Standing in front of her winning design, facing the media, she feels that today is a Strange Day Indeed.
She's in her final year of Textile Design at a renowned fashion Institute. Last month, she entered a competition and won first prize — $50,000 and a contract to start a career.
But to her shock, the judges of the competition received an anonymous letter claiming the pattern she submitted wasn't an original creation.
The sender claimed to be a classmate, and the professor confirmed she had never produced anything of such caliber before.
She didn't admit it or deny it, but she knows that the entire design did not spring from her own imagination. When she began working on it, the mouse and computer seemed guided by an invisible hand; adding more unique and fine details to it, and a brilliant image quickly took shape. At the end, she glimpsed a signature—"Fan 23"—which vanished instantly.
That night, a message flashed across her screen, from Fan 23, telling her it was her guardian angel, who had come to witness her competition victory. She was the chosen one because she was a person with talent and integrity.
In the future, this angel would train her to become the best fabric designer in the industry. Whenever she needed help, she simply had to type "Fan 23" to get connected.
The fashion school and the competition's corporate sponsor are under pressure to prove she is the legitimate winner. She has been asked to quickly create a new pattern in public so everyone can judge for themselves. If she manages to design a classic type but a new pattern, using three mandatory primary colors, she will keep the prize and the contract, and the work will be credited to her name.
She made sure to type "Fan 23" before starting. The process went through like breeze in front of the judges and audience, and those who watched on the internet.
While she glanced at a big screen hanging up there, in the lower right corner she saw a pair of clapping hands, and under the hands, it was flashing "Fan 23".
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