Future Tormentor

6

Hesitantly, Leo's thumb hovered before settling on option A, without fully understanding the significance of his choice.

Instructions flashed on the screen, followed by a prompt to dial a number and specify a call time, with the bizarre assurance that the call would end after thirty seconds.

Driven by an instinct he couldn't explain, Leo's finger hesitated before pressing Option A, his decision more a reflex than a conscious thought. The screen morphed, presenting a cryptic instruction to dial a number, a lifeline thrown into the maelstrom of his nightmare.

As the countdown began, Leo's mind raced with the absurdity of his actions. The past days, marred by tragedy and fear, seemed to converge on this surreal moment, offering a sliver of hope, or perhaps, a deeper descent into madness.

With trembling hands, Leo entered his number, setting the call to arrive at a moment he wished he could forget, the night that had set this nightmare into motion. The urgency of the countdown pushed him, his actions fueled by a desperate need to alter the course of events that had led to unspeakable loss —hoping to alter the tragic events that had unfolded since witnessing a murder the previous night.

As the call connected, Leo's breath hitched at the sound of a voice so eerily familiar, it was like hearing his own echo across time. The voice on the other end, impatient and brusque, demanded his identity, the tension palpable through the static of the line.

Emotions surged, a tumultuous mix of hope and disbelief, as Leo struggled to articulate a warning, his voice cracking with the strain of his plea. "Turn around, don't take that road, avoid the back alley!" he cried, the words barely escaping as the line went dead, the call abruptly severed.

In the silence that followed, reality crashed back with brutal force. The impact of the collision threw Leo into a vortex of sound and pain, the world fading to a blur as he was propelled through the air, the consequences of his choices colliding with the unforgiving physics of the real world.

As consciousness slipped away, Leo's thoughts were a jumbled mess of regrets and what-ifs, the voices of bystanders merging with the echoes of his own voice on the phone, a haunting reminder of the thin line between fate and choice.