Chapter 4

A few days later, my relief shattered.

I was at a coffee shop, trying to figure out my next move, when my phone rang. It was an unknown number.

"Is this Michael Davies?" a woman's voice asked, strained and anxious.

"Yes, who is this?"

"It's Sarah Hayes. We were proctoring the SAT together last Saturday."

My stomach tightened. "Sarah? Is everything okay?"

A choked sob. "No, Michael. It's my eyes. I can't... I can't see."

The coffee cup slipped from my hand, clattering onto the saucer. Blind. Just like me in the other life.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

"It was sudden," she explained, her voice thick with tears. "Right after the first section of the exam, after you were... removed. My vision just started to go. The doctors don't know why. They can't find anything wrong."

The exact same circumstances. My warning hadn't stopped it, it had just shifted the target.

"Sarah," I said, "the doctor you saw, did they mention anything unusual?"

"Actually, yes," she said, a new edge to her voice. "Dr. Chen at City General. She said another proctor, a Michael Davies, had come in just last week, worried about sudden blindness. She thought it was a strange coincidence."

A beat of silence.

"Michael," Sarah' s voice was low, suspicious. "You knew, didn't you? You knew this was going to happen. That warning you gave... it wasn't a premonition."

I closed my eyes. The vibrant world outside the coffee shop window felt like a cruel taunt. I had saved myself, but Sarah had paid the price.

"We need to talk, Sarah," I said. "In person."