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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/AmISellingYouOut on 2023-08-10 06:05:17.
I have a problem. I’m not really sure where to begin as this all happened pretty suddenly in the grand scheme of things. It’s probably best to start with the part that will need the most explaining: I can see where you were yesterday.
…I can also see where you’ll be tomorrow.
If that sounds unbelievable, I don’t blame you but it gets worse: I can see where you were at any point during your life.
As long as I’m physically looking at you in person, I can see these things in my mind with flawless accuracy. I can see what you looked like, what you were wearing, and it’s weird but I can also tell where you were, even if I’ve never been there.
The way I found out about this ability is actually really funny. I was working in retail at the time. I was hired in the department that handled scheduling, in a quasi-managerial position. I would sit in my little corner of the store (with full view of the doors and most other departments: gotta love the open floor plan) and wait for people who needed scheduling. Being a young man at the time, I naturally spent most of this time smiling and flirting with any pretty young ladies that walked in the doors. It was a different time, people were way more social and approachable.
So one excruciatingly boring day, it felt like it had been hours since any customer had walked through the doors-- let alone any pretty young ladies around my age. So I’m just zoning out at this point, when suddenly this… we’ll say ‘mature’ woman walks in, and makes a bee-line for my desk. She’s wearing sunglasses, has her hair done nicely, and is wearing a very expensive dress. A very low-cut expensive dress.
Now I’m not saying I don’t find older women attractive, but this dress was not exactly flattering to her figure. She wasn’t overweight, far from it. It was just that she was… well… old.
She was also very nice, and remarkably easy to schedule. She made an appointment with one of our instructors, didn’t complain about the price, and seemed genuinely friendly-- which was nice. There are tons of ‘friendly’ people you’ll come across in retail, but it’s rare to find someone who seems to be genuine about it. So I struck up a conversation.
“That’s a really nice dress,” I said, smirking slightly and raising an eyebrow. Classic flirty face. Older ladies loved it. She was no exception.
“Oh thank you!” she said, returning the suggestive smile, “It used to drive the boys crazy. Would you believe I’ve had it for 30 years? It’s [brand name I can’t remember]!” She stepped backward away from the desk to do a full 360 degree turn, sending the rippling ends of the silken dress floating just slightly upward with the motion. In that moment, I thought ‘You know, I’d like to see what that looked like 30 years ago.’
That’s when it happened.
There was this strange haze about the whole place as I watched the lady twirl, like an actual fog. I didn’t focus on that for very long however, because as she completed her first turn and was facing me again I suddenly lost my breath. She looked different all of a sudden. Very different.
She was stunning. She was wearing that same dress, with her hair done that same way, and she was radiant. She looked to be no older than me.
…And she was right, that dress probably did drive the boys crazy. She filled it about as well as you could possibly imagine. I was completely caught off guard. I suddenly found that my brain was… let’s say… ‘competing for bloodflow.’
“Can you believe it still fits after all these years?” She asked, her voice now young and delicate. Her smile was captivating as she stopped twirling and the dress (and the figure within it) came to a slow, bouncing rest.
Now I’m not saying this didn’t freak me out a little bit. However I was a young man with a BEAUTIFUL woman in a low cut dress twirling around in front of me and entertaining my flirting, so all I did was say “From where I’m sitting, it looks just the same as it did.”
She loved that. Her smile widened, “Oh young man, if I were your age… well, my husband’d probably have words for you!” That smile erupted into a laugh and she turned to walk away, bidding me a good afternoon. She swung her hips the whole way out of the store-- and man did my eyes appreciate it.
It was only after she walked out the door that I really took stock of the haze that had accumulated around the store. It was thick, I literally couldn’t see any of the shelves, or any of the stock on display, just this thick greyish-white fog. Without the beautiful lady to focus on, I was suddenly very worried about where this fog had come from.
I stood up from my desk, seeing if I could see the source of the mist, but just then it broke all at once. “Yo, the fuck was that about bro. You chasin’ granny now?” One of my coworkers had walked up within 5 feet of my desk and I hadn’t noticed. As soon as I heard his voice, the fog receded in what felt like an instant.
It was Will, one of the people I’d become pretty good work friends with. As shaken as I now was by the fog, the sneer on his face was contagious. It was one of the things I liked about Will. I started chuckling, and all I said was "Take it easy, she used to drive the boys crazy.”
He took it as a joke, and the rest of the day was normal.
Now you may be wondering, “OP, I thought you said you had a problem? A little fog in exchange for being able to see how hot old ladies were in their prime seems like a gift.” And you’re not wrong. It certainly was a gift. I started making a habit of it. You’d be so surprised to see what people looked like when they were young.
I’ll explain how the problem started.
A few years went by, I got promoted a few times and so did Will. One day, we had another older lady walk in, and I immediately looked to see if she used to be hot. She was.
Over the years I had learned to unfocus it so that the fog would dissapate, and the old ladies would turn back to their true age. Usually I just had to say something, or do something else that would focus my attention on something tangible.“Yo, this one used to be smokin’.” I said to Will under my breath. The fog dissapated.
He laughed like usual, but this time he also got a look on his face like he was thinking about something.
“You know I try man,” he said, looking up like he was choosing his words, “but I can’t see it. How can you possibly tell if these old hags used to be hotties? It’s like you have a gift.”
“Oh, it’s definitely a gift. I dunno, I can just see it in my head, what they used to look like.” I said, grinning an obnoxious grin.
Then he said something, and this is where my problem began.
“Cool, does it work the other way?” he asked, “Can you see what someone is going to look like? Might help you dodge a bullet – or a WALL if you know what I mean.” I did know what he meant, obviously. Could I see if someone who is hot now will be hot in the future?
I didn’t know. I had literally never even given it a thought.
But I was intrigued. My new position at the company afforded me a slightly longer tether, so I walked away from the managers’ desks and out onto the sales floor. I was looking for a pretty lady, and as luck would have it there were several in the store. I scanned the area, and met eyes with one of them. I consciously thought about their future, about what they would look like…
…And sure enough, the fog rolled in. Suddenly I was staring into this girl’s future. I saw… sunspots, wrinkles, and grey hair done up in curlers.
I was amazed. I had no idea this ability worked this way. I unfocused it, the fog dissapated, and the girl was young and beautiful again. I went back to the desk.
“Nah, doesn’t work that way.” I said, casually shrugging my shoulders at Will. I figured it was best to just play it off like a gag. I wasn’t trying to open some kind of weird, meta-physical can of worms on my work buddy.
“It’s a shame, I was gonna introduce you to this new girl I met. See if she’s a keeper.” Will chuckled, and the rest of the day was pretty normal.
The next day, however, is when things got really weird. See, I had just found out that this weird ability had way more utility than I had previously thought. I started to think, what other ways can I use this?
It turned out, not that many. I didn’t have any crazy cool superpowers or anything like that. Pretty much, I could see what someone looked like in the past, and what they’d look like in the future, and I could control how far backward or forward I could see. The only new discovery I made was that it also worked on men. It figures, but I had never even thought to try.
I decided that I would go to my job early, and sit at one of the outdoor benches and just watch people with my ability. This went about as normally as something this strange could go – I saw a bunch of old people as young people, and a bunch of young people as old people-- that is, until a particularly pretty lady was walking by. I wanted to see if she would still be as pretty in the future, so I focused.
The fog rolled in.
…And as soon as I saw her, my breath stopped and my heart skipped. She certainly looked different. Very different.
She was wearing a very formal-looking black and white dress. Her eyes were sunken and hollow, barely even eyes at all. Her skin was sickly pale, her hair wet and dishevelled. Her smile… I could tell she was smiling at me because of her body language, but it wasn’t a smile. It was as if her lips were permanently drawn back as the s…
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