The heat of the afternoon sun slanted through Marcus's bedroom blinds as he lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling fan spinning slowly overhead. He hadn't moved in over an hour, not since coming back upstairs. His mother thought he was resting—recovering from whatever strange "dream" had shaken him so hard that morning.
But Marcus wasn't resting.
He was remembering.
Or… trying to.
The weight of the future pressed down on him like a freight train. He could feel it in the back of his skull, a buzzing pressure just behind his eyes. Names, dates, fragments of events. It was all there—but scrambled. Like hundreds of puzzle pieces dumped out of a box and scattered across the floor.
Amazon stock explodes sometime around 2010. Bitcoin becomes a thing in… 2009? Obama wins the presidency in 2008. The housing market crashes before that—2007? Or was it 2008?
Everything was important, but nothing was clear.
He sat up, frustrated. "C'mon. I know this. I lived it."
Then, it happened.
A flash of light—not in the room, but in his mind. Like a synapse fired with more force than usual. His vision swam for a split second, and then he heard it.
> Accessing Memory Vault...> Query system initialized.
Marcus blinked. He wasn't hearing the voice out loud. It was inside his head—calm, genderless, synthetic.
"What the hell—?"
> Marcus Hall. Subject ID confirmed. Temporal memory interface unlocked. System limitations enforced.
A blinking blue icon floated in the center of his mind's eye, like a cursor awaiting a command. It didn't hurt. It didn't even feel real. But it was there.
He sat up slowly, heart racing.
"What are you?" he whispered.
> Memory Vault: A cognitive indexing system designed to support limited informational recall following trans-temporal displacement.
He exhaled. "You're saying… you're in my head. Because I went back in time."
> Correct.
"And you can help me remember things from the future?"
> Affirmative.
Marcus stood and began to pace, adrenaline kicking in. "Okay. Okay, this is good. This is amazing. Can you give me the lottery numbers for next week?"
> Denied. Personal wealth via chance-based systems is restricted.
He groaned. "Of course it is. So, what can you give me?"
> You may query the following categories:
Corporate valuations and stock prices (publicly available historical data only)
Cryptocurrency values
Technological release timelines
Major political events
Global health trends
Notable business failures or crashes
Marcus's heart raced.
He was holding a loaded gun. Not a weapon—but power.
"What's the limit?"
> You may submit up to five queries per day. You must be specific. No open-ended requests.
"Okay," Marcus muttered, already thinking. "Okay, start simple."
He stepped over to his desk, yanked open the drawer, and pulled out a notebook.
"Query One," he said aloud. "What is the stock price of Amazon on January 1st, 2010?"
> $136.25 USD. Market cap: $61 billion.
Marcus scribbled it down. "And what was it by January 1st, 2025?"
> $3,281.15 USD. Market cap: over $1.6 trillion.
He dropped the pen. His hands shook.
That was… insane.
If he bought $1,000 worth of Amazon stock now—at its current 2006 price of $35—it would be worth nearly a hundred thousand dollars by the time he turned 37. And he knew how to sell high. He could do better. A lot better.
"Okay," he whispered. "Query Two. When did Bitcoin first go public?"
> January 3rd, 2009. Initial value: negligible. First exchange value: $0.003 USD.
He nodded. "What's its value on December 17th, 2017?"
> $19,497 USD.
Marcus staggered back against his desk. "Holy sh—"
He clapped a hand over his mouth.
I can do this. I can make it.
"Query Three," he said carefully, choosing this one with care. "When did the 2008 housing market crash begin?"
> Subprime mortgage failures began mid-2007. Major collapse hit in September 2008 with the fall of Lehman Brothers.
"Got it." He was furiously writing now.
He still had two queries left. He paused.
"…What's the best small company to invest in now—something that grows massively by 2020?"
> Invalid. Query too broad. Please specify a company name.
"Damn. Alright." He tapped his pen on the desk, thinking.
"Query Four. When was Tesla founded?"
> July 1st, 2003.
"What was Tesla's stock price on January 1st, 2011?"
> $5.27 USD (adjusted for splits).
"And by 2020?"
> $705.67 USD.
Marcus whistled through his teeth.
He sat back in his chair, notebook filled with the beginnings of a financial revolution. He didn't need to be greedy. He didn't need to become a billionaire overnight. He just needed to be smart, consistent, and disciplined.
He could save his mother.
He could buy her better doctors, better care. And when that time came in 2010, he'd be ready—with options.
But that wasn't all.
He could stop living paycheck to paycheck. He could go to college, finish his degree, maybe start that writing studio he used to dream about. He could help people. Build something real.
And this time, he wouldn't waste a single moment.
He looked down at the glowing blue icon in his mind's eye.
"Thanks," he said.
> You're welcome, Marcus.> Memory Vault locked until tomorrow.
He stood up, still barefoot, and walked to the window.
Outside, the world looked the same. Trees rustling in the wind. Kids riding bikes on the sidewalk. Cars from a time before smartphones ruled the world. A future that hadn't been written yet.
But for Marcus Hall, the game had changed.
He smiled.
Second chances were rare.Second chances with a blueprint?Unstoppable.