Is AUTHOR wrong in the post ? POST : This is kind of a situation that has spaned over most of my life so sorry for the long read. 

So this all started when I was in 5th grade. Our neighborhood didn't have a lot of kids and A new kid moved into the neighborhood. Wasn't long before we because friends and eventually best friends or so I thought. We had a relationship where we were rough on each other like typical guys or so I thought. We would tease and insult each other. While my insults we're pretty infrequent and superficial his got progressively more frequent and more specific to me attacking how skinny I was or weak. Eventually turned to punching my arms or legs pretty hard and wrestling me when everyone knew I didn't stand a chance. I kinda accepted it was how friends were. I was a nerd in school and didn't have a lot of friends so I thought it was normal. Eventually I started hanging out with his whole group more and more and likewise the insults occurred more and more. It eventually started really messing with my self esteem and how I saw myself as a person. At the time I just thought I was being over sensitive. Things got worse after we both lost loved ones, he developed a drinking problem and I basically through myself into work, working 40+ hours/week and going to school By senior year of high school my self worth was all but non existent.

 I get to college and make a whole new set if friends, I completely 180 from who I was to who I am. To the point where I wouldn't even recognize who I was back then. I hung out with him a few times over the summer when I was back from college but we drifted apart pretty rapidly after I left. He was a lot better at this point but not perfect and I was also extremely busy with school. He eventually got a girlfriend stopped drinking and had a kid. 

Looking back I know the relationship wasn't healthy and I was effectively being bullied. There's a lot more dynamic to the relationship it wasn't all bad we had lots of good times typical to a normal friendship but it wasn't all good either.

 He reached out to me recently and I entertained the conversation with the standard how have you been etc. I can tell he has changed for the better but I still kinda resent the relationship and don't really want anything to do with trying to reconnect. He even reached out to my sister asking about me and why I was being distant she didn't respond and immediately texted me. I replied that I'm a completely different person and didn't want to reconnect.

I'm glad he got help and changed his life around. I had forgotten a lot about that time if my life till after he reached out clearly wanting to reconnect with me. I honestly don't want to go back down that relationship path I am very happy with who I am and where I am at in my life. So am I the asshole for not wanting to reconnect even though I can tell he has gotten a lot better and we are both in better headspace.