After a Warning from the Future, I Left My Brother No Way Out

In 2001, after my brother got married, I decided to head south for work. I was packing my bags when, out of nowhere, another version of me appeared right in front of me. Me, from the future.

"Listen to me. Don't go south. Mom's sending you south to get you out of the way. The truth is she's not your real mother. She married Dad and brought your brother along with her. Things aren't good on Dad's end either. You need to talk him into coming home as soon as you can."

That was the first I'd ever heard of it. I'd always believed she was my birth mother, even though she only ever doted on my…