The day before my SATs, my favorite pen vanished. Just as I was about to head to CVS to buy a new one, my older brother shoved a pen into my hand. "I knew you'd lose yours, scatterbrain. I got this one just for you." I smiled and took the pen. Suddenly, my phone buzzed with a message. "I am you from ten years in the future. DO NOT use the pen your brother gave you. It's a grade-swapping pen." "It swapped your score with your best friend, Lani." I thought it was a prank text until I looked up and saw my brother whispering and giggling intimately with Lani. The next second, I gave that pen to the class slacker. 1 Before entering the exam hall, my brother, Leo, ran up to me specifically to nag. "Cici, remember to use that pen. I got it blessed at the temple for you." "Don't think just because your grades are good, you don't need luck." He checked my admission ticket and ID with meticulous care. How could I have imagined that my own brother, whom I grew up with, would plot against me like this? "Yeah, Cici, don't be ungrateful. You always rely on your grades, but you need to know that exams like the SATs need a bit of luck. Listen to your brother, use that pen." The two of them echoed each other like a married couple. Seeing them like this, I couldn't help but believe the text message a little more. I was about to question them, but then I thought, today is the SATs. Better not cause trouble. I just nodded and entered the exam hall. As the last test paper was handed in, my high school life ended. When I walked out into the sunset, Leo and Lani were waiting for me. "How was it? I felt the questions were super easy," Lani said, linking arms with Leo intimately, looking a bit smug. "Maybe this year I can surpass Cici and become the city's top scholar." I didn't know where she got her confidence. Lani's grades weren't dead last, but she was definitely in the bottom tier. I had tutored her, but it didn't help much. If she performed normally on this exam, community college would be a stretch. "Really? Did you solve the last geometry problem?" "Did you understand the English listening section?" "Did you get the essay prompt?" Lani's face froze at my barrage of questions. Finally, she burrowed into Leo's arms, acting wronged. Leo shouted sternly, "Cici, where are your manners?! Why are you so aggressive!" Watching Leo defend Lani, it seemed like she was his sister. "Nothing," I pretended to be innocent. "I didn't finish them, so I wanted to ask the future top scholar. What's wrong?" Hearing me say I didn't finish, Lani reacted like I triggered a keyword. She rushed out of Leo's arms: "You didn't write any of those?!" Leo also asked hurriedly, "Cici, don't joke about grades!" Seeing their panic, the pen-swapping thing was definitely real. I said aggrievedly, "It's all because of that pen you gave me. As soon as I held it, I couldn't write anything. I didn't know how to do so many questions!" "Impossible! You're always first in the grade. Even if you mess up, you wouldn't fall out of the top ten. How could you not write anything! You must be lying to us!" "Why would I lie to you? One is my closest brother, the other is my best friend. How could I lie to you? I really messed up." Seeing that I really seemed to have failed, Lani went crazy and scratched at me. "Why did you harm me like this! Making me fail college!" I hid behind Leo in panic. "What are you talking about! I failed myself, what does it have to do with you?" Leo knew the inside story, so he quickly stopped Lani and comforted her, "It's okay, she's just too worried about you and talking nonsense. You go back first, I'll take Lani home." After sending the two away. 2 I received another text from my future self. "Did you still use the pen your brother gave you? Why hasn't the future changed!" I quickly typed on the screen: "I didn't use it. I gave the pen to the class slacker." Just as we were wondering what was going on, Leo suddenly appeared again. He and Lani changed their attitude completely, smiling at me. "You little brat, scaring us. You're clearly the top scholar but you lied to us." A chill ran down my spine. Based on my own estimation, my score was indeed higher than last year's city top scholar, but I didn't have full confidence myself. How did they know! Lani was visibly happy again, acting coquettish with Leo. "Don't forget, you promised me. If I get into MIT, you'll be my boyfriend." Leo pinched her nose with a smile. "You, still like a child." Turning to me, Leo said, "Exams are over. Let's go on a trip together. I'll pay. Let's go have fun!" "I'm not going!" Lani pouted. "If she's not going, then she's not going. She's always a killjoy. I'll go with Leo!" Leo grabbed me. "Look at you talking nonsense. You are my sister; how could I not take you? Let's go together. Mom and Dad aren't home for the holidays. I'm not comfortable leaving you alone." After all, he was the brother I grew up with. As soon as his tone softened, I wanted to agree. But at this moment, my phone received another text: "Don't go! They are going to sell you into the deep mountains! Then Lani will replace you and go to college!" I immediately refused decisively. "Not going. I want to get my driver's license this holiday. I don't need you to take care of me. I'll stay at Uncle's house." Leo didn't seem to expect me to refuse. His hand froze in mid-air. "Better go. Don't cause trouble for others. Learn from Lani, be good!" Lani also chimed in, "Exactly. With your withdrawn personality, you only know how to study. If not for me and Leo, who would hang out with a freak like you? We are doing this for your own good." "I don't like socializing because I think dealing with people is a waste of energy. Being friends with you is just because you are incredibly stupid. I can see through your thoughts at once without any effort." Lani blushed with anger at my words. Leo ignored our bickering and continued to persuade me to go out with him. His schemes were almost hitting me in the face. "Not going! If you're worried, I'll tell Mom." At the mention of Mom, Leo shut up. Because Mom only liked children with good grades. In the family, I was not only the favored second child but also had surprisingly good grades. I skipped several grades and took the SATs with him at 14. In the family, whatever I said went. But even so, Leo didn't let me go. That night, with red eyes, he even knelt by my bed, just for our parents waiting outside the door to see. He said our parents were always away on business, and his only wish as a brother was to take me to relax after the exams. He even brought up old scores, like carrying me three blocks to find a clinic when I had a fever as a child. Mom and Dad already felt guilty towards their eldest son, so they came out to uphold justice and made me go out with him. I couldn't refuse, so I went along. 3 As the car drove away from the city, I watched the buildings shrinking in the rearview mirror. My phone vibrated in my pocket. Future me sent a message: "Do not go on the trip with them. They plan to sell you. There are ropes and chloroform in the trunk." I replied calmly: "Too late." I could only clutch my phone tightly, nails digging into my palm. Leo looked back at me from the passenger seat, smiling and handing me a bottle of chilled juice. "Car sick? Bro bought your favorite brand." Lani sat next to me, leaning her head on my shoulder intimately, as if nothing had happened a few days ago. "Cici, look, ahead is the winding mountain road. I heard the sunrise at the peak is especially beautiful." When she spoke, her hair smelled of men's cologne. It was the exact one Leo used. Because of the warning from the future text, I was very careful at first. They didn't make any moves, and no more texts came. Leo took us out to play and eat local snacks every day. Lani kept taking photos, chanting: "Vlog the top scholar's holiday." Just like that, more than a month passed. Seeing that the results were about to be released, they still hadn't acted, as if they really just came out to play. Until this day, Leo said he found a wild hot spring and drove us deeper into the mountains. The mountain road became bumpier, and the phone signal was intermittent. Lani suddenly screamed, pointing out the window: "Look! Are those fireflies?" I looked in the direction she pointed but saw Leo taking a small brown bottle out of the glove box in my peripheral vision. "Tired?" Leo stopped the car in a dense forest, unscrewed the cap, and poured some transparent liquid into a paper cup. "I specially asked the B&B owner for calming tea. Drink it, and soaking in the hot spring will be more comfortable later." I looked at the pitch-black surroundings, feeling creeped out. At this moment, the phone vibrated crazily: "There's something in the drink. You must have noticed. Don't drink it. But you're just a kid, you can't escape. Play along and get kidnapped. I left you something to save yourself." I knocked the paper cup to the ground violently. The brown liquid splashed on Leo's beige pants. "What are you doing?" His face changed drastically, the tenderness in his eyes instantly turning into hostility. Lani screamed and hid by the car door but accidentally pressed the window button. The damp night wind rolled in with the smell of earth. "Bro," I forced my voice to tremble, "I... I need to pee." Leo stared at me for three seconds, then suddenly smiled again. But the smile didn't reach his eyes. "Silly girl, why didn't you say so earlier? Lani will go with you. I'll wait in the car." Lani pulled my hand and walked into the woods. When the car was out of sight, she suddenly pushed me hard to the ground. "Stop pretending!" She squatted in front of me, her exquisitely made-up face full of malice. "Do you really think I don't know you gave the pen to the slacker? Luckily, your brother got a spare, or I wouldn't have gotten your score!" I struggled to look up and saw two men in camouflage standing in the shadows behind her, holding a sack. Lani took out her phone and swiped the screen. It showed the chat history between her and Leo— "Is the stuff ready? The buyer said he wants her alive. Deliver to the back valley for money." "Don't worry, bro. I have the chloroform ready. Once she's sold, I can openly go to MIT with her identity." "My Lani is the smartest. Once this is done, bro will be with you." "You have such a good brother, and you don't cherish him. You deserve this fate. Don't be so smart in your next life. What's the use of just studying well!" Lani stood up and kicked my knee. "Can't figure out why your own brother would harm you? Tall poppy syndrome. For so many years, you not only stole Mom and Dad's love for him but also crushed him in every aspect. He feels bad. This exam is your doom." As soon as Lani finished speaking, the man in camouflage walked over and put the sack over my head. In the darkness, I heard Lani's laughter and Leo's voice from afar: "Be gentle, don't hurt her..." 4 When I woke up, I was lying on a kang (heated brick bed) in an adobe house, hands and feet tied with rough hemp rope. Outside the window were rolling mountain shadows. My phone had been taken away at some point. The door creaked open, and an old man with a wrinkled face walked in, holding a bowl of dark stuff. "Awake? Drink the medicine quickly. Drink it and you're my family's wife." The old man grinned with missing teeth, his breath stinking to high heaven. I shook my head desperately, tears flowing uncontrollably. Just then, a faint vibration came from under the mat. Taking advantage of the old man turning around, I lifted a corner of the mat with my knee and actually felt my phone! It was my future self! She must have calculated that I would be taken here and hid the phone somewhere in advance! "Don't be afraid," a new message popped up. "The old man is hard of hearing. Pretend to drink the medicine and pour it into the crack of the kang. There's his son's phone in the third drawer of the headboard. The password is his granddaughter's birthday—20100815." I did as she said. While the old man wasn't looking, I poured the medicine into the crack and pretended to pass out. After he left snoring, I opened the drawer with my teeth and indeed found an old phone. After unlocking it, I tremblingly dialed 911 and whispered the GPS coordinates shown in the future message. For the next two days, I pretended to be submissive, letting the old man bring me food. Lani and Leo never appeared again. Only the old man bragged to everyone about "the city wife his son bought for a big price." Until the evening of the third day, police sirens suddenly came from outside the window. A group of police officers rushed in and pinned the old man and his son to the ground. When I was rescued, I met my parents who had driven to the foot of the mountain. Mom held me and cried until she fainted. Dad's eyes were red, repeating "It's Dad who didn't protect you well." Only then did I know that Leo called the police immediately after I went missing. He tearfully said I "ran away from home due to exam pressure" and took my parents to search the city for two days, portraying himself as a perfect brother. "Where's Bro?" I asked, wiping my tears.
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