So , time travel is perfected in the year 2080 . Bad news trying to send back humans ends in a literal bloody mess , every single time . Good news certain objects , like letters , can be sent back without any major hiccups . Well , that ' s what they tell us , anyway , in official government missives that send cryptic messages to the past . They have to be careful what they reveal , in case the delicate weaves of history become a hopelessly tangled mess . In the future , it ' s a study all on its own , they say . But between all the serious warnings from the future , the tradition of the birthday letters begun . Carefully regulated by future governments , but still it gives everyone a boost , hearing words of encouragement and wisdom from your future self . Most people , anyway . It sucks for the guys who are murdered or otherwise taken off the playing field , but for everyone else , it ' s the thing you look forward to the most on your 18 th birthday . Mine arrived in a stiff black envelope in the mail . I tore it open , thankful that my parents were still at work . Opening your letter was considered deeply personal , but people still tried to snoop . There was a list of GPS coordinates , and carefully printed beside it all , the words ' NEVER VISIT '. With dates and times . The first date was today . In two hours , in fact . Giving me just enough time to get there the coordinates pointed to an old warehouse . Probably bad news . Yeah , probably a terrible idea . I tried to put it from my mind , but my curiosity nagged and itched at me . No words of encouragement , nothing but this . I couldn ' t go through life not knowing why I tried to warn myself against it . I arrived early . The warehouse smelled of dust and neglect as I made my way through dark corridors . I jumped as a hand touched my shoulder , and looked around to see a middleaged man smiling at me . He looked rather like my father . Jacob , he said , looking immensely satisfied and tightening his grip on my shoulder . I knew you ' d be here . Always doing the opposite of what people tell us , eh ? So damn curious about everything . I looked dumbly at him , and he winked at me . Us . Oh , shit ! Oh , you ' re me , from the future , aren ' t you ? I babbled , suddenly recognising myself . I looked pretty good for a fiftysomething . How did you get here ? I thought people couldn ' t travel back ? I have so many questions . That was an understatement . I had thousands of them time travel had always fascinated me , little as I understood it . But he sighed and interrupted before I couldn ' t ask a single thing . Yeah , I know you have . I ' m afraid I don ' t have time for them . I ' ve got to fix my own screwup . Our screwup , whatever . Things in my future get really bad . Really , really bad , once I share the secret of sending people back . And they start travelling to the future . Apocalyptic , worldonfuckingfire bad . I never wanted that . I just wanted to make life , science , a little more exciting , y ' know ? I gaped at him , and finally found the words to stammer something . What ? But , that makes no sense . I ' m failing science right now . He waved away my words . Yeah , yeah , it ' s the key to the whole timetravel business . To our breakthrough . So . you ' ve come to tell me I have to do things differently ? I asked , confused . He just looked at me , his eyes troubled . He seemed to consider it . Eventually , he shook his head . No . No , that probably won ' t work . I have to fix it , have to prevent it ever being invented , since nobody else is apparently travelling back to stop you . Us . You know what I mean . The point is , you can ' t trust anyone . I have to take care of this myself , unfortunately . Before I could raise a counterargument , he ' d pulled a handgun from his jacket pocket . The shot deafened me , and I felt the lancing pain a few seconds later . I stared down at the gaping wound in my abdomen , and slowly sank to my knees . My vision was starting to fog , but I could still see the fading outlines of my older self . He hunkered down and held me close , stroking my hair as I drew in ragged breaths of air . I ' m here . I ' m right here , he said . His voice growing softer as he flickered in and out of existence along with me . Don ' t be afraid . We saved the world , man . Hope you enjoyed my story ! You can find more of my work on rInkfinger .