A simple phone call turned into permanent anxiety for Heloisa Seixas. In April 1998, the writer recounted in Folha the moment she heard, through a crossed line, a desperate call for help that she was never able to answer.
“Suddenly, the cry,” says the writer. The cry for help was clear, desperate. But just as the voice was calling for help, someone on the other end answered that Heloisa was dialing, cutting the cross-connection.
The cry was “lost, broken – unanswered.” The call continued as normal, but something fundamental was broken. The writer has never been able to forget this moment, this voice, this interrupted plea.
Read the full text below, part of section 105 Columns of great repercussion, which recalls the chronicles that marked the history of Folha. The initiative is part of the celebrations of the newspaper’s 105th anniversary in February 2026.
I will never know (04/02/1998)
Lift the phone from the hook. He gave a signal. I dialed the first number. As I was about to type the second one, I noticed muffled voices – a crossed line. Normal. I continued to compose. Now it was calling. But from one call to the next, I heard the voices again, now a little clearer. Or rather the voice. Of a woman. She looked distressed. Suddenly, the cry. I heard clearly when that voice asked for help. A desperate request. And, at that very moment, someone responded from the other side, undoing the crossed line. The cry was lost, broken – no response. But I couldn’t forget him anymore.
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