A lot goes on in our lives, and we all have “secret stories” that we carry around. From merely forgetting to actively pretending that something never happened, there can be countless reasons why we keep a story hidden. Here are examples of stories that people out there have never told anyone, except us lucky strangers on the internet.
1. Anything to Miss School
I've always been too embarrassed to tell this story. One night back in the sixth grade, I was like, “I really don’t feel like going to school tomorrow.” So I came up with an ingenious plan. I looked up how to get a fever. I found a tutorial online that said to take a bath at the hottest temperature your bathtub could go, and then stay awake for the entire night.
I decided that it was worth a try, so I gave it a shot. I started the water for a steaming hot bath. It stung badly when I stepped into it, yet I somehow managed to survive sitting in it for 30 full minutes. I really wanted this to work. When I finally stood up to get out, I started to feel extremely dizzy...and then my nightmare happened.
I fell on the floor and had a seizure. I woke up and saw the blinding ceiling lights of the bathroom. The first thing I initially thought as soon as I saw those lights was, ”Am I dead?” I then threw up in the toilet next to me and had a horrible migraine for the entire rest of the night. I also later found out that I had suffered first degree burns all over my body. Don’t ever do what I did.
2. Taking One for the Team
Around 42 years ago, my little brother was playing with matches one day and accidentally set the woods on fire. The ensuing flames burned down about 10 acres of trees. Everyone assumed that the cause of the fire had been me smoking in the woods, so he and I just decided to let it be. I took the blame and the whooping.
Now, our dad was very rough on the whoopings whenever he was angry at one of us. I just didn't want my little brother to have to endure that kind of mistreatment. Being that our dad got a little carried away this particular time and broke my arm, we've both decided to just never tell anyone the truth about what happened.
3. Speaking from the Heart
Back in the sixth grade, we once had this paper that we had to write for school. I forget what the subject of it was. Regardless, I decided to procrastinate a lot (as I often did back then). Eventually, the day it was due rolled around, and I had nothing to submit. We had to read our papers out loud in front of the class.
I was totally prepared to take the zero, but then I realized that the teacher wasn't actually collecting the papers that people were reading from during their presentations. So I came up with an ingenious plan. I decided to go up to the front of the class with a blank sheet of paper and improvise a speech for ten minutes. I ended up getting an 80 on the assignment, and no one has ever found out the truth.
4. What a Difference a Few Seconds Make
My secret story is about the time when my mom needed to go back into the house to get a scarf. Because of this, we were held back and missed a bus by about 10 seconds. That bus then crashed into a bridge at a very high speed because the bus driver had mental health problems. It is the closest I have ever been to death. I will never complain about my mom going back to get a scarf in my life again...
5. Someone Saved My Life Tonight
The story that I never tell is about the night my son was born. My wife lost a lot of blood. In an instant, our delivery room was filled with 25 medical personnel after a "rapid response" call. My wife was white as a ghost and hardly coherent. I stood beside her holding her hand while she received emergency blood and plasma and platelets.
I was in total shock in the moment, until my wife locked eyes with me and asked “Am I dying?” I lost it. I'm losing it now typing this. It was the scariest moment of my entire life and I really have trouble reliving it. Eight months later, my wife and baby are both happy and healthy. Give birth in hospitals, people! You never know what can go wrong and the staff there saved her life that night.
6. It’s All in the Game
One of the first times that I had ever invited my girlfriend to spend the night at my college apartment, I went to sleep early. We're both gamers, but I'm an early bird and she's a night owl. She assured me that I could go to sleep without her because, little did I know, she had plans to unlock Toad, Toadette, and the Special Cup in Mario Kart: DD for the GameCube.
Now, this is also important: My apartment complex had very strict parking rules. There were only two parking passes for me and my roommate, but I encouraged my girlfriend to park in the lot anyway because I had never once seen a friend or visitor get towed in the couple of years that I’d lived there for. She really didn't want to get towed though, so I promised to pay if her car impounded.
Anyway, I went to bed while she continued to play Mario Kart for the entire night. Little did I realize that she was an absolute freak at the game. I woke up early in the morning the next day to find her passed out from a long night of gaming. I immediately fire up the Gamecube to play some Mario Kart with breakfast.
Not aware that she had unlocked almost EVERYTHING in the game while I had been sleeping, I proudly proclaimed, "Oh, you got Toad!" Barely awake, she awkwardly responded, "I got... TOWED???" Not realizing what she meant, I excitedly repeated, "Yeah! You got Toad last night while I was sleeping, I can't believe it!"
She jumped up and shouted "I GOT TOWED???!!!" I calmly replied, "Yeah! Don't you remember?" Confused, she frantically checked behind the blinds to look outside at the parking lot. "I didn't get towed. What are you talking about?" I replied, "Yeah, you did! You got Toad and Toadette last night..?" That was when we both realized what was going on. One of our best moments together for sure, but definitely too embarrassing to ever tell people about.
7. Let’s Get Away From It All
I found a cool online profile of someone from another country. On a whim, I decided to go on vacation to meet them. I had no prior communication with this person other than email, yet I hopped onto a 24-hour flight, met up with them, and paddled off that day. We spent 26 days canoeing from the tundra to the arctic and didn't see anyone else the whole time. I’ve never told anyone about this experience.
8. Stranger Danger
My secret story is that when I was a kid, I once had a chat with a guy who turned out to be one of the most notorious criminals in my country. It was odd and he spoke in a way that made him seem like he was my age, even though I was only seven at the time. He tried to kidnap me by offering to buy me a hot dog and a soda. I only escaped for a ridiculous reason.
I declined and bailed because I was low-key offended that he put mustard on the hot dog he was offering me.
9. Curtain Call
I went to a weekend festival back in the 1980s and decided to sleep with a guy I had just met down on the rocks by the ocean. It was quite awesome, actually. Warm summer air, getting down and sweaty, then cooled off by the occasional wave spraying us. Anyhow, as we finished, we suddenly heard a round of resounding applause from above.
We looked up and realized that we had been putting on a free show for a bunch of people sitting on the ledge above us. There was nothing to do at that point but stand up, hold hands, and take a bow. It was hilarious, but not exactly a story you bring up in casual conversation…
10. Secret Hideout
Two and a half years ago, I was in dire financial straits, so I sold my home to keep my struggling new business afloat. I neglected to tell the new homeowners that they had an 800-square-foot underground bunker on the property that I built about seven years ago. That bunker is the place that I've secretly called home since I sold the house.
The entrance to it is very well-hidden, but I still come and go very early/very late in the day to avoid being spotted. Needless to say, I have never shared this story with anyone. None of the people in my life know where I live these days. I'm a single man who mostly keeps to himself. I'm now in a financial situation where I could afford to move somewhere else if I wanted to, but I love this hidden paradise so much.
11. Seating Arrangements
Back when I was in high school, I wanted to approach this girl on a bus on my way to school one morning. She was really good-looking and I knew that I'd regret it if I didn't approach her. There was one big problem though: there was a middle-aged lady seated next to her and I couldn't talk to this girl with the lady right next to her.
I had to think of a quick way to get rid of the lady. So, I then stood up from my seat, slowly walked towards the row where they were seated, and calmly asked the older lady "Excuse me, ma'am. Could you please let me sit next to my sister?" This turned out to be an ultra-cringey flub. The lady was the girl’s mom. I definitely had some explaining to do...
12. Why Didn’t You Just Hide It in the Toilet?
As a kid, I once took a poop in the bathtub and then realized what a horrible mistake I had made. To hide the evidence, I flung the poop into a hole in the wall. My parents later renovated the bathroom and patched up that hole. So, there is now a 15-year-old poop hidden somewhere between the bathroom and kitchen walls of my childhood home.
13. Bad Parenting
For years, I've been psychologically, emotionally, and physically mistreated by my father. One time during college, I got home late either because of school work or hanging out with friends, and my father proceeded to beat me up so badly that I had a ton of bruises and cuts on my face and body the next day. Besides hitting me with his fists, he also threw a wooden chair at me.
The next day, I still went to school because I had a scholarship and a grade that I had to maintain. I also didn’t want to stay at home. My classmates all asked me what had happened, and I didn’t want to tell them the true story. Instead, I said that I was in a bad car crash near my house while I had been driving my younger sister to her school.
14. The Night Shift
My aunt was forced to hand her kids over to her alcoholic ex-husband for a weekend visitation, but she was terrified that he would hurt them. So, she sent me with them to monitor things. I was seven or maybe eight years old at the time. They were two and four, respectively. I thought of myself as so much older, and decided it was the responsible thing to do.
So I went. It was a horrific mistake. While at his apartment, he got completely wasted and called my aunt to tell her that he was going to throw them off his very high balcony. They were asleep at the time. I didn't sleep at all after hearing that. I sat up wide awake all night long, which was no small feat at that age. Terrified, I did it to make sure that he didn't harm my baby cousins.
Nobody knows about this to this day. I think about it daily, though, and I wonder if it's the reason why I now have a panic disorder. I truly wish there were better ways to protect kids in separations.
15. How Can You Tell a Story That Even You Didn’t Know?
I found out when I was 28 years old that my father's entire side of the family had been in the witness protection program since before I was born. As a result of that, this meant that their names were all not what I had believed them to be for my entire life. Can you imagine the shock of learning something like that at that age? It really makes you question everything you think you know…
16. What Was Your Aim?
When I was about 14 years old, I once found a slingshot in the woods. It was a pretty good slingshot that must have cost a fair bit of money, as it had a metal frame and a thick rubber sling. Naturally, I kept it. Then one day, my friend and I were on top of a hill out in the countryside and a jogger came running out of the nearby tree-line.
He was some distance away and below us. Without putting a lot of thought into it, I casually shot a stone just above his head. The rock went exactly where I wanted it to, but if there had been wind or if my aim had been off, I would have seriously injured that jogger. If even one of a thousand possible factors had gone wrong, it would have been a disaster. I muse on that at least once a week.
17. No Child Left Behind
When I was in kindergarten, I once fell asleep on the bus to school. No one woke me up. I eventually woke up on my own and the bus was empty. I panicked, as any five year old would, and I ran to the front of the bus to try the door. It was locked. I saw that the bus was parked in a KFC parking lot and there were people coming in and out of the building.
I started wailing with terror and banging on the glass doors, snot pouring down my face and into my mouth as people walked by and pointed at me. One group after another would look, mumble, and then just get into their cars and drive off without helping. By the time the bus driver finally came back out with her chicken meal, the entire door was covered in my slobber and tears.
She started instructing me on how to open the closed door so that she wouldn’t have to put her meal down. I was still freaking out obviously, and didn’t understand what she was trying to say. So, she sighed, put her food down, and finally opened the door. She asked me what I was doing there and I told her I had fallen asleep.
She called the school and drove me over there, still covered in snot. I remember walking into my class with everyone standing in a line and hugging me one at a time. After that day, the school made a rule for all bus drivers to get up and walk the bus front to back to make sure no kids get left sleeping. I still think about how scared I was all them time.
18. What Are You, Chicken?
Only kids who I went to school with know this story, as I have never told it to anyone since. When I was in the eighth grade, I was accepted into the district spelling bee. My first word was “Chicken.” Stupid old me, who was proudly representing my hometown school, went up onto the stage and spelled it, “C-H-I-C-I-N.”
19. Screwing up Royally
I moved to the United Kingdom from Zimbabwe when I was four years old. The first few years there, my parents spent all of their time trying to settle down. By the time I turned eight, they realized that we had never even been to London. So, on a hot June day, we took a trip to London. We went to the aquarium, stopped at Covent Garden to see all the performers, rode the London Eye, and just had an all around great day.
Towards the end of the day, we went to Buckingham Palace. I was tired, so I began to rest my head against the bars, asking all the questions you would expect from an eight-year-old. After a while, my parents said that it was time to go. I pushed my body away from the bars. And then suddenly everything went wrong.
I felt cold steel against the back of my ears. That was when I realized that my head had slipped through the bars and was now stuck on the other side of the Buckingham Palace gates. I panicked and a crowd began to gather. I'm probably in many a family photo album. Even a guard on horseback came over to see what the commotion was all about.
By this point, I had accepted this as my new home, but I couldn't figure out how I would go to sleep with a spike on the floor. Luckily, an old lady happened to have a tub of Vaseline in her handbag and my dad was able to pull me out with its help. My head was totally smothered in Vaseline by the time they got me safely out, and needless to say this is not a story that I like to share with anyone!
20. Using His Nine Lives Well
When I first started getting sick and couldn't move around the house like usual, my cat would literally yell at me for two minutes straight every time I sat down. He would proceed to purr furiously over my stomach, which was hurting, for about 10 minutes at a time. He would chirp at me if I tried to get up beforehand and kept bumping my leg as I walked past if I did anything out of the ordinary.
Little did I know that he was trying to heal my cancer, which unbeknownst to me was growing into the muscle by that point. He's a little Siamese mix and he is very vocal, and I appreciate his little squeaks of support. He is a very good boy.
21. The Mother Who Cried Wolf
My mom probably has a disorder. She used to gather my siblings and myself together to "announce" that she had "insert cancer or deadly disease here," and then make us all cry and hug her. She has ruined so many of my major life events over the years just to rant about herself and all of her imaginary illnesses. It ruined much of my childhood, and obviously I don’t like to talk about it.
22. A Long Nap
My mother told me that when I was around five years old, we were at my grandfather’s apartment one time and I was playing while he was napping in the bedroom. Apparently, right outside of his door, I stopped, turned around, and said in a very serious voice, “Grandfather’s dead.” It turned out that I was correct. He had passed away in his sleep.
I didn’t even understand the concept of mortality at the time, so this understandably freaked out both my parents. As an adult, I like to pretend it never happened and avoid telling people about it.
23. Taking a Hike
My father seldom spoke of his combat experiences. I’ve only ever heard two direct stories from his mouth. He once recounted how his brother (they fought together) was shot and later passed from infection. The other memory was of his desertion. During a battle, he hurt his wrist from falling and sat there in the mud, wincing in pain and struggling to catch his breath.
As he peered out, seeing all the destruction, he was suddenly hit with an intense feeling of futility. And not just mere futility, but also a realization of the absurdity of it all. “I got up and just walked away,” he said, “leaving my weapon right there on the ground.” He disappeared into the surrounding woods and somehow managed to get back home, which was nearly 300 miles away.
“Weren’t you worried about getting in trouble?” I asked in all my childlike innocence. He explained that things were desperate by the time he entered the war. He was underage, so he lied about his name and age in order to “enlist.” He received little to no training and was immediately thrust into action. “They had no information whatsoever on me,” he said. “I enlisted with little more than a handshake.”
Although he was ineligible to receive a pension because of his false and/or lacking records, I’m under the impression that he never would have accepted anyway. He was ashamed of that part of history and developed a profound distaste for government. This story was kept pretty hushed in our family, as we didn’t want the surrounding community to know of his desertion and label him a coward. I, however, always admired him for doing what he did.
24. Wrong Place, Wrong Time
I keep my bedroom life private, so I have never told anyone about the one and only time that I ever slept with someone in public. It was also, subsequently, the one and only time that I ever got caught in the act. By someone in an airplane. My boyfriend and I were out at a deserted spot on the edge of town, and we were going at it when a little two-seater private plane flew overhead. The plane then proceeded to turn around and fly over us again, this time dipping its wings when it passed above us.
25. Have a Drink?
When I was a little kid of about the age of six, I really wanted to know what wine tasted like. So, I once woke up at 2:30 am, went down to the kitchen, and poured myself a huge glass of it in a little kids’ IKEA cup. I then took a gulp, made an ugly face, and poured it down the drain thinking it sucked. I went back to sleep with the taste of wine still in my mouth, and never spoke of the incident.
26. Safety First
I nearly died at work. I was removing the main supply wire on the machine that we had just successfully overhauled. The problem was that I didn’t realize that the main circuit breaker was still turned on. I already had the gut feeling to check the breaker, but I was stubborn and proceeded to remove the wires.
As I removed the second wire, I accidentally short-circuited it, creating a huge spark right in front of my eyes. The first thing I did was check my hand, which was thankfully unharmed but had visible dark spots on it due to the strong electric current on the short-circuiting of the wires. Good thing I was half-conscious and went to turn off the main circuit breaker.
Some of my workmates saw the incident and approached me while asking if everything was alright. After removing the wire, I took a walk and had a deep thought about what might have happened to me if those wires had actually touched me. I might have suffered a severe third degree burn, lost a limb, even worse. Folks, always be careful and always trust your gut feelings.
27. A Strange All-Nighter
My secret story is that my older brother and I once stayed up all night because we were both very gassy. We just kept farting loud ridiculous farts and then laughing our butts off. Right when we would calm down, the other person would fart and it would be even funnier. We were both extremely tired the next day, but it was completely worth it.
28. A Shocking Loss
In the summer of 2007, I was working at my landscaping job when I heard my cell phone ringing in the truck. My girlfriend at the time told me that “they” were saying that my brother is dead. Fast forward through a panic drive that I shouldn’t have done to my mom’s house. She answers the door and crumbles into my arms. I’m stunned.
They head to the cop station and, moments after leaving, I get a phone call on my mom’s phone. It’s the guy who was with my brother. The one that we were thinking had something to do with his passing. He plays stupid and wants inside information on whether or not he’s being blamed. This guy had hit my brother with his truck, ending him instantly.
He eventually argued in court that he had thought he hit a deer and didn’t realize it was my brother. But we all knew the dark truth. In reality, the two of them had a fight earlier that day. Without being able to prove intent and without fancy lawyers, he only received four months behind bars, but we knew what really happened.
29. Golden Years
When I was about 10 years old, I was playing with my friend in his backyard one afternoon. We were climbing up the stairs to his second floor patio when, all of a sudden, when I was halfway up, my friend started peeing on me from the top stair. I never really asked him why he did that, nor did I ever speak of the incident again.
30. A Night to Remember
I once flew to Thailand on a whim with two coworkers in late 2001. We spent a ton of money and stayed at a 5-star hotel for the night. It turned out that our hotel was hosting the king's birthday party that same evening! We managed to secure tickets and tuxes due to the kindness of the staff. While the king himself wasn't in attendance, we got to meet the queen and one of the princesses. It was a heck of a night!
31. Taking the Term “Fictional Book” a Little Too Seriously...
This is possibly the craziest story that I have to tell. In the seventh grade, my class was assigned to read any fictional book we chose and write an essay about it. My dumb self completely forgot and, in a stroke of genius, I made up an entire imaginary book out of thin air and wrote about it. Characters, author, plot, you name it! I made it all up! I got a 95 on that assignment and no one ever realized what I had done. That was the peak of my life…
32. It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye
When my dad died in 2005 and it was time for his funeral, I couldn’t bring myself to go. My mom told us when the funeral was, but did not want to attend. So, me and my brother thought: "If mom can’t bear to go, we shouldn’t go either" and we stayed away. To this day, I regret this decision deeply. Even if I had cried the whole time, I still should have gone.
We have never talked about that day. If one of your loved ones ever passes and you think you cannot stand the grief at the funeral, go anyway! Because if you really loved them, you can give them a last honor.
33. A Shot in the Dark
When I was three years old, my dad became paralyzed from the waist down. I always told people it was because of a car accident. The truth is much different—and even more chilling. My dad was a part of the Sicilian mafia and he was shot during a hit that was probably meant to end him outright. As an adult, I've told a few people that I'm very close with, like my husband and best friend—but everyone else gets the car accident story.
It's super weird and unnatural to have to hide this part of my life and my family, but it's just too awkward of a conversation to have otherwise.
34. Going, Going, Gone
When my father was very drunk one time, he said while laughing, "If your mother ever died, I would leave you and your brother and leave the country." I was 10 years old at the time, and he was my biggest idol in the world. A few days later, he really did leave us, and without saying a word! He just walked out the door, leaving my mother crying on the floor.
I hate him. But I want to love him. He had always been the "cool" father: Driving motorcycles, having tattoos, and being quite young compared to most other parents. Yet it always hurt when everyone around me used to say "I wish I had a father like yours!" No, believe me. You really do not. As you can guess, this story is something that I don't usually tell people.
35. Outer Body Experience
When I was a kid, we had Direct TV. As we all know, there were these adult channels that you could only access if you pressed the right password. I tried lots of combinations until, right when I was about to give up, I just pressed some random numbers. I still remember the feeling. It felt like someone else was pressing the buttons for me or telling me what to press.
The password turned out to be my father's date of birth. Keep in mind that I was a little kid at the time and have never been good with remembering birthdays, so there was almost no chance of me thinking to guess it at the time. Ever since that moment, I've been chasing that same feeling of excitement and trying to experience it again.
36. Free Fallin’
One time when I was little, I tripped and fell while I was playing outside in the backyard. I landed flat on my back. As I was falling, I braced myself expecting to hit the ground. But then, I just...didn't. I felt like I stayed that way for a few seconds before I opened my eyes and gently dropped the last inch or two to the ground. I immediately ran inside to tell my mom about the experience.
Instead, she just gave me the classic motherly laugh and an "okay sweetie." In all the years, the only thing I've been able to come up with to explain this is that it must have been a dream. But it sure didn't feel like one. I've had a couple of similar experiences since then, but this is the only one without a logical explanation. To avoid awkward conversations and questions, I don’t ever tell people about it.
37. Strength in Names
I recently started using one of those 5k running apps. On this app, the virtual trainer is named Erin. She coaches you through each “training” session. I’ve never been a runner in my life, but now I can do a solid 5k thanks to the help of this app! Anyway, Erin told me that I’ve got to have a mantra. Something that I can repeat to myself whenever I feel like giving up.
Her mantra is “You’re strong Erin, be strong!” I could never come up with anything better, so now my mantra is “You’re strong Erin, be strong!” My name isn’t even close to Erin, but it doesn’t feel right using my own name at this point. I just jog along repeatedly calling myself Erin, and nobody has any idea whatsoever. I’m actually surprised at how often I want to give up on things in life and automatically find myself thinking “You’re strong Erin, be strong!”
38. The Wrong Reaction
When I was 17 years old, I was "mistreated" by the boy who lived up the street from my family. When I finally got myself home, I went to my dad and he yelled at me for not being home earlier. My phone got taken away and I was sent to my room. I couldn't even shower. I could never bring myself to tell him what happened after that. I still never talk about it with anyone.
40. Past Your Bedtime
A few days ago, it was late at night and I heard a bunch of noise outside. It sounded like someone was arguing with someone else. So, I looked out the window and spotted three teenagers cutting down a tree and proceeding to chase after another teen while swinging it at him. I thought for a minute about trying to help, but then remembered that it was 1:00 am and decided to just go back to bed. Not my proudest moment, and not a story I’m too eager to tell anyone about.
41. A Dark Confession
My secret story is that I accidentally killed seven people. After doing a job installing a gas heater, I got a call a week later, saying that there had been an accident at the property. I show up and there's a ton of medics and police officers. They asked me where the gas shutoff was, and I went down to shut the gas off. That when I saw something that made my blood run cold.
I had put a rag into the new water heater exhaust to keep debris out when I installed it, and then I'd forgotten it. I immediately saw the rag that I had forgotten sticking out of the top of the heater. I ripped the rag out, shut the gas off, and headed upstairs, only to be told that all of the tenants had perished. I’ve never told anyone about this...
I drink and sleep all day now to try and cope with the guilt. It's killing me from the inside every single day, but if I say anything, my family is ruined.
39. Protecting His Father’s Feelings
When I was just a young boy, I was once inappropriately touched by my barber while I was getting my hair cut. My father had to make a quick run to the ATM, so I was alone in the shop with the guy. I never realized how much it affected me and honestly didn’t even think about it for years until I drove by the place where the barber shop used to be and suddenly felt an immense sensation of stress.
I would never tell my father this story. He has always been insecure about whether or not he’s been a good father to me, and knowing this would make him hate himself.
42. The Cost of War
My secret story is that, while on deployment, I once killed a man in a coup de grace. The feelings of having ended a man's life always weigh a heavy burden on me every day. No one likes hurting people. He had been hit by some of our mobile artillery. While part of me wanted the enemy to be in pain, I knew it wasn't right to allow.
My medic was busy with our side’s wounded; so, as the officer on duty, I took out my .45 and put a bullet through the guy’s head. I knew my boys wouldn't say anything. Most just watched, accepted it as a fact of war, and kept walking along. I remember throwing up afterwards. I came home and everyone acted like I was a hero. I never felt like more of a sham my entire life.
43. What Else Are Friends For?
I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Western Samoa. One weekend, several of my fellow volunteers and I went camping on this tiny private island. On the first or second night, we made a bonfire and all got super drunk before going skinny dipping. The water was only about chest deep, and it was extremely warm and still.
There was no light pollution there, so the stars were all visible and blazingly bright. We also inadvertently kicked up some bioluminescence, filling the water with stars. Tipsily floating naked in the warm sea, completely surrounded on all sides by stars and close friends is one of my most beautiful and euphoric memories of all time.
44. When Mistakes Come in Handy
I was once at a water park with a girl who I had a huge crush on, along with some of our mutual friends. I'm not a big fan of rides, and she had been trying to talk me into going on one all day. I finally agreed to try out this one really intense looking slide. Basically, you go down the slide while sitting on this big inflatable thing, and it was for two people.
Naturally, I got paired up with the girl who I had the crush on. We both climbed into the inflatable, which had these little handles on it for you to hold onto when you went down. When we went down the slide, it was WAY faster than I thought it would be. I accidentally let go of one of the handles, tried to grab it again, and ended up grabbing her hand instead by accident.
I was really embarrassed, but she put her other hand on top of mine until we reached the bottom of the slide. I guess she thought I was scared, which is also kind of embarrassing. Nevertheless, it was a nice moment. She later went on to become my first kiss about six months later, and we're still close friends to this day. Little does anyone know that it all started with an accidental slip of the hand!
45. You’ve Got a Friend in Me
At one point in my life, one of my best friends told me that they were in love with me. Unfortunately, I did not feel the same way. Thankfully, our friendship has managed to always remain the same as it had been before. Nevertheless, that fact and that moment are just a weird memory that always exists in the back of my head, even though I’ve never disclosed it with anyone.
46. Reading Between the Lines
My secret story is about the time that I once helped out a female friend's family by taking care of their cat for a week. Every day for that entire week, I would secretly snoop around their house. I found my friend's diary, and proceeded to read the entire thing. I then used the information in it to get her to like me, and she is now my wife as a result.
Pehels
47. We Did Start the Fire
I once lit a tree on fire for kicks, and ended up burning half a forest down in the process. Several homes went up in flames as a result. I don’t really know what made me do that, and I wasn’t quite sure how to feel when I realized how out of control it got. I wanted to shout out "I did that!" when I saw the story on the news. Needless to say, I’ve never spoken about the incident to anyone.
48. It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
When I was only 17 years old, I worked at a grocery store with a guy named Brian. Brian was a normal guy in his mid 20s and a little chubby. I didn't really think too much of him when we first met. Then, one day, he randomly starts to tell me about how he lives in an apartment by himself and that his neighbors are absolutely crazy.
He said that they would do things like yell at him to be quiet and pound against the wall to get him to shut up, even though he wouldn't be doing anything or making any noise. He would sneeze, and his neighbors would scream at the top of their lungs from next door. It was that bad, according to what he was telling me.
To be perfectly honest, I didn't really care much or pay too much attention when he was telling me all this. I just wanted to go home and not be at work anymore. Then, a couple of days went by and I happened to notice that Brian was not showing up for work anymore. Whatever. I didn't think much of that either.
Then, a month or two went by, and he finally showed back up to work one morning. So, being the nice friend that I am, I asked him where he had been. He tells me that he was actually fired because he was in the hospital. I didn't think that sounded like a valid reason to fire someone, but then again what do I know.
I didn't comment on that. I then asked him why he had been in the hospital, and he told me it was for "personal reasons." I told him that it was good to have him back, and carried on with my day. Fast forward a couple of days to me talking to another coworker who was good friends with Brian. He says, "Did you hear what happened to Brian?"
I responded, "Yeah, he was in the hospital and got fired or something like that, right?" My coworker then asked me, "Do you know why he was in the hospital though?" I had no idea whatsoever, so I replied, "No, I don’t. He said that it was for personal reasons so I didn’t inquire any further." He proceeded to tell me the awful story, and suddenly it all made sense.
So, this is what had really happened a couple months earlier, before Brian had disappeared. He was at home by himself one day when his neighbors (surprise, surprise) started yelling at him through the walls for being too loud. Brian finally told himself "I've had enough" and decided to call the police and have them deal with the situation.
The police arrived and started talking to the neighbors for quite some time. Hours go by with the police and neighbors. So, eventually, Brian calls the police again to ask what's taking so long. The police respond with "Umm...We left like an hour and a half ago..." Turns out that the neighbors were never yelling at him.
In fact, the neighbors never even existed. Brian was schizophrenic and had been hearing voices in his head. He had to go and check into a mental hospital for a month. That was why he wasn’t at work for that entire period. I have never told anyone about the time he ranted about his imaginary neighbors to me just days before his big incident.
49. An Offer She Couldn’t Refuse
I had always hoped to hold onto my virginity till marriage. One time, my ex-boyfriend offered me a couple thousand dollars to change that policy and sleep with him. I talked it over with some friends and, after a while, decided not to accept his offer. As a result, I remained a virgin. Then, he recently decided to contact me again with a new offer in the five-figure range. I'm accepting it this time...and I don’t ever plan on telling anyone about it!
50. The Old Switcharoo
My wife and I absolutely adore our son. It’s been amazing to watch him grow up—but neither of them know the painful secret that I’ve had to keep from them ever since the day my wife went into labor. She nearly died while giving birth, and the labor was so difficult that she fell into a coma afterward for days. When she woke up cradling our son in her arms, she had no idea about the sin I’d committed.
I secretly bought my son from a human trafficker after my wife had lost our biological child during the birth process. This is quite easy to do in my country, considering that there are a lot of very poor parents willing to give their children away.
51. The Laundry Pile
My family had a dirty clothes pile. We didn't have a dirty clothes basket or anything like that. We'd pile it near the washer and whenever my mom had time to do it, she'd throw it in the wash. This pile was next to my bedroom door—which gave me an idea that I now realize is absolutely horrifying. Using my stupid kid logic, I decided that instead of walking down the hall to the bathroom, I'd just pee on the pile.
Made perfect sense at the time; the clothes were dirty anyway! My poor mother had to wash really foul-smelling dirty clothes as the pile usually took about three days before it was enough clothes to be washed. I still feel bad about it. Love you Mom!
52. Family Friends With Benefits
I have a regular breakfast place that I had been frequenting on the weekends for about a good five or six years. One day I went into work later because of a doctor’s appointment, so I decided to pick up some breakfast at my regular place. I walk in and I take a look around to find a spot to sit at and I see my dad.
He’s sitting in a corner spot with some woman I don’t recognize. He looked shocked and I decided to walk over. He stands up and gives me a kiss/hug and introduces her as a coworker. It was the most awkward introduction of my life. My dad was an AC Repairman and was strictly on the road. No women in his office.
I pretended like I believed him, said hello and sat down on my own. Definitely one of the most awkward moments of my life that will stand out for a long time. More background: My mom and dad haven’t been together since before I was born however, he was married to another woman when this took place.
The waitresses were all my friends and a couple of days later when I went for breakfast, they proceeded to tell me how he met that lady there every week. I never brought it up to him and pretended it never happened. That was about 14 years ago...I still go to that breakfast place and the girls told me after that day he never came back to that restaurant.
In a couple of weeks, it will be one year since he passed. I’m glad I got this opportunity to think and talk about him.
