The Call That Lasted a Lifetime

A man named Oliver received a call from an unknown number late one night. A woman’s voice said, “Please don’t hang up. If you do, I’ll die.”

He laughed it off, but something in her tone kept him there. They talked for hours — about dreams, regrets, moments that felt like déjà vu. He asked her name. She said, “I don’t have one anymore.”

When the line finally cut, he checked his call log. The duration read 82 years, 7 months, 14 days.

He was still 32 when he started the call. His neighbors found him slumped over the phone, smiling faintly, his hand frozen around the receiver.

The line was still open — faint breathing on the other end.