The Call I Wish I Never Answered

It was a quiet Sunday evening. I had just finished doing the laundry and was about to settle down with a cup of tea when my phone rang. The number was unfamiliar, and for a moment, I debated whether to answer.

I wish I hadnot.

Hello I said half distracted.

There was a pause. Then a voice hesitant low almost like a ghost from the past.

Is this Arman?

My heart froze. I hadnot heard that voice in over ten years. It belonged to Sameer my childhood best friend the one I had cut out of my life after something I thought I’d buried forever.

We were like brothers.

Back in school Sameer and I were inseparable. We shared everything secrets snacks even dreams of moving to a big city one day and starting a business together. Life was simpler then. We were seventeen, fearless and full of plans.

But our final year changed everything.

Sameer got caught up in something he couldnot get out of. It started with curiosity hacking into emails poking around teachers’ accounts. He was smart maybe too smart. One day he told me he had access to one of our teacher’s private messages.

I told him to delete everything. Walk away. But he didnot.

He said he had a reason. That he was doing it for a good cause. I didnot understand at the time. I thought he was just being reckless.

A week later, the school was investigating anonymous emails sent to a teacher threatening ones. Sameer panicked. He begged me not to say anything if I was questioned.

I didnot.

But I didnot protect him either. I stayed silent, which was just as loud. He was expelled. And I never saw him again.

And now, out of nowhere, he was calling me.

I need to talk he said, voice shaking. Please, just five minutes.

I was speechless. My stomach turned.

I… I m listening.

There was a pause. Then I have cancer Stage four. Three months maybe less.

I felt like the air had been knocked out of me

I m not calling to make you feel guilty he added quickly. I just want to explain.

What he said next changed everything I thought I knew.

“The teacher I blackmailed he was harassing another student. A girl She was too scared to report him. I found out by accident. I didnot know how to help, so I tried to scare him. I know it was stupid. But I couldnot just do nothing.

My mind reeled. I had hated him for so long for being reckless for ruining his life for dragging me into it. But I never stopped to ask why.

He didn’t sound angry. He didnot even sound bitter. Just tired.

“I never blamed you,” he said gently. I knew you were scared. So was I

I couldn’t speak.

The silence between us was heavier than any words. For ten years, I had been carrying a version of the story that fit my comfort. One where he was guilty, and I was innocent.

Now I realized how much more complicated it had been.

He didn’t ask for forgiveness. He didn’t even ask to stay in touch. He just needed me to hear the truth. And I did.

Before hanging up, he said quietly, I m glad you answered. That is all.

That night I wrote him a letter.

I told him everything I couldn’t say on the call. That I was sorry. That I should have asked. That I should have stood by him, or at least tried to understand. That silence can be just as loud as betrayal.

I mailed it the next morning, not knowing if he’d even receive it.

Two weeks later, my phone rang again. Another unknown number. My heart sank.

It was his sister.

Sameer had passed away peacefully. She told me he had my letter beside him when he died.

I think about that call often.

It was only five minutes, but it reopened years of silence shame and misunderstanding.

We often believe we know the full story that our side is the only side. But sometimes the truth sits quietly on the other end of the line waiting for us to just pick up.

If you’re holding on to a version of the past that makes you feel safe but uneasy ask yourself what you're avoiding.

Because that call I wish I never answered?

It gave me the closure I didn’t know I needed.

And now I never ignore an unknown number.

Because you never know when someone from your past is calling to hand you the truth

before it’s too late.