chance. She wasn’t going to waste it. With one last glance at her phone, she deleted the  message. It didn’t matter how or why. What mattered was that she was alive. 

As she walked away, she felt a strange sense of peace. The future was uncertain, but she knew one  thing for sure: she would live each day fully, never taking anything for granted. The last message had  changed everything.

By Shristi Shreya