"Hello Hexandra. This is--"

I hung up. So creepy when scammers know your name and number. And it wasn't my dad.

*ring ring ring ring ring*

I let that one go to voicemail.

"Hexandra, I'm sorry to introduce myself during this difficult time, but I have information about your parents, and I know they have been able to contact you. Because of your unique position, you may be helpful in sorting all this out. Please reply to this number, and I will be happy to explain. I know this may sound creepy, but this is a very strange moment."

I didn't reply until the next day.

Now of course I had no idea my parents were going to go missing on that plane and travel backwards in time. Backwards to my present. All I knew was something didn't feel right. Didn't feel right at all.

My parents weren't the kind of people to mess with your head. Other kids' parents would goof on them. I was at my friend Riley's house on April Fools Day and her mom gave us whip cream cups with cherries on them and it turned out to be shaving cream. My parents would never do such a thing. They felt super strongly about always telling the truth, which put a dent in their sense of humor, but they were dependable in that way.

But it was definitely my parents who called me on the phone. There was no denying that either. I was super disturbed. Couldn't sleep for a week.

Then I got that second call. That's what broke the whole thing open.

Then the feds got smart. The confiscated all the phones and moved all the passengers to someplace more locked down, and I didn't hear directly again from them for awhile.

That is, my future parents. My present day parents hadn't gotten in the plane yet.

"No, honey, I didn't call you today. I was in meetings all day and didn't even have time for lunch. It must have been just a wrong number."

I tried to show her the call on my phone, but it wasn't there.

"Honey, it's me, mom."

"Why are you calling from this weird phone? Are you ok? Are you at work?"

"I'm fine. Your dad and I are both fine."

"Dad is with you? Where are you? Oh my god were you kidnapped?"

"No. But, well, I just wanted to hear your voice. Here's your father."

"Hex? Hi. This is going to sound weird, but let's not talk about this call. When we get home later today. Ok? Just pretend it never happened."

"Uh, what? What is going on?"

"Gotta go. Love you!"

click

When the plane landed -- three months before it took off -- the flight controllers were really confused, since Flight 309 was still up in the air. But that was a totally different Flight 309.

So they let the plane land and tried to cover it up. The feds or whatever put all the passengers in lockdown in a Holiday Inn and thought they confiscated everybody's phones, but they missed a couple, so my parents were able to call me.

My parents were on the "Plane from the Future." Fight 309. The one that disappeared over the ocean and was sent back to our time.

Three months before it left.