A short story by Samanwita Das
by Pexels
"Wrong
Number" said a familiar yet a bit more euphonic and high-pitched voice
from the other side of the very vintage telephone I had found when I first
moved in my new house in Florida. I had spent weeks trying to repair the
telephone and finally I repaired it and tried to call one of my close friends
to see if its fully operational. “It’s me Yoora!” I answered but again it was
the same absurd response from the other side. I stood there with the telephone
in my hand thinking, how can my closest friend not recognise my voice nor my
name? the weirder subject was that the person who picked up the call sounded
very similar to that of my friend’s “I apologize, I tried to call my friend George but who’s this?” I tried to get to know the
other person to understand the situation but to my surprise, it got more
confusing “yes? It is me. I am George but I don’t recall knowing you” this
response didn’t help the situation making it weirder as well as heart breaking
to me. “Did he really forget me? Is this a prank? What is going on?” All types
of questions popping up in my mind as I stood there looking out of the window
trying to gather my thoughts when the person on the other side said again
“hello?” “Well you have the same name and voice as the person I was trying to
call…” I was suddenly interrupted by a radio speech which could be heard faintly
from the person who was on the other side of the call. “This is a tragic loss
for us as yesterday we lost our beloved Governor Schlatt of Florida due to a
fatal heart attack” said a voice on the radio. This confused me even more
because the news of Schlatt being dead was over fifty-five years ago… “the
radio on the back, does it say that Schlatt died today?” I continued, replying
to the person on the call. “Yes why? don’t you know? It is all over the newspapers”
said the other person. “It must be a joke! he died in 1970 which is fifty-five
years ago! Everyone knows it.” I replied in a slight louder voice correcting
them. “It is the 1970…” the person stopped and thought “wait fifty-five years
ago? You are from 2025?” they replied again but this time laughing loudly
thinking all this is a prank. “Yes I am from 2025, wait this makes you from
1970?” I was shaken to my soul when I finally realised that I accidentally
called a person in the past, from a very old telephone in my new house who
supposedly has the same name and voice as my friend. Strange enough.
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