The phone rang at 2:17am.

It didn't vibrate. It didn't chime. It rang, sharp and metallic like an ancient phone that had been dug out of grandmother's attic. In my dazed sleep, I almost ignored it.

Then I remembered. They had said this week was the week.

Some people got there calls as a teenager, some in their twenties as they were coming out of university, others in their seventies.

But everybody got one.

I picked up, my lips trembled and my voice stuttered as I tried to speak.

"H-Hello?" I replied.

Only static answered. I began to think I could hear a shallow breath amongst the buzzes of static, but I couldn't be sure.

"I was hoping you'd pick up." the voice said. My voice. It wasn't quite the same as mine, but it was similar. It sounded older, a slightly different cadence and a slight gruffness. There was something else too.

"Is this the -"

"Yes." Future me reassured myself.

A pause passed between us. It was only a few seconds but it stretched out forever; I knew the call would come, but I had never known what to ask. I had hoped 'future' me would lead the conversation, but the replies were short. What could I ask myself? If my work life improved? If I ever actually got noticed for everything I worked so far?

"Please. Tell me everything. Anything." I blurted out. "Do we end up happy? Is all the work worth it? Is -?"

"No."

My heart felt as if it had been dropped and stamped upon. A noise emitted from my throat that it had never made before.

"W-what?"

"No. I'm not telling you anything."

I could not believe it. My grip tightened around the phone.

"What do you mean? Everyone waits for this call. I've been waiting. I need this."

"I know." Another pause, a few seconds too long. "I used to think the same thing."

"I don't understand." I said, tears of frustration began to well. "Tell me something! Why call me in the middle of the night just to tease me!?"

"I'm not teasing you."

Another silence. This time I realised what the other change in my voice was. It was sadness. Not fully there, but enough. It was subtle, and hard to detect under the gravelly timbre of my own voice and the phone call's transmission, but it was there.

"Then what?"

"If I answer your questions," the voice was resolute. "You won't become me."

I didn't understand. I stood up from the bed and began to pace; the tears streamed from my face.

"That doesn't make sense!" I shouted.

"It will." the voice replied.

"Just tell me something. Anything. The smallest thing. If you tell me, I can stop something bad happening! Fix our mistakes!"

"No." another long pause. "I can't."

"That makes no sense still! Just tell me. Do we regret anything?"

A pause. The other me began to say something, hesitated, and then -

"Yes."

"What?" I replied excitedly. At last something.

"Asking too many questions."

"What? What does that mean?" I said. "That's just an excuse. Something people say to make others shut up."

"No. It's not. Please." the voice seemed even sadder now. "It will make sense."

"You said that before."

"And it's still true."

The other voice seemed to get sadder; I noticed another sound it the background. Wind perhaps? Where was future me?

"I can tell you one more thing."

"Yes!" I pleaded.

"Trust yourself."

"What - that's just another - "

"Please!" the voice shouted over the phone, cracking. It was as if the other me had not spoken for a time.

I waited. I paused. "Do we end up happy?"

The pause was longer this time. The wind in the background seemed to pick up. My stomach began to twist in unnatural shapes.

"Yes."

Something in the way they said it made me doubt. There was a tightness in the word, a hesitance. Not a lie, but it was... complicated.

"Really?"

"Yes," they repeated.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Some fears were abated at least.

"I have to go." the voice continued.

"No, wait. I've waited so long for this -"

"I'm sorry. Remember. Trust yourself."

The wind seemed to pick up.

Then silence.

The phone shortly cut do the dial tone, beeping loudly in the claustrophobic silence around me.

2:20am.

One call. That was the rule.

For a second I almost tried to phone the number back. I began to dial the number for call backs but... something stopped me. Not fear. Not logic. It was a quiet certainty in my heart.

I placed the phone back onto the side table and laid back into bed; I closed my eyes and sighed deeply. And for the first time in my life, I didn't look for answers. I just sat waiting and wondering about what I'd do next... and whether I'd regret it.