On my way to a meeting at work, I call my daughter, who is at home. Instead, I hear a voice identical to mine over the phone.

She claims that she is me three years in the future.

"Dezarae, go home to Liv right now. Your daughter is in danger."

I am stunned. I argue in disbelief and question who is behind this prank. When I step on the accelerator, she stops me sternly.

"Do not drive ahead any further. There will be a traffic accident at the intersection where Peace Street is."

In the next second, at the intersection that is less than 30 feet away from me, two cars collide.

Cold sweat starts to trickle down my back when the woman with a voice identical to mine says, "Liv will fall off a building and die in three hours. This is your only chance to save her."

"Who in the world are you, and what is this car accident about?" I asked, pulling on the handbrake with all my might.

Still shaken, I stared at the crash site not far away, my back drenched in cold sweat.

Someone with a voice identical to mine spoke through the phone. "Do not doubt me. I am you from three years in the future. That's why I know about all these."

However, this felt absurd to me. I was convinced it was a tech-savvy voice-phishing scammer who was manipulating my voice.

For all these years, my life was simple and happy. I had a daily routine. Moreover, my daughter, Olivia Sacks, was safe and well at home, and there was nothing amiss with her even after I left.

This was such an ordinary day. How could my daughter possibly die? After simmering down, I wanted to hang up the call and ring Olivia up once again.

Right at this moment, the person on the other end of the call said urgently, "I can prove to you that I am not just running my mouth. Liv is truly in danger!"

Before I could say anything, an elderly person's voice sounded through the call. "My deepest condolences, Ms. Lisbon. You're here so early to visit your daughter's grave."

I held my breath. Was she at a cemetery? Could it be that something had actually happened to Olivia?

As the footsteps faded, the other "me" on the phone spoke up once again. "That was the caretaker at the cemetery. We have become very familiar with one another after my frequent visits over the past three years."

My chest tightened at the thought of the car crash that was like a prophecy that had come to pass. Still, I held onto hope as I argued, "My husband will be home soon. With him looking after Liv, there's no way that anything could happen to her."

I heard a brief harrumph from the other end of the call. Without any hesitation, the woman on the other end of the call blurted a string of words.

"At 1:15 pm, Norman Sacks will tell you that he has to work overtime today, so he won't be heading home. You call Sarah right after that, but she will say that she's away on vacation.

"Five minutes later, your secretary calls to rush you. You will then be left with no choice but to give up on going home to check on Liv."

I listened in a daze. Intuitively, I glanced at my wristwatch. It was 1:14 pm at the moment.

Sixty seconds ticked by, and the call from Norman came in right on the dot. "Darling, I've got to work overtime today, so I won't be home for dinner."

I blurted, "Didn't we agree for you to take care of our daughter in the afternoon? What is she going to do if you're not going home?"

In a relaxed voice, Norman replied, "Liv will be fine at home for half a day. Don't worry too much about it. I have something urgent to tend to. Bye for now."

Once he said that, an engaged tone came through the phone. I stared straight at the scene of the traffic accident a short distance away as I called my best friend, Sarah Harker.

"I'm sorry, Dezzy. I'm away on a holiday, and I just got off the plane. I'll bring with me some local delicacies for my goddaughter once I'm back," Sarah said gleefully.

She even sent me a few photographs from her vacation. By the time my secretary called, I was in no mood to listen to anything else.

That bizarre phone call, spanning time and space, was still connected. The other "me" said in a scratchy voice, "Dezarae Lisbon, trust me. I've tried sending you a photograph. I hope that it can change this outcome."

My phone vibrated, and an image popped up. It was a gravestone in black-and-white. Olivia was smiling brightly in the photograph on the gravestone. My heart twisted in agony at the thought of her lying in that icy, cold grave.

I turned around and headed home immediately, hesitating no further. Even if there was the slightest chance of an accident happening, I was not going to allow it to come to pass.

The moment I opened the door back home and saw Olivia, the weight in my chest finally settled. Olivia's eyes lit up instantly. She trotted toward me and wrapped her arms around mine.

"Mommy, what brings you home so early?"

I wrapped my arms around Olivia, stroking her soft hair. According to the Dezarae from three years in the future, Olivia would fall from a building in three hours' time.

Just to be safe, I had to bring Olivia around with me the whole time. "Liv, come to work with me today, okay? I'll buy a strawberry cake for you."

Olivia squealed with joy. She went to the entrance to change into her shoes right away, as if she was afraid that I'd go back on my words. It was a smooth journey to my workplace—absolutely nothing happened.

My secretary came and reported that the business partner who was meant to attend the meeting was absent without notice, which was just as I expected.

Deep down, I was secretly shocked that yet another matter came to pass just as predicted. At the same time, the tension within me intensified. I held onto Olivia's hand, too afraid to let go.

This time, I took the initiative to call that unknown number, and it actually went through.

"Liv is safe now. Since you said that she fell off a building, what exactly was the reason? There's no way that the accident happened for no reason."

However, the person on the other end of the call said no leads were found.

"I've investigated this for three whole years, running through everything that happened on this day countless times. I can even recite everything with my eyes closed. But there was absolutely nothing amiss, even from the post-mortem or the police investigation.

"It was almost as if Liv genuinely thought of going up to the rooftop out of curiosity and fell off the building accidentally in the end.

"That said, you and I both know that she is an obedient girl despite her age. There is no way that she'd go up to the rooftop on her own."

I couldn't help but frown. I could not feel at ease until I knew who the culprit was. Even if we managed to prevent the accident today, it might happen another day.

While I was at my wits' end, Norman called.

"Darling, I heard that you brought Olivia to work with you. Why did you do so out of the blue? She's not getting in the way of your work, is she?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose, ultimately deciding against sharing the strange story in full. I answered, "I was worried about her being at home alone. It's safer to have her with me."

Norman chuckled. "Oh, you. You're just too much of a worrywart."

I let out a silent sigh. He would not have said such a thing if he knew what I just went through.

Suddenly, I had an idea. I asked, "Do you have any enemies? Or, have you had any serious conflicts with anyone lately?"

Confused, Norman denied it. I came to my senses at the same time. He was well-known among his friends for being gentle and good-tempered. How could he have any conflicts with anyone when he never even locked horns with anyone?

Nevertheless, I could not find peace until this threat was fully exposed. As I looked into each and every one of my connections, my secretary barged in frantically.

"I have bad news, Ms. Lisbon. I brought Liv to the washroom earlier, and she never came back out. When I went in to check on her, she was gone!"

Alarm bells rang out in my head, washing out all other sounds around me. I leapt to my feet and rushed to the washroom.

The washroom was filled with silence. No one was in there.

My secretary said to me with a serious look on her face, "I'm certain that everything happened in less than ten minutes. There is no way that anyone could hide a five-year-old child without anyone noticing.

"I have informed the security team to look into the surveillance footage from the entire building. We will be able to find her soon."

I attempted to call Olivia on her smartwatch, but it just showed that her phone was switched off the entire time. I managed to locate her smartwatch's GPS coordinates. It was less than 300 feet away.

I followed the signal, only to find the watch lying on the floor in a corner with no one in sight. I clenched my hands into tight fists, fighting to calm myself down.

"Ask around with the people around here and see if they have seen Liv."

Soon enough, an employee recalled, "I remember Liv heading out through here earlier, but she moved so naturally that I did not pay any particular attention."

A few minutes later, the security team knocked on my door, bringing surveillance footage with them. Much to my disbelief, I saw that Olivia actually walked out of the office building on her own!

"This is impossible."

A security guard pointed at the surveillance footage and said in a firm tone, "This girl walked out on her own accord, exactly like you see on the surveillance footage. I remember seeing this, too."

The footage showed Olivia exiting the main entrance with absolutely no sign that she was being forced in any way. She would never wander so far without telling me. Why did she walk out of the office building?

I could not wrap my head around it. I wanted to know where Olivia went after leaving the office building.

The security guard, however, said helplessly, "Once she left the office building, she was out of the range of our surveillance. We can't find where she went either."

Left with no other choice, I called the cops immediately. The officers reviewed the surveillance footage, their expressions grim.

"Ms. Lisbon, your daughter entered a blind spot after she left the premises of this building. We have not found any new leads for now.

"The perpetrators might be an experienced group of traffickers. We have dispatched manpower to search for her." If this were human trafficking, how did she end up falling off a building in the end?

I thought of the warning that came from three years into the future. There was only an hour left until the incident. My heart sank uncontrollably.

I rang my future self up to plead with her, asking, "Why did this still happen to Liv when I brought her to the office?"

I heard a heavy thud through the call. "I saw it… Even when Olivia disappeared from the office, she was still found to have jumped from the 20th floor."

My head spun. I grabbed my car keys and rushed back home. It was only on my way back that I thought of telling Norman about this. He freaked out instantly.

"Don't worry. I will be home right away to search for her alongside you. I'm sure Liv will be fine."

As I listened to Norman's voice, I almost couldn't hold back my tears. Everything was clearly going fine. How did the situation end up like this?

I sped all the way back to our residential area. The security guard at the entrance also said he never saw Olivia or any strangers pass through.

I dashed up to the rooftop. For safety reasons, the rooftop door was always locked. At this moment, it was also shut tight with no signs of anyone entering. However, there was not much time left.

Right at this moment, my phone rang. The future "me" exclaimed in an urgent voice, "No, we were all deceived. Liv didn't fall from the rooftop at all!"