What if I prank call 911? It won’t hurt anyone. Nobody will know, I told my eleven-year-old self. Little did I know that everyone would find out and I would hurt someone I loved very much. 

It was December 20th, 2020, and I was at my grandparents house in Spokane, Washington. I watched as snow fell from the dark starry sky onto the snowy and white ground outside. I watched as my thirteen year old brother played football with two of my cousins, Henry and Calvin. I smiled at my youngest cousin, Ruthie, who was playing next to me. I heard my parents' voices upstairs and they talked and laughed with my grandparents and aunts and uncles. I didn’t know what to do when a glance at the other side of the room suddenly gave me an idea. 

“Henry! Come here.” I encouraged my eight-year-old cousin to come over to me. He ran over and listened to what I was saying. 

“See that old pink phone on the wall over there from when our parents were kids?” I pointed to the other side of the big basement, and showed him the phone on the wall.

“What about it?” He asked me.

“What if we used it and prank called random numbers? Nobody would know and it would be fun!” 

“I don’t think we should.” He warned me. 

“Trust me. I won’t do anything bad. Everyone prank calls people, it is fine.” I told him. I explained to him that I would do the talking and he didn’t have to do anything. So we made our way over to the old pink phone and I picked it up. I typed in a random number starting with 503. I did this over and over again to several different numbers, prank-calling them about different things. Finally, my dad called to all of us from upstairs.

“You guys have 5 more minutes till you have to get ready for bed!” I heard the front door open and close,and I heard as my uncle and aunt drove away because my cousins were spending the night. 

“One more prank call, Henry.” I told my cousin who was watching me as I dialed in more numbers. “Let’s prank call 911.” I felt the hard, white buttons and heard the click as I typed in 9-1-1. It rang only once before I heard a lady on the other end pick-up. 

“Hello? This is 911. How can I help you?” I froze. 

“I…um…well…here!” I shoved the phone into my cousin’s hands and took a step back.

“Hello?” I heard the lady repeat again. I grabbed the phone out of my cousin’s hands and hung up. 

“Let’s go.” Everyone got ready for bed and all my cousins and my brother and I slept in one big room. My brother got the big bed. I got a smaller bed, and my cousins were in other spots around the room. We all settled down and about 15 minutes later, I heard a loud thud on the door. Then, another. Someone was knocking on my grandparents’ front door. Who knocks on someone’s front door at this time of night? I thought to myself. The front door was directly above us so I heard the creak as it opened. A few seconds later, I heard footsteps coming downstairs to our room. Our door swung open and my dad was standing in the doorway. 

“Who called the police?” He asked. I sat up in my bed. I pointed across the room to my cousin, Henry.

“Henry prank-called the police. I watched him do it!” I stared like a hawk as my cousin and my brother followed my dad upstairs. I laid back down and tried to ignore the sounds I heard upstairs. After what felt like an eternity, my cousin and my brother came back into our room. My cousin glanced at me and I knew I had hurt him. I felt so bad and I didn’t go to sleep for a long time. The next morning, I was the last to get up. When I walked upstairs, I was greeted by the look I deserved. Everyone was disappointed in me. I sat down to eat breakfast and nobody wanted to talk to me. Finally, my grandpa said something.

“Why did you do that and then blame it on Henry?” I had no answer. I didn’t admit what I had done, but instead I did the opposite. 

“It wasn’t me! Honest! Henry picked it up and dialed the numbers. I wasn’t part of it.” I defended myself. Later that morning, my family told me the whole story. The police talked to my cousin as if he had really been the one to prank-call the police. It was the lecture I had deserved. After that, my cousin, my brother, the police, my parents, and my grandparents all ate chocolate together sometime around midnight. Of course, I would have liked to be included in that.

 I don’t know why I did what I did and blamed it on my cousin. Even though I never really said that it was me, everyone knew it was me. I knew that I had hurt my cousin and I had lied to him. I lost his trust and I lost other people’s trust in me too. I had to earn that back. I’m not arguing anymore that it wasn’t me, because it was me. My cousin didn’t prank call even one of those people, and I blamed it all on him. I still regret what I did and I wished I hadn’t done it. I wonder what I took those policemen away from. They came to the house because they thought there might be an emergency. I thank them for coming because if there really was an emergency, they would have been there to help. But, I still regret what I took the policemen away from. They could have been helping someone who was really in an emergency. Now that it is over and almost 3 years ago, I know I have learned a few things. One is to never do something that you might regret later. Always think before you act or say something. Another is to never lie or do something that will hurt someone you love. And last but not least, don’t prank call 911!