I’ve somehow found myself in a situation straight out of a sci-fi/horror movie.
It all started one boring evening.
I was sat watching TV and was eating for two. Suddenly, a complete stranger appeared in my living room out of thin air.
“Jesus!” I screamed and leapt off my couch. My first thought was someone was messing with me with some sort of fantastic magic trick, and my second thought was that I’d gone mad and was hallucinating. But it was neither.
“You have to listen to me,” he said, his eyes wild with urgency. “Your child… It’s not what you think. They will bring about the end of the world!”
I was dumbfounded, unable to comprehend the gravity of his words or the situation that was currently unfolding. “What?! What are you talking about?! Who the hell are you?!”
He explained who he was and that in the future, my child would grow-up to become a tyrant, the next Hitler, the human devil, unleashing unbelievable destruction on a global-scale. He begged me to consider the consequences of bringing such a being into the world. I was terrified and confused, but I just couldn’t fathom the idea of harming my own child. “I can’t-… I can’t-… I can’t do anything to harm my baby,” I stammered, my hands instinctively cradling my swollen belly. As I looked back up, the mysterious visitor had disappeared.
As the days passed, more visitors from the future arrived, each with their own story and dire warnings. Some were more aggressive, attacking me if I didn’t heed their words. Others tried to reason with me, painting a bleak picture of the future my child is destined to create.
One particularly intense encounter left me terrified. A woman, her eyes haunted with sorrow, grabbed my arm with a fierce grip. “You have to understand!” she screamed. “Your child will bring nothing but suffering and chaos! The world is going to burn! You have the power to prevent it, here!… Now!” She pushed me so hard against my kitchen counter, I thought she might’ve damaged him somehow, or that I’d miscarry right there and then. I felt a surge of protectiveness for my unborn child, a fierce determination to shield him. I instinctively grabbed a knife from the block, and stabbed her before she could disappear.
“I won’t let anyone harm you. You’re my baby,” I told him, rubbing my stretched tummy-skin. “You’re always safe with me.”
As my due date grew closer, the threats grew more severe, and I found myself killing the future travellers as they arrived. I’d sit there with a knife, just patiently waiting for them, then, stab! The battle between the love for my child and the fear of the future, no longer raged inside my head.
So, he is apparently destined to create the end of the world, but my unborn child is still innocent for now, and I should do everything in my power to protect him, no matter the cost… Right?…