A Letter From My Future Self Warned Me They'd Steal My Life

1: 1

I opened my college acceptance letter, and a second letter, with no postmark, slid out.

Sophie, Amy Dickerson is going to steal your college spot. Give it to her.

Don't trust David Fox. He's in on it with her. You have to give it up, or you and your father are both finished.

Two short lines, and cold sweat ran down my whole body.

I'm Sophie Bradford. Amy and I were sent down to the countryside in the same batch of youth.

We both lived at the house of the village head, Thaddeus Fox. David is his son.

I gripped the acceptance letter and sank into thought.

Last night I'd had a nightmare, and everything in it matched what the letter said, word for word.

The moment I got back to the Fox house, Thaddeus came at me. "Did you get it?"

Amy dropped to her knees with a thud. "Sophie, can you give the spot to me? I'm desperate to get back to the city."

Looking at the envy hidden at the bottom of her eyes, I smiled and handed the spot over.

1.

"Really? Sophie, this is a college spot."

David stared at me like he couldn't believe it.

Amy snatched up the letter, unable to wait, turning it over and over like a treasure.

"Sophie, don't worry. You stay here in the village, and I won't let you down."

"Once Amy's off to college, I'll have my dad start arranging our wedding. I'll marry you properly, with a good spread and everything."

Looking at his cheering, delighted face, I stepped back without thinking.

Because in the dream, that was exactly it. I trusted him.

And that was what damned me and my father past all saving.

In the dream, to get Amy the college spot,

David didn't hesitate to report, after I'd started school, that he and I had slept together.

A female sent-down youth who'd lived in his house all those years.

With his accusation, and with Amy's testimony,

it didn't matter how I explained. Nothing I said would come clear.

The two of them twisted it black to white, claiming I'd used my father's standing to steal Amy's college spot.

The investigation team came out to the village, and Thaddeus was the village head. His hand covered the whole sky.

In the end, I was expelled from the university, and Amy enrolled in my place.

My father was dragged down with me and lost his job.

On the train home from work, his heart gave out, and they couldn't save him.

I was sent off to the remote Northwest, and I spent thirty years there in the wind and sand.

In the end, I died in a shack.

Thinking of it, I put more distance between us again.

I pointed at Amy on the ground. "I can give you the college spot. But I need to know why."

As if she'd expected me to say exactly that, Amy put the letter away.

Her eyes reddened. "Sophie, my father is sick. Very sick. He doesn't have much time left."

David pushed forward. "Sophie, Amy's dad is a big man. He earned honors and was wounded before. His old injuries flared up recently, and Amy's afraid he won't pull through."

As she talked, Amy's eyes went red.

"Sophie, my mother's gone. It's just me and my dad, leaning on each other."

"I know you want to go back to the city. But my dad can't wait much longer."

She looked absolutely pitiful, and David hurried to pull out the handkerchief he carried and wipe her tears.

"Sophie, don't worry. As long as you give the spot to Amy, I'll marry you for sure. My dad's the village head. You're an orphan. Even if you go back to the city, you'll be on your own. Better to stay in the village. I promise you'll never want for food or anything else."

I glanced at his solemn, swearing face, and I couldn't help laughing.

Once Amy was back in the city, his father, Thaddeus, would pull strings to slot her into the textile mill.

So he could cling to the thigh of Amy, this big man's daughter, at every turn.

By then, he wouldn't remember a word of the nonsense he was spouting today.

Afraid I'd change my mind, Amy took my hand.

"Sophie, I'll remember your kindness my whole life. Once I'm back and my dad's better, I'll have him help you get back to the city."

"Sure! But first I need to know who your father is. What kind of big man, and where. How am I supposed to contact him?"

She paused, and her face turned ugly.

"Sophie, are you saying you don't trust me?"

"You think she'd make up something like her dad being a big man?"

A flicker of panic crossed Amy's face.

I said flatly, "There's no proof at all. How am I supposed to trust her?"

"If she's lying, then I've given up the spot for nothing, haven't I?"

"Rather than take that risk, I'll go back to the city myself."

In an instant, Amy tensed.

She jumped in. "I have proof."

2: 2

2.

She pulled out a yellowed letter.

My chest tightened. That was the one that never reached me.

So she'd intercepted it.

David pointed to the postmark. "Look closely, Sophie. This is stamped from the family housing compound. My dad checked the address. Everyone living there is a decorated hero, and one of them, a man named Dickerson, is Amy's father."

The more he talked, the prouder he sounded.

As if he were the great man's own son.

"The postmark can't be faked, Sophie. The address doesn't lie. I shouldn't have kept it from you all these years. My dad was afraid I'd affect the rest of you, so he told me to say nothing."

"But now, his, his health..."

She sobbed, playing it all as if it were real.

"The name. I want it written down."

She bit her lip, the picture of reluctance. "Sophie, this, this..."

"What? If I don't have the name, who am I supposed to go find?"

David rounded on me, out of patience. "Haven't we told you already? There's only one decorated man named Dickerson."

I ignored him. "I only want a name. Otherwise, give me back my acceptance letter."

While we stood there deadlocked, Thaddeus Fox came over, working his pipe.

"Sophie, Old Mr. Dickerson earned his honors. His daughter deserves special treatment. Now that he's gravely ill, no matter how you look at it, that spot should go to Amy."

When I still said nothing, he tapped his pipe. "Sophie, you want to go to college, but the acceptance letter alone isn't enough. Your city-return approval form is in my hands. If Amy can't go back and the old hero dies with that regret, I'll strike your name off the return list."

I heard the threat in it, and I put on a frightened face.

"Mr. Fox, this is all my fault. Don't make things hard for Sophie. I suppose my father won't live to see me after all. It's my own failing, my own unfilial luck, that I couldn't earn a college spot."

Thaddeus flared up. "Sophie, you've spent three years in this village. The village has never treated you unfairly. And now you can't even contribute this one small thing?"

"Old Mr. Dickerson performed a great service. Amy deserves the special treatment."

I looked at him and smiled. "Mr. Fox, I gave her the letter long ago. I never said no."

His eyes crinkled at once. "I knew it. You're a good girl."

"But I want to know the great man's name."

He drew on his pipe. "Amy, your father kept it from everyone all this time because he didn't want you treated differently. You'll be heading back soon. Go on, tell her."

She opened her mouth and spoke a name I knew all too well.

"Which three characters? Write them down for me."

When she wrote out the name Edward Dickerson,

I knew she'd been planning this a long time.

She thought that intercepted letter, that address she'd dug up, and this name

would be enough to prove she was the great man's daughter.

Fine. If she wanted to use that identity to go to college and return to the city,

then I'd let her have it.

"No more problems now, right, Sophie?"

Thaddeus pressed, as if afraid I'd change my mind.

"I have one last condition. If she agrees to it, I'll give the spot to her."

3: 3

3.

Amy's face darkened.

David lost his patience too. "Sophie, are you done yet? We gave you the man's name. What else do you want?"

Thaddeus Fox drew on his pipe, then tapped the bowl against his hand, signaling David to shut up.

"Sophie, if you've got another condition, say it."

I said flatly, "That spot is something I earned by sitting the exams and working for it. It's my blood and sweat."

David said, annoyed, "You just got lucky. Amy worked a lot harder than you did."

Every time he called her Amy in that fond little way, my skin crawled. But I let it go.

"I'll hand over the spot. But Mr. Fox, you have to call all the sent-down youth together for a meeting and tell everyone the spot was mine to begin with, and that I'm only giving it to Amy because she's the hero's daughter and her father is gravely ill."

"No, absolutely not!"

Amy panicked. Without thinking, she clutched the acceptance letter tight in her hand.

"What are you so scared of? Is your father not actually sick? Or what?"

She waved her hands wildly. "No, no, my father really is very sick. It's in the letter. Mr. Fox and David both read it."

"Then why can't everyone know?"

She fell silent.

Thaddeus Fox asked me, "Call all the sent-down youth to a meeting. Any other conditions?"

"Write it all down, and have every one of them sign it."

Amy panicked harder.

"Mr. Fox, that signed paper can stay right here with you."

"I only want everyone to know that I, Sophie Bradford, gave up my chance to go back to the city, of my own will, for the hero's daughter."

Thaddeus Fox took another pull on his pipe.

"Fine! No problem."

He smiled at Amy. "Sophie's right. Everyone ought to know. Having a hero's descendant stay in our village all this time is a great honor for a poor place like ours."

He pointed at David. "No sense wasting time. Spread the word. We'll hold the meeting tonight."

Amy's brow stayed tightly knit.

David leaned close to her ear and murmured.

"Don't worry. That signed paper will be in my father's hands. The moment it's done, I'll tear it up. It won't come back on you."

Only then did Amy break into a smile she hadn't worn in a while.

Back at the lodgings, Amy hummed a tune as she packed her things.

Going back to the city was every sent-down youth's dream. And she was going back to attend college on top of it.

It would change her whole fate.

She tucked the letter and the acceptance letter down at the very bottom of her bundle, like treasures.

"Sophie, I don't know how to thank you. Without you, I honestly wouldn't know what to do."

She took my hand with fake tenderness, her eyes flicking again and again toward my bundle.

I knew what she was doing. She was searching for anything I might have that could prove she wasn't the hero's daughter.

I opened my bundle. She snatched up the yellowed letters at once.

She went through them carefully.

Once she'd confirmed with her own eyes that not a single one carried the same postmark and address as the letter in her hand.

She let out a breath.

"Sophie, these letters all come from the remote Northwest. Do you have relatives out there?"

I nodded.

Reassured, she set the letters down and lifted the curtain to leave.

"Sophie, at the meeting tonight, I'll thank you properly."

I only smiled at her and said nothing.

She thought that once she got through tonight, once I'd agreed to her terms, she'd be free to go off to college on the strength of being the hero's daughter, just as she'd wanted.

But she had no idea what tonight would set in motion.

It was going to leave her future in ruins.

4: 4

4.

Once I was sure she'd gone, I studied the letter that had slipped out of the college acceptance letter.

The handwriting was neat and delicate, familiar somehow, but I couldn't place whose it was.

The paper was far better quality than anything I used.

The ink had a bright, vivid color.

Nothing like anything you'd find these days.

I turned it over and over.

At last, in the bottom right corner, I found a string of red numbers.

2008. How was that possible. This letter had come from thirty years in the future.

I thought of everything in the dream.

Could it be that my future self, dying, had written this letter to me now.

I gripped the paper tight.

Since I'd received this letter, since I'd had that dream.

This time, I would not let Amy get what she wanted.

David moved fast. The sky had barely darkened before he'd gathered all the sent-down youth.

Inside the village office, the kerosene lamp glowed dim and yellow.

But it couldn't hide the flush of joy on Amy's face.

"I've called everyone here tonight because there's something to announce. Sophie has gotten a college acceptance letter."

The youth in the room gasped.

"But she's giving up the spot to Amy."

A lot of them looked at me, confused.

"Amy is the daughter of our great hero. His old wounds have flared up, he's gravely ill, and Amy needs to return to the city."

Amy came toward me, eyes red, the ration coupons clutched in her hand.

"Sophie, my father and I will never forget your kindness. I earned these ration coupons with my work points. It isn't much, but it's from the heart."

I pushed her hand away and looked at Thaddeus Fox. "Mr. Fox, you're not finished."

Thaddeus took a hard pull on his pipe, and Amy stepped back.

"Sophie is a good, sensible girl. For our hero's sake, she's willing to give up this spot. I've called you all here to witness it. I've written the whole thing down, and everyone needs to sign it."

However confused they were, Thaddeus was the village head.

He held the future chance for every one of us to return to the city.

No one dared cross him.

Soon, all seventeen of them had signed their names.

David held up the paper for me to look at.

"How am I supposed to read it if you won't hand it over?"

Thaddeus gave a nod, and only then did David warily place the paper in my hands.

"I've already given the acceptance letter to Amy."

She nodded quickly.

"Mr. Fox, where's the village seal? I need to stamp it. And where's the ink pad? Everyone has to press their fingerprint."

Thaddeus's eyes narrowed.

Amy panicked. David flared up.

"Sophie, are you pushing your luck?"

"Pushing my luck? I've handed the college acceptance letter over. All I need is a stamp."

Thaddeus signaled David to go get it.

I watched with my own eyes as the red seal came down and every person pressed a fingerprint.

I read every single word on it, carefully.

David snatched the paper back.

Amy's tight brow relaxed.

She picked up the stack of ration coupons and tried to force it into my hands.

"Sophie, I don't know how to repay such a great kindness. Take these coupons, please."

"No need, I have my own. I'm giving you the acceptance letter only because you're the daughter of the great hero Edward Dickerson, not for your handful of coupons."

Displeased, she took them back and retreated behind the Fox father and son.

"Amy's train leaves tomorrow morning. Everyone can say a proper goodbye to her tonight."

The crowd dispersed. Amy was overjoyed.

The smile at the corners of her eyes wouldn't stop.

She went out with David.

In the village office, only Thaddeus and I remained.

"Sophie, what is it? Something else on your mind?"

I took out a square-folded sheet of paper.

"Mr. Fox, take a look."

His eyes went wide with shock.

"You're sure?"

"Yes!"

"When?"

"Tomorrow at noon. Later than Amy's train."

He smoked his pipe, thinking fast.

"If you've made up your mind, then I respect it."