A Debt of Time and Tears

The flickering cursor on my screen was the only constant; my life, a developer' s dream turned broke reality, spiraled with every line of code that built debt instead of worlds. My wife, Chloe, a sharp, cold woman, shared my last name but not my life, her presence in our sterile home a constant reminder of everything we' d lost. Then, a black box popped up on my monitor, a simple command prompt with a blinking green line: "Cosmic Stream Initialized. Observing Universe C-782." It showed a live feed, grainy and unstable, of a college dorm room, and in it was Chloe, ten years younger, radiating an idealism I hadn' t seen since our own college days. My fingers trembled. Was this a hack? A cruel prank? I typed a desperate message, witnessing her jump, then her young voice calling out from my speakers, "Who's there? Is this a prank?" Overwhelmed, I learned I could see and talk to her, across a decade of time. I couldn' t tell her who I was: her future husband, about to be ground to dust. No, I had to be something she could trust. "I am a System," I typed, the words feeling foreign and powerful, "A guidance protocol designed to help you achieve your optimal future." She challenged me, "Prove it." I dredged up a memory, a story about her childhood dog, Rusty, about her hidden copy of "The Last Unicorn." Her face paled, then tears welled. She believed me. This young, trusting Chloe, the one the world hadn' t broken yet, believed in me. A terrifying, exhilarating sense of power washed over me. I had a chance, a chance to undo everything. I had to start with the man who would poison her soul and my life. My first directive to Past Chloe: "A man named Mark will approach you within the week... Do not, under any circumstances, trust him."