A knock at the door catches you off-guard. Upon answering it, you're greeted by a man who says he's from the future—and he can prove it. More important, he says he has information that will save your life.

I was sitting at home, just minding my own business when all of the sudden, I heard a knock on the door. I was very startled, it was rather late – and I wasn’t expecting anyone to come over. They knocked twice, very loudly. It almost sounded like it was an authority or something pounding on the door trying to get in, like I had seen on TV before. I approached the door, fearfully. “Who is it?” I yelled as I came closer to the door. There was no response. Now things are kind of weird, and my heart was beating loudly. There’s something here that’s not right, why would there be anyone here? Oh well... I thought to myself. I reached the doorknob and gained the courage to open the door in one swift jerk. “Hello?” I said, staring at the man who was so very unfamiliar. He just stared back at me and didn’t say a word. His appearance was almost a little startling. He wasn’t a tall man; he stood at around 5.4”, if that. He had a long, grey beard that drew to a point at the end of it. His eyes were small, and hazy. They were so dark that I couldn’t tell if his eyes were just large pupils, or if they actually had some sort of color. His lips were chapped and almost scabbed. He nose was large and sloped over, with a few large freckles on it. His clothes were all worn out and tattered; he looked as if he’d been sleeping on the streets for a long time. I looked down at his feet and realized he wasn’t wearing any shoes. His feet were so damaged; it made me feel sick just looking at them. “Can I help you, sir?” I asked nervously. “No,” He responded calmly. “Oh...? Okay, well I’m sorry. I don’t seem to know who you are.” I said. “Sorry, don’t mind me. You don’t know me.” He responded while he looked down and began pacing back and forth on the front porch. “Okay, um well would you like to come in?” I asked, maybe that wasn’t a good idea to invite him in – but I just felt so bad for him. “Well since you insist, I may as well.” He said. “Alright...” I held the door open for him and let him come in.  I directed him over to the two sofas in the living room. “Well aren’t you kind? Thank you for letting me in.” He said as he took a seat. “Would you like a drink?” I asked. “Do you have any gin? I would like that.” He responded, as he was looking around the room. “I don’t, but would you like coffee or tea maybe?” “Well I suppose I could have some tea. If that wouldn’t be a bother to you.” ‘No, not at all. It’ll be ready in a couple minutes. I already had the water going.” “Okay, thank you.” He replied as I left the room and walked into the kitchen. I was kind of nervous now. Not only is there a random man I don’t know in my house, but he doesn’t seem to know who I am at all – and I don’t know him. I prepared his tea and returned to the living room several minutes later. “Here’s your tea.” I said as I placed the tea down on a coaster on the coffee table in front of him. “Thank you.” He responded as he picked it up and proceeded to drink it. “Wait it’s hot...” “It’s alright.” He said as he kept drinking it. I was slightly astounded at how he just began to chug his hot tea like it was a glass of water. “Are you alright?” I asked, nervously. “Of course! Why wouldn’t I be?” He replied in a surprised voice. “Nothing. So, I don’t mean to be rude... but who are you? And why did you come to my house?” I asked, rather bluntly. “Oh, I’m sorry – I must have never introduced myself. My name is Marvin. Marvin Holloway.” “Oh? It’s nice to meet you sir.” “Likewise. I thought I should pay a visit to show respect maybe? I mean... after the accident and all.” He said as he put his mug down. “What accident? What are you talking about?” I asked, as I felt shivers go up and down my spine. “The accident? I’m surprised you don’t remember...” I was getting spooked out a little bit now. What was he talking about? What accident? “I don’t know what you’re talking about... Marvin, I don’t understand.” I was getting really worried. Millions of the same thoughts kept going through my mind, going crazy. Did I do something? Did something happen to someone I knew? “I know it’s hard to accept reality sometimes now isn’t it?” He replied. “I’m really sorry but I don’t understand. Could you please explain to me exactly what happened? And how does this concern me?” “Concern you?” He replied with a chuckle. I didn’t know how to respond to his reaction to what I had just said. “Obviously, this concerns you... I wouldn’t be here if it didn’t right? It’s a shame you are in so much denial still. Or maybe you just don’t know...” He paused, and stared out the window. “Know what?” I asked, still confused. “I really have no idea what’s going on here. Did I honestly miss something here? Or do you actually have the wrong person?” “No. I think I just realized my error in this visit.” He said as he proceeded to get up and walk towards the door. “Stop! Sir, please stop… What error?” “You’ll think it’s foolish.” He responded as he continued walking towards the door. “No, I won’t. I just need a reasonable explanation for this!” I responded quickly. “Well, I’m not all that I seem to be. There’s something about me that distinguishes me from the rest of the world. This something is so precise that not even the wisest scientist can determine what that difference is. I’m not real – they say that it’s impossible. But this theory too, is impossible. I suppose you could say that I am an angel, or spirit - someone from the future who is in the present. But however, I came here for a reason. Perhaps now to warn you about what is soon to come in your lifetime. This may be able to change if you know about this event before it happens to you.” He said as he wandered slowly back and forth in front of me. “What…? So you aren’t even real? Am I just imagining you right now, or are you really here before me?” This was getting so confusing and strange. I never believed in ghosts of the past… and certainly not the future! How could someone say this to me? Anyone could say they’re from the future and lie to me? “In the year 2016, your whole life will fall to pieces. You will be fired from your job. You will be evicted from your house, and lose all of your worldly possessions. You will become addicted to meth and will be living in the streets, alone – begging for money. Your family will disown you, and your father even left you out of his will. You will get attacked at random, and your arm will be severely broken – and you won’t do anything about it... and it will need to be amputated. However, since you won’t even care, nothing will be done. It will get infected, and this is how you died.” He said in a very serious voice, so serious that chills ran up and down my spine, and every bone in my body froze. “WHAT?” I yelled in complete dismay, shock, and fear. “Well, you can change that now – but if you keep on following the path that you’re following then this is how you will end up. This too, is similar to how I ended up except I was shot in a random drive-by shooting. You can change now, I don’t know how but you can.” He said. “I can’t believe it though... like, I’m not doing that many bad things... I wouldn’t even allow myself to get addicted to drugs and get evicted!” I said, in a defensive tone. “Well, one bad thing leads to another. Eventually you push yourself to do worse and worse things each time. Do you think a criminal thief will just slowly do less bad things until he is eventually just telling his own mind lies before he even speaks them, but won’t say them out loud? No. If you can just control yourself now, then maybe this won’t happen. Don’t just do things to say you’ve done them once, because it’s most likely you will do it again. Then once that gets tiring, you’ll move on to something worse.” He said in a very serious voice again. “Well I guess that makes sense. Like I wasn’t planning on doing worse...” “But you never do plan to do worse. Do you think I planned on being homeless when I was born? Of course not! I wanted to be a judge. I just threw myself away.” “So basically, you just came here to warn me?” “Yes. The future is approaching faster than you know it. Believe if I’m real or not, I don’t care – but please do take what I said seriously. Take yourself seriously. But anyways, I must be off now. It’s been nice talking to you, and maybe we’ll see each other again.” He said as he got up to leave once again. “Really? Okay... well, I don’t know what to say – thank you? Even though hearing that scared me, I guess it makes me realize that that’s all true.” I said, in a shaking voice. “Yes. Well, goodbye.” He walked out the door and closed it softly. I walked over to the window to see where he was going and he was already gone. Strange how people like this come into your life and say things like this right? All the sudden I felt someone shaking my arm. “Wake up! Wake up! Oh my gosh, is she going to be okay?” I heard the voice cry in desperation. Somehow I managed to open my eyes and I saw my mother, father, and sister standing there before me.  There was also a doctor looking at me. They all had faces filled with concern, and I didn’t even know why. “Where am I?” I tried to say but came out as a quiet moan. “You’re in the emergency room. It’s good to hear that you’re all right... that was very, very dangerous what you had just done. That much drug intake could have easily killed someone like you. Angels must be watching over you or something.” A doctor said in a very concerned but almost relieved voice. I didn’t even know what to think. Everything was just so real now – but yet still seemed like a really bad dream. I’ll never forget what that grey haired man had once said to me... whether he was real or not, I still remember everything he said to me as clear and the words I’m saying right now.