The phone rang at 2:13 a.m.

I stared at the screen.

Mum.

Who calls at that hour unless something is wrong?

I answered.

“Hello?”

Silence.

“Mum?”

Then I heard her breathing.

“Are you awake?”

“I am now. What happened?”

Another silence.

Then she said:

“Your father is gone.”

I sat up.

“What do you mean, gone?”

“He left the house three hours ago. He hasn't come back.”

I looked at the clock.

2:14 a.m.

My mind immediately returned to our last conversation.

Three weeks earlier, we'd argued.

I had told him I was tired of his advice.

I had told him I could make my own decisions.

And before walking away, I had said words I wished I could take back:

“I don't need you anymore.”

Now, sitting alone in the darkness, those words sounded different.

My phone was still against my ear.

“Mum?”

“Yes?”

“Where are you?”

“At the hospital.”

My heart stopped.

“Is he okay?”

She didn't answer.

And sometimes, silence tells you everything.

Sometimes the last thing we say to someone becomes the thing we wish we could unsay.

Have you ever had a conversation you wished you could go back and change?

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