Kermit said, "It ain't easy being green." Well, the people in these stories might argue "It ain't easy being me." They were dealt the worst hands possible, but they survived to share their horrible stories on Reddit. Life isn't always a bed of roses, and these stories make that phrase look like a huge understatement. From cheating spouses to catastrophic accidents, there are times when life throws brutal punches...and these people have firsthand experience.
Love Lost
I played guitar for the last five years, and it has become one of my biggest passions. But six weeks ago, everything changed for the worse. I lost my footing while climbing a platform and I'm fairly certain I have permanent tendon damage in my left hand. It didn't sink in what exactly had happened, until I was in my car after the doctor’s appointment.
I will now spend more of my life with this faulty left hand than when it was fine. This is now the rest of my one life. My passion’s gone, I have zero activity in my life because I'm afraid of everything, and I’m slightly more useless than before. I miss the ignorance.
The High Cost of a Broken Heart
We'd been together for three years. She borrowed several hundred dollars from me a week before (knowing the whole time that she was going to do this). When she broke up with me, all she did was tell me that she didn't love me anymore. No discussion, no explanation, nothing. She then kept the break-up secret, moved to another city, mooched off of my friends, trashed their apartment, and nearly killed their dog.
A Series of Unfortunate Events
It was this year on my birthday. Everyone forgot it was my birthday. I got my period without any pads available, I forgot my lunch at home, and when I texted my friends asking if they still wanted to hang out after I had made some plans with them, it turns out they weren’t able to show up anymore. But that wasn't even the worst part.
I took a bath, which broke the freaking faucet somehow, and then went to eat some of my birthday cake (made the day prior, and of which I had had only one slice) and discovered my brother had eaten it all. I know it’s not super deep or anything, but that was a crummy day.
Game Over for This Family
One of my friends was playing online with me when I hear a knock on his door through the mic. His parents walk in and decide to tell them that he is adopted and that they are getting a divorce. All in one go. No emotional breaks or anything and my friend just breaks down over the mic as his parents walk out.
All in the Family
Standing in the rain at night, after two years of dating, I think she is about to tell me that she loves me. Nope. She tells me that she is in love with my brother and has been dating me to get closer to him. I told my brother and he said, "Heck no! Screw her!"
Road Trip of Regret
My ex-wife cheated on me, lit my house on fire, took my daughter to Puerto Rico without telling me, abandoned her daughter, ran away to Barcelona and shacked up with a guy, came back and expected me to forgive her... That's only the tip of the iceberg.
Baby Mistakes
At the start of a 450-mile road trip home from my in-laws' place, I strapped my baby daughter into her car seat and put the seat into the car. Finished packing a few small items and set off. We stopped just over two hours later and I went to take the baby out of her seat. What I found made my blood run cold. The seat hadn't been secured, it was just sitting on the back seat.
You're supposed to fasten it in place with the seatbelt and I had somehow in my sleep-deprived state forgotten to do so. We'd traveled almost 150 miles where one emergency stop or careless driver rear-ending us could have had dire consequences.
Betrayal
My moment was when I snuck into my ex-girlfriend's apartment to set up a surprise for her, only to find her in bed with my brother. Oh, and my other brother was covering for them. Before this, I had an innate feeling that my family was my one safe haven in a rather dark world. Now I know that nothing could be further from the truth.
Betrayal Before the Big Screen
Made plans to go see a movie with my friends for my 16th birthday and planned it weeks in advance. Everybody bailed the day before/of, but I decided to still go see the movie. Ran into my whole group of friends leaving the movie theater while buying popcorn.
Made for TV
I dated a girl for almost seven years before we got married and the marriage lasted less than 90 days. It ended because I found out she was having an affair with her personal trainer. I had to move out of my home and move back in with my brother while we worked our settlement out. Then she got knocked up by the guy, who was also recently married. He didn't leave his old family for her.
My life was a soap opera for a while.
Locked In
My mom was driving and a guy ran out in the road. She stopped so she wouldn’t hit him. It was nighttime, so it was pretty dark out. Then, she nearly screamed as she saw three other men emerge from the forest. They tried to grab the door handles of her car to get in. She locked the doors and gassed it to the nearest town. Remember to always lock your car after you start it, because if it was unlocked who knows what would’ve happened to her.
Almond of Me Loves Almond of You
I was in the fifth grade. We were studying the ancient Greeks, and we had a feast in our class to celebrate what we were learning about. My mom and I prepared baklava for the occasion. Then, after serving it to everyone, I found out the hard way that a girl in my class was allergic to almonds. She didn’t know at the time either. The whole experience completely traumatized me.
An Alarming Change
January 13, 2018. I was in Honolulu, Hawaii during the false alarm ballistic missile strike. I called my parents to say goodbye, and waited for the impact in the basement of our hotel with my fiancé. It took way too long for them to correct the mistake and let people know it was a false alarm. We were visibly shaken all day. But. it had an unexpected good side. Upon returning I decided that I would request three months off work for my honeymoon instead of two weeks.
We traveled the world and remembered how important family is compared to work. I still need to remind myself about it every so often though, because the grind gets to you.
A Long-Term Relationship is Worth Long Distance Calling
Dated a guy for one month short of three years. Everyone, including me, thought we’d be a forever couple. He talked about engagement and marriage within the first eight months—right up to A WEEK before it all ended. We were lying in bed, and he told me, “I can’t wait to be engaged by this time next year.” Fast forward a week. Everything was normal, we went on a nice date night, he spent a couple nights at my house, and went home.
Everything seemed fine. We texted like we always did for a few days, until he said he needed to discuss something. Long story short, he texted that he needed a break. I said I understood and would respect that. A week later he calls me and says, “You aren’t going to like what I have to say.” I asked if he was breaking up with me and he said yes.
Dated for almost three years, and you break up over the phone? I asked if there was a reason. “I haven’t loved you for the past six months.”
Good News, Bad News
My wife was acting suspicious. She was closing windows on her computer whenever I'd glance over, she was keeping secrets, she was being gone at mysterious times. I was worried she was cheating, so I did some snooping. It turns out she was throwing me a surprise birthday party, in my home state with all of my closest friends who I haven't seen in years! But there was a plot twist.
She was also having an affair.
When a Late-in-Life Romance Becomes a Nightmare
My elderly father unwittingly married a woman who would abuse him for four and a half years before we found out. We met her on the day of the wedding. That day sealed his fate. She isolated him from us, coerced him to sell his assets, stripped his bank accounts, heavily sedated him and almost, almost killed him, but we rescued him, and he lived with us until he passed.
The Harsh Truth
My mother was in a fatal car accident when I was three—but my family never told me the whole disturbing story. I found out from a newspaper article years later that it was actually all her fault. She wasn’t paying attention and crossed the yellow line and ended both her life and that of the person in the other car.
She’s a Sharp One
Drove from San Diego to Chicago in two days after my fiancé attacked me with a chef’s knife because I caught her in a lie (yes, she cheated) and told her I was leaving. She called her friends and family over, saying that I hit her, citing MY blood as evidence. Said friends and family threaten me and my family in the coming days before the threat of legal action brought it to an end.
After a few days, fiancé begs me to come back, claiming that she had stopped drinking and was taking anger management classes. In the months after I returned home, I found out more dirty details: One of the guys she cheated with threatened that he would tell me about them, so she stuck him with a paring knife. Her "gay' friend had to go to the hospital after she slashed his neck with a broken piece of sunglasses. She was arrested a few months after I left in an incident unrelated to the above for felony, domestic battery, and vandalism.
She consistently emails me saying that she wants us to move forward, that we need to talk about what happened, and that we were both to blame for her cutting me. I've blocked her on my phone and Facebook, where she used to send me explicit messages and beg me to come back.
Ninja Puker
Woke up at 3am on my friend's couch after a late night of drinking and pizza. Within about 10 seconds I proceeded to vomit what I estimated to be a full large pizza and whatever cocktail of liquid mistakes. A massive amount of vomit and most of it went on the coffee table, which had a recessed groove around it so that a glass top could sit within it. Meaning crevices full of soggy cardboard pizza puke.
I had to drunkenly clean up that mess. And take the trash out. Lift the 4-5 foot glass top out of the coffee table. Miserable accident. Meanwhile a friendly German Shepherd pup was attempting to help me clean with his own method of trying to eat it all.
Flying Away
My marriage was on the verge of collapse when my ex-wife got a job offer in another state. She had been unemployed for some time so she had to take the job. We decided I should stay behind since I had a steady job and divorce was inevitable. My wife moved out and the kids stayed with me until she got a home in her new city.
Taking my kids to the airport and putting them on a plane to move away from me was soul-crushing. I held it together until they boarded. Once they got on the plane, I lost my mind. My kids only lasted a few months with mom before packing up and moving back to live with me.
Trading Up
Dated this girl for three years and loved her, then she broke up with me for the dumbest reasons. I was pretty hurt and my best friend of 14 years goes to her side and didn't ask me how I was at all. They ended up talking and are now currently dating, and I haven't talked to him since. Everything works out in the end because I found an even better girl, so it's all good now.
Still won't talk to my friend though.
Everything Is a Lie
When I was 15, my siblings and I were put into foster care. We had no idea why until the social worker told us the reasons. One, our parents were using illegal substances. Two, our after school "jobs" were helping them pay for it. They said our money was being saved. Three, my dad wasn't my real dad and three out of five of my siblings were half-siblings.
Four, my real dad kidnapped had my brother and I when we were babies. We were returned to my mom when he confessed to ending a woman’s life and then went to the slammer. He had since been released and we visited him to discover that he had started another family. Safe to say, my mind was effectively blown. A lot to learn in one day.
Them’s Fighting Words
Right after suffering a miscarriage, my sister-in-law decided to tell me that I don’t know what being part of a family is like, since it was just me and my husband. She insisted that kids are what make a family and mocked me about it. I had to be dragged away by my husband because I was literally seconds away from getting violent on her.
I was so mad that I was ready and willing to go to prison over that idiot!
Bad News
In my sophomore year of high school, I heard people whispering and thought it was just high school drama and rumors. First hour started. Then the teacher walked in. She told the class the terrible truth. A student had passed away by suicide. I thought it was a joke. I knew the name. I knew his sister. I played soccer with her for years.
As the day continued, it became more and more apparent that he was really gone. The whole school’s atmosphere changed. People that didn’t even know him were crying in the halls. Kids I knew since kindergarten were missing from school, mourning his passing. I came home that day and just sobbed in my room. It didn’t seem real, and honestly, it still doesn’t.
I didn’t know him well, honestly. I just knew his sister. When we were younger, we attended the same church together, but it still hurt knowing that he was gone.
A Tale of Two Babies
This was many, many years ago... Lying in bed after doing the deed, and as we were both in a loving mood, I tell him that I’d found out that day I was pregnant. He kind of laughs, I ask what was so funny and he says, “Kerry told me today she is pregnant” (he was 21 training to be a chef; Kerry was 18 and just starting training to be a chef).
I asked why that was funny and he says it’s because it’s his. I got up, got dressed and went home. Spent days crying on my mum's shoulder. Two months later, they got married, Her parents had insisted. He and I had been together just over a year (he had been seeing her for a month on the side). My daughter is the absolute love of my life, he decided to cut all parental ties with her before she was born.
Kerry and her parents wanted it that way. My mum was an absolute rock for me those first few years.
Some Branches of the Family Tree Aren’t Worth Saving
My older cousin’s birthday is three days after mine, so my family tends to just skip mine and focus on his. I decided one year to throw a party for my birthday at my house. I paid for all the food and drinks and decorations. Had my mom help me set everything up. Had a bar set up with drinks. Had a buddy of mine DJ. Everyone shows up. Most of them didn't even bother saying happy birthday to me.
And my aunt (not my cousin’s mom), who didn't even say anything to me upon arriving, gifted my cousin a two-week trip to Europe, fully paid for, and then made MY ENTIRE PARTY sing Happy Birthday to him and not even acknowledge me. And mind you I threw this party for me because I have always been the outcast of my family and thought hey, if I throw it for myself maybe they will actually be nice to me. And not in a material way. I just wanted some attention from my family who has always shut me out from everything.
Needless to say, I don't talk to any of them besides maybe once during the holidays and it's always the obligated, “Hey how you been?" Sometimes life is better when you're completely alone and accept it.
This Plan Was Sunk from the Beginning
Watched a mom and her kid on a boat escorted by law enforcement back to the dock. Her boyfriend had gone swimming off the boat. The wind pushed the vessel away from him. She didn't know anything about how to turn it on to move it closer. It kept getting farther, he kept swimming harder. He eventually slipped under and was recovered 80 feet down a few days later.
I'll never forget the look on her face. Never. He was a 28-year-old airman. Peak health. Wear a life jacket, people. You are not stronger than mother nature. And don't leave a boat without someone who can drive it safely.
Seems a Little Harsh...
When I was eight, I was on a road trip with my family, and my dad got lost. He got REALLY angry when he got lost. So to vent his frustration, he pulled over to a Jack in the Box and had me come in with him (he demanded that only I come with him, no one else). He relieved his tensions by sitting me down and telling me for ten minutes why he didn't like me.
From the way I cleaned my room, to the way I did in school, to the way I SPOKE—he told me how he despised everything about eight-year-old me. I'll never forget him saying, "I don't like a single darn thing about you." Hard to take when you're eight and your dad is still Superman to you.
Conned 0ut of Love
My ex-girlfriend who I was still relatively good friends with swiped my debit card when we were hanging out one time. She then proceeded to wipe out my bank account. When I confronted her, she told me it was to help pay for an abortion because her current boyfriend got her pregnant. Anyways, I stopped hanging out with her and the last I heard she had joined the army and was kicked out a couple years later due to a addiction.
Way to Leave Us Hanging
A long time ago, back when I was still in middle school my mom's best friend passed on. She wouldn't tell me how it happened. Only that it was sudden. When I asked why we weren't going to the funeral she told me that there wouldn't be one because "her body was being donated to science." I didn't ask any more questions. That was the last time we ever talked about her.
Well, five months ago my mom handed me her phone to find the number for Domino's and as I'm scrolling through her contacts I come across the phone number of the dead best friend. Biggest WTF moment of my life. The next day I called it from a pay phone at Waffle House and she picked up. I instantly recognized the voice and accent.
She's not dead. Turns out, my mom had been lying all these years about her BEST FRIEND BEING DEAD. It was beyond messed up.
Brotherly Bonds
My brother went back to prison a few months ago after violating parole. When he called me, he said, "I'm sorry I let you down." I was doing all right until someone asked me what was wrong and then the tears just started.
The Meet the Parents Franchise Gets Dark
My boyfriend's mom made a birthday meal for me. The night before the meal, he verified what kind of cake and frosting I wanted to have. The day of, he was being dodgy over text about not wanting to go his parents' place to eat. Since I knew they made a special dish just for me, I showed up on the time we had agreed to beforehand.
Barely five minutes after I arrived, he showed up in a state of distress. He accepted a phone call from his ex-fiancé and left me with his parents for ten minutes while talking to her in a different room. When he got off the phone call, he came over to me, looked me straight in the eyes and told me, "This is a nightmare."
I got up and thanked his parents for preparing the meal (that hadn't yet been served) and asked him to come outside with me. He dumped me on the driveway of his parents' house at my own birthday celebration.
Get Less Emotional
My best friend stopped talking to me after my dad passed. Took the whole friend group with him. Apparently I was “too emotional.” I was 13. Having my entire friend group walk away from me when I was in such a bad place stuck with me forever.
Put a Ring On It
I called my fiancee at work and their receptionist asked, "Is this her boyfriend, Dave?" "No... it's her fiancé." I'd had suspicions for a few months before that but this was the clincher. So glad I got out of that one.
Long Lost
Back when I was in college I got a girl pregnant. When my mother found out, her reaction was devastating. She broke down crying and divulged that I have a brother out there somewhere that I had never met before. She had given the boy up for adoption long before I came around. I still wonder to this day if I will run into him at some point.
Pregnant Disaster
I was pregnant with my oldest daughter and had extreme pain one day, so I came home early from work. When I get home I see two purses that I knew weren't mine sitting on the stand. I head to my room to see if my then-boyfriend could explain the purses; I'm hearing noises coming from our room. I opened the door to peek in and he is having a threesome. I close the door and just go back into the living room.
I was shocked. I was supposed to be on bed rest, but I was the only one who had a job, so I was going to school and working while he got to stay home all day. I was livid, but what was scary is that I was so furious that I remained calm. I went into the living room, sat on the couch and waited for them to come out; when they finally did I asked them if they had fun?
I told them they needed to get out of my apartment. He tried to talk to me, but I told him he needed to get out. I calmly packed off of his stuff up, had a friend come over because I couldn't do heavy lifting being 7 months pregnant and dropped his stuff off at his parents' house that night. It's still shocking to me that I remained so calm being that angry.
The Real Dystopia is at Home
I was turning 11, I think, and The Hunger Games had just come out. I was obsessed, so I asked my mom for a cake that looked like exactly like the book—with the Mockingjay pin and everything. Well, it was a Sunday, so we had to go to church. I forget what I did, but I misbehaved, and my mom beat the absolute snot out of me.
In the birthday pictures, you can see the bruised eye and I don't think I'll show my kids (if I ever have any) those pictures.
You Think You've Had a Long Flight?
I had just got on a flight in London headed to Vegas. Sitting next to my girlfriend and she wants to show me something she has planned for the trip so gets out her phone. It opens to the Messages and shows a chat with a guy (I know him) saying how much she is gonna miss him and how she doesn't wanna go away with me anyway. The doors close on the plane. That was a really fun 10-11hrs...
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Never Trust Mega Churches
This was the scariest weekend of my life. My ex-husband and I were different religions. I was a catholic and he was Baptist. He wasn't that religious when we got married, but when he hit a life crisis, he became born-again, started attending the nearest mega church all the time. When we divorced, he really went off the deep end. He told his church friends that I had died in a car wreck and he had to go get the kids. Then he kidnapped our children and went into hiding.
Since he was also in the army, thank God, I got a colonel up at 3:00 a.m. and told him what had happened. He was back with the kids in 72 hours. That was the weekend I nearly lost everything.
Ruthless
It was almost a year ago. My girlfriend, who I was madly in love with and had moved my entire life for her, stuck with her and helped without saying a word when she was clinically depressed, broke up with me. While I stood looking at her and started to feel tears in my eyes, she called me "pathetic." Then she gave me a week to move back to my old town, sort out a new job, etc.
But that wasn’t the worst part. She started dating before I had even moved out.
Saved by the Trees
I was once driving to my aunt's house down a residential street where the speed limit was 25. I was going the speed limit or maybe even a little less because the sun was setting and getting in my eyes. In the shade of a tree, a kid was riding leisurely across the street. He had to have seen me because there were no cars parked on the street and it wasn't on a hill.
I didn't see him at first because of the sun in my eyes. I only spotted him in the shade of the tree when I was inches away from his bike. I slammed on my brakes, slammed on my horn, and just barely missed the kid. His reaction was chilling. He didn't even look at me or acknowledge my presence at all. It was as if I didn't exist.
Maybe he was deaf, I don't know, although there were no “deaf children at play” signs on the street. After collecting myself and calming my emotions from the ensuing panic attack that I immediately experienced, I drove on. When I looked in my rearview mirror, he was still in the middle of the road on his bike, this time with another kid talking to him.
I assume that the other kid saw the kid on the bike almost get hit by a car.
Commander Take Command
Former "best friend," college and med-school roommate, banged and knocked up my ex-wife while I was deployed on the USS Nimitz (big loud aircraft carrier) for six months. But that wasn't all. The two jerks freaking wrecked and almost destroyed the 1965 Ford Thunderbird my grandfather passed down to me.
The Upside of Not Knowing
The day we found out that the doctors were going to stop being aggressive with my father's treatment was very difficult. My grandparents flew back from Florida to get his affairs in order. Apparently, my dad (a near-broke alcoholic) had not paid any of his life insurance premiums. My grandparents found out and paid all the late bills which allowed my siblings to collect on the multimillion-dollar policy.
To this day I am grateful because I didn't find out until a few days after about the whole situation. Now I have enough money to pay for college and buy my first home.
Leave the Swords in the Game
I met a girl I really liked online on World of Warcraft, but she lived in another country. After a couple of vacations there, it turned into a relationship. Made the decision to move and start a new life there with her. After living there for four months, I came to a disturbing realization. She was crazy as heck. Huge mood swings paired with a lot of aggression.
One night, she knifed me in the side while I was asleep. Needless to say, after getting out of the hospital I took the first plane back home. She's still in a psychiatric hospital.
What a Rat!
I had an abusive stepfather when I was a kid. When I say abusive, I mean things like beatings, gaslighting, manipulation, and many other varieties of psychological and physical abuse. I hated him more than I’ve ever hated anyone in my life, and one night it came to a horrifying turning point. I decided to make rat poison tea to give him. But then, when I tried to make it, it turned out that the rat poison we had in our house would not dissolve in the tea.
It’s for the best. He’s still a terrible person, but at least I’m not a murderer.
Puppy Love Til the End
The last time I legitimately cried was in 2010 when we put my childhood dog down. I was a senior in high school, we had him since I was in first grade in 1998. He was my first and only childhood dog, a Siberian husky, and I feel like we grew up in that house together. He had some cancerous tumor in his stomach that was spreading rather quickly, and the attempt at removing didn't go so well as they couldn't get it all.
We decided as a family to let him go peacefully so he didn't have to suffer, as they promised us it would continue to grow and possibly cause him severe pain in the near future. I'll never forget holding him in my arms in that room as the vet asked me if I was ready for the moment. When she injected him I felt his entire body sink into my arms, he was lifeless in an instant.
Bad, Bad Girlfriend
I was in what I later realized was a very bad relationship, but at the time, this dude was like a religion to me. I was crazy about him. My best friend at the time was sort of a "mean girl,” but I wasn't very good at making friends so I put up with her being cruel to people. She would never do anything to hurt me right?
Anyway, that relationship started getting abusive, but I kept with it because you know; I was young and stupid. I convinced myself that if I tried a little harder, everything would just fix itself. It didn't, and after a few months, we broke up. Sometime later I was at a party, and my "friend" was a bit drunk. She told me (laughing the entire time) how she and this jerk were sleeping with each other two weeks after we started dating.
She details how they would sleep together while he was talking to me on the phone and then laugh about it. She went on to detail all of the ways and places they used to sneak around to sleep with each other. And this was the girl I would cry to when my ex would hurt me. She didn't seem to have any idea that what she was saying was screwed up.
She actually thought that I would think it was funny too.
Plane Context
I was reading about a plane crash while I was at the hospital, volunteering. I didn't think much of it. Once I got back home, my aunt was crying. My younger sister came up and whispered that my uncle was on that plane. It really changed my outlook on life, and how death can come out of left field.
We’ve All Juggled Multiple Chats
He picked me up to stay at his place for the night. Then, he spent the entire night on MSN talking to some other girl right in front of me. When I mentioned that it was a bit messed up, he said he'd be done in a minute and asked me to get him a drink and he'd shut the computer off. When I came back upstairs, he'd locked his bedroom door.
I knocked and asked him to let me in he told me to shut up and that he was trying to sleep. I asked him to take me home and he ignored me. I only had a couple of quid on me until the next day (payday) so I couldn't afford a taxi home and it was too late to get a bus back to where I lived. Too far to walk as well, so I just went and slept on his couch, no blanket or anything, so I was freezing. About 2 AM his alcoholic mother came crashing in and sat on me.
I wouldn't have stayed with him after all this BS, but I think he was definitely the one who initiated this entire scenario. We weren't together that long really so it didn't bother me too much, but it was still a horrible way to get canceled.
Just Checking In On Ya
A few years ago I went to the kitchen around 2:00 a.m. to get a glass of water. I figured why put the lights on if I'm gonna be done in five seconds, right? So, 10-year-old me was in complete darkness when I noticed someone staring through our window, with their hands pressed against the glass (we had see through curtains).
I screamed at the top of my lungs and froze. Mom woke up and came running to the kitchen to me crying like a baby in my pajamas. He was already gone, but I told her what happened, so she went outside with a knife to look for him but never found him. And that's why we don't have see-through curtains anymore. I still have an irrational fear of the dark.
This Bowl is Super Empty
My birthday is at the very end of January, so it this coincides with the Super Bowl. 16th birthday was going to be a Super Bowl party. Gave out a ton of invites, paper and verbal. Had a bunch of people say they would swing by either for the whole thing or for the first half. Blah Blah Blah. Put out snacks, had the game on the big screen. Only had two people show up, and they didn't even come inside. They just dropped off a small cake on their way to a different Super Bowl party.
At halftime, I finally gave up hope that anyone else was showing up and told my mom to put the snacks away as I was going to bed.
It’s the Thought That Counts
20 or some odd years ago I caught my ex, not actually having sex, but in bed with another guy. On Valentine's Day. With a dozen roses in my hand. What a horrible person. Fighting would get you kicked out of college, so I told the much smaller guy that as soon I saw him off campus someday, I'd kill him.
Fifteen years and worlds later, I'm at an engagement party at a bar, and some friends come up and tell me the guy over there is extremely scared of me and thinks I'm going to kill him. I look over and couldn't stop laughing. It was so far in the past, but for some reason, that guy remembered it like I had sworn an oath to avenge my family. It felt good. His fear was redemption enough.
A Most Unwelcoming Surprise
Story from my father. He knew a friend who had a very sweet girlfriend. The friend was out of town and returning home. It was his birthday. So, she decided to decorate their home. Looks good. The last touch is switching the broken lightbulb. Grabs it, gets shocked, dead. Her boyfriend comes home to a decorated home, turns around the corner and sees his girlfriend lying dead on the floor.
Snooping for Better and Worse
Best mate from school decided he liked my girlfriend. Her phone went off while it was sitting in front of me one day and I noticed it was from him so I glanced at the message…and my stomach dropped. ”I'm so in love with you too, I just don't know what to tell him but I guess it’s his problem, not ours babe.”
Smoke Through It
Last week, when I was randomly scrolling Reddit and saw that video of the guy giving bad CPR to the dog. Some commenter below it mentioned the statistics of surviving CPR and it brought back some heavy memories for me. I was a tour guide for an adventure travel company and had a client collapse on tour. I gave CPR until the paramedics arrived.
He didn’t make it, and I had to console his daughter who was also on the tour. I think I self-medicated with daily weed usage for years afterward, and I’ve recently quit toking. Somehow, that innocuous comment set off a pathway in my brain that brought the emotional weight of the event come flooding back. I remembered the blank stare and the guttural sounds and the wail of his daughter when the paramedics tried and failed to revive him.
I burst into tears in my office cubicle and went to the bathroom to have a silent cry. It didn’t occur to me that I had never properly processed this event until I was off weed.
A Telling Grin
Picture this. I am sitting on this gross yellow couch in the shared living room of a three-bedroom apartment. I've only known the people that I'm living with for maybe two months. Random roommates I found online. My boyfriend is sitting next to me. I kiss him and cuddle up to him. It’s been a very long, hard day. I am tired. He says, "We need to talk."
I look up at him, he looks down at me. With a big grin on his face he says, "I slept with Kathleen last night." My roommate. I got up, walked into my room, shut the door, and told him to leave. He begged me to open the door. For an hour I'm packing, and he's begging my forgiveness from outside the door. But there's one thing I can't ever un-see: that smile on his face. He was happy to be breaking my heart.
I left the next day. Moved back to my hometown. It was only supposed to be for the summer, until I found a new place to live near school. But a week later I went on my first date with my husband. Sometimes even the worst situations turn out to be huge blessings.
Free Fallin’
When my daughter was just seven weeks old, I was going out to the coffee shop around the block from my house. It was a rainy day, but the rain had stopped briefly. I put her in my Moby Wrap pouch and went out. I went and got a coffee and a sandwich. On my way back home, I went to step up onto the sidewalk. Instead, my toe clipped the curb.
I tripped and fell forward. My daughter was thrown out of the wrap and onto the sidewalk. Luckily, I was closer to the ground when it happened as I was falling as well, and the fall wasn’t as far as it could have been. She began to cry immediately and all I could do was sit there on the wet sidewalk, rocking her back and forth while a woman was standing next to me shouting, “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!”
I didn’t have my cell phone with me because I was just running out. A kind gentleman let me use his and I called my husband who was working around the block. He was there in seconds. We went to the emergency room and got lots of tests done. I watched as my seven-week-old daughter was placed in a CT scan, and I felt so helpless.
Thankfully, she turned out to be completely fine. Nevertheless, that was the worst day of my life. I can still close my eyes and see her falling to the ground. Although this experience was terrifying, it taught me some important lessons: that kids are resilient; that if they cry immediately then they’re probably okay and that if they move immediately then they’re probably okay.
Another valuable lesson was that you’re gonna screw things up as a parent from time to time no matter what, so don’t be too hard on yourself.
The Heart Sometimes Lies
"I never loved you, I don't love you, and I never will. You're not worth 10 seconds of my time." This was after a year of telling me I was #1, that he loved me and would always love me, that I was the one person he wanted to talk to every single day. He had never felt this way about anyone before, he'd take a bullet for me, his heart would beat so fast and hands would sweat when he was with me because he was nervous, he promised forever, etc.
He swore on his mother's life, he swore to God, etc...then we had sex, he gave me genital herpes and ghosted me. He was the second partner I've ever had, and I used condoms with the first. Anyway, when I cried and begged for an explanation, that was the response. I spent the next year literally crying every single day, multiple times a day.
Ain’t No Mannequin Challenge
Me and my family were hiking Easter morning along the Grand River and me and my sister wanted to explore the riverbank, so we each went our separate ways. I saw a backpack hanging from a small tree so I went over. When I got closer I saw a mannequin. The mannequin’s hand was holding onto a branch.
It was lying face down in the mud wearing jeans and a hoodie with the hood up. There was a weapon on the ground (I thought it was fake) and an empty pack of Scooby-Doo fruit gummies. I decided to kick the thing, but when my foot connected with its thigh, my blood ran cold. I instantly knew it was no mannequin. It was a person. I bolted out of there and I told my dad.
After we called the authorities, we found out that the guy had ended his own life (bullet to the roof of the mouth) but he slightly misfired and probably lived for around 30 seconds after the shot.
The authorities were very surprised we didn't hear a shot because it was that recent. The reason why I thought it was a mannequin was because his hand was elevated. This caused all of the blood drain out and pool in his body, which made his hand look snow white. Never saw any blood and never got to find out what was in the bag. Thank god I didn't see his face.
Indecent Proposal
Oh boy, story time, so, I'd been with this girl for two years, I was madly in love with her, I was going to propose. Bought a ring, went to pay her a surprise visit, walked in because I had a key, found her in bed with another man. Threw the box with the ring at her, walked out, drove off, never looked back. Got about five miles away, pulled over and broke down crying.
Parental Guidance Heavily Advised and Intoxicated
On my ninth birthday, my mum took me and six girls from my class to the cinema. About ten minutes into the movie she says, "Gonna go get another Coke, you guys want anything?" We said no thanks, we're fine. She doesn't come back. Movie ends and I can't find her in the lobby, the bathrooms, outside, anywhere. It's dark, I'm miles from home with no way of contacting anyone and my friends and I are all really scared.
I ended up going into a toy shop beside the cinema, crying my eyes out and asked the manager to please help me. He calls the guards (Irish cops) and my friends and I get taken back to my house in two squad cars. My stepdad was absolutely horrified to see us coming home like that. I was really upset and in no mood to celebrate. We did the cake and presents routine, and my friends' parents picked them up soon after.
My mum eventually showed up later that night, drunk as all heck. I didn't even bother yelling at her; it was a familiar situation and I knew there was no point. I cried myself to sleep that night. Then Monday arrived, and the girls had told everyone in our class what had happened, and nobody would talk to me. I was the most miserable moment of my life.
All their parents found out as well, nobody was allowed to come to my house anymore and I didn't get invited anywhere either. It remained that way for the next three years of primary school. Kids can be so cruel. Also, my dad died eight days before my fourth birthday, and my granddad died on my 21st.
Keeping This One Would Be Worse for Your Health
I was sick in bed. He said he was coming over to drop off some of the stuff that I left at his house on his lunch break. He comes in, wakes me up, and says he is dumping me. I’m naked, blind (no contacts), and confused. I ask him if we can talk about it, and he replies, “No, I’m on my lunch break, I have to get to work.” Leaves his key and leaves.
Later that evening, I am taken to the hospital and diagnosed with appendicitis and scheduled for an appendectomy. Oh yeah, he accused me of faking being sick. He’s a jerk though, I lucked out big time.
Can’t Stay Off Facebook
My dad was an addict since I was born. I had a pretty rough childhood, constantly moving houses as my parents tried to get clean. Eventually, my mom got clean and sober—it was her 14-year anniversary last weekend—but my dad didn't. Because of this he wasn't a constant figure in my life, always coming and going.
This last year we finally got really close and he felt like a dad to me. We hung out all the time, I talked to him about my dreams and aspirations, etc. I was so happy—I finally had a dad. He went missing the day after my graduation ceremony for high school. No one heard from him in four weeks, he quit his job, left his home- everything.
Then one night I get a phone call that he had passed. My heart was shattered. They flew his body out to Seattle so I never got closure. It's been five months since he passed away. I started seeing activity on his Facebook profile and it would tick me off and make me confused like someone was screwing with me.
I asked my mom about it, who asked my grandma (my dad's mom) about it—and the chilling truth came out. My dad faked his passing because he didn't think he could ever get clean and didn't wanna keep hurting me, but now he's clean again and decided he changed his mind. I found this out two weeks ago. I have no idea what to do, so I just haven't done or said anything about it.
Princess is in Another Castle
I was really excited for my 19th birthday. I was going to have lunch with my girlfriend, hang out with my friends after, and end the evening with pizza at my parents’ home (as is family tradition; screw cake). The girlfriend's mum picks me up (no car at the time because I was living with the girlfriend and paying rent) and we go down to her university and she has to pick up some books so we go to the bookstore and she kills two hours in lines and shopping for clothing.
Not all the books were bought, so we went to an off-campus book store. Another hour or so in line. I text my friends and cancel our plans. We then go to the Olive Garden, and she spends the whole time talking to her mum about something that the mum's most recent boyfriend did. I started chatting up the server and mentioned it was my birthday to her.
SHE wished me a happy birthday. My girlfriend looked at me puzzled. She had forgotten it. It's now 8 PM and we are driving home. I'm in the backseat and I call my parents and tell them that I'll be home soon. There's an accident down the road on the freeway...my parents call me and ask where I am. I tell them to eat without me.
Three hours later, we are out of the traffic jam, and I go to my parents’ home and burst into tears. Broke up with her a few weeks later because she was cheating on me (for months now) and I was still salty about her forgetting my birthday and ruining that day. I hope you have a happy birthday! May it be less awful than my worst.
Plot Twist on the Playground
I had one friend. I was bullied by everyone at elementary school. Because my friend would be bullied too when they hung out with me at school, we only played outside of school. One day a popular kid asked to play with me during recess. I was ecstatic! Until after a while they said, "You're not as bad as 'friend' said you are.”
And that's how I learned why I was bullied.
Love is Not a Game
I'd finished doing the daily quests on my WoW character, and I knew he wasn't going to be home for a while so like many times before (with his permission) I logged into his account to do dailies for him. Then the private messages started. Very explicit PMs. Not only was he cheating on me in a game (with loads of people, cybering in WoW, eugh), but there was one girl who was talking about things outside the game too.
I admit I played along for a while to see what was going on. After that, I told her who I was. It all ended rather badly, between her and me, him and me, and him and her.
Stealing Bones
11 years ago my husband had a bone marrow transplant. While we were in the big city for this (three months) we had friends and family taking up donations and paying our bills with them. One of these "friends" kept the money for herself and let our bills go in arrears. When I found this out, my husband was basically fighting to live through the worst part of the recovery process of a bone marrow transplant. Made me sick.
11. Wow, Mom
My mother told me she was sick of being with dad. She told me a bunch of things he'd done which made her afraid of him. She asked me to tell a few of her close friends about how she was being treated, because she wanted them to understand why she was leaving. Then she decided to stay with him. So she told her friends that she had no idea what was wrong with me. She literally said they should pray for me because it looked like I was going through something.
My own mother stabbed me in the back.
Maids of Dishonor
This actually happened pretty recently. I am getting married in less than three months and I was supposed to have a get-together with my bridesmaids, four life-long friends, and my older sister. My sister is a very unreliable, mildly selfish, drama-filled person. My friends are all reliable, amazing people who have been there for me my entire life. It went horrifically.
The get-together, which was basically replacing my bridal shower since I wasn’t going to have a shower, ended up only consisting of my sister showing up on time and excited, and just one of my friends who showed up right at the end of the event. The others' excuses: “I don’t feel good." Her Snapchat showed her out drinking just a few hours later.
“I decided not to come into town.” “I woke up late and decided to hang out with my other friends.” I’m hard on myself, so I feel a little petty—but, come on, this is my wedding. I haven’t spoken to the other three since then because I can’t even bring myself to say anything to them other than how utterly disappointed I still am. This is when I discovered my friends aren't my friends.
Black Crack Magic
My parents split when I was three, and I moved in full time with my dad when I was five, still visiting my mom on the weekends. I come home from school one day, I'd say I was about seven, and my dad tells me my mom's house caught on fire. The official report was that a lit smoke had fallen between the armrest and couch cushion.
When I was 14, I got out of my second group home and my mom had just gotten out of a three-year stint in prison for grand theft auto—among other things, trying to keep this short and sweet. I took my dog and went to her tiny apartment to stay the night. She tells me the house fire was caused by a candle being turned over from a table that was behind the couch.
It was a candle she had lit in an attempt to use black magic to bring her friend back to life. I lost so many freaking toys so she could ask her passed friend what her old crack dealer’s phone number was.
Making a Fuss
When I was a baby, my dad played on a softball team. Typical social team, out for beers and pizza after with the guys, family event-type-thing. My parents were good friends with two of the other couples, both of them had young kids as well. On this occasion, the other two couples had left their kids at one of their houses, with a babysitter they were splitting.
They invited my parents back to the house to have some more beers that night, but I was being fussy and my mom nixed the idea (though they would 100% have normally gone back to hang out). Well, it turned out my fussiness on that day saved our lives. When the other parents got back to the house, they entered a waking nightmare.
Two men had broken in, tied up the kids and the babysitter (and her boyfriend), and were waiting for the parents. Took the parents hostage as well, and made the dads drive with them to banks/a grocery store where one dad was manager and clear out accounts/a safe.
Fifth Time’s the Charm
My wonderful and beloved husband had several brain tumors and died a horrible, painful death after a long period of suffering. After he passed, shortly before our 25th anniversary, five different people told me how “lucky” I was to be a widow, and not divorced like them. After hearing that for the fifth time, I absolutely lost it…
A Crashing Realization
When I was seventeen, I was in a very serious car accident. I broke my femur, dislocated my ankle, shattered my jaw, broke a lot of my teeth, and collapsed my left lung. I was life-flighted to the nearest hospital that had an ICU, and was in surgery the next morning (I got to the hospital at around 7 pm). But it got worse.
When I woke up, about a day later, they removed my catheter and told me I needed to pee or else they would put it back in. I tried, and tried, and tried, and I couldn't pee in the plastic urinal in my bed. When they came back to check on me, I asked (painfully through my freshly wired jaw) if they could help me. They brought in a walker to hold myself up with, and one nurse held me upright and another helped me with the urinal. I was so weak I couldn't do the deed by myself. I felt... humiliated.
When they helped me back into my chair, I just stared at my reflection in the television. My face stitched, my teeth wired shut with steel, bloodshot eyes and nostril filled with dried snot and blood. A deep depression came over me. I felt so alone, even though I was in a building with thousands of people. I felt like I had died. As I stared at my battered figure in the television screen, I thought about my life. I was a horrible person. All I cared about was myself. I thought I was independent. Now, I sat in a hospital chair, barely able to move or speak, and full of metal and stitches.
I decided that this was my wake-up call. I did my best every day to get a little better. It was slow and painful, but today I'm 23, and life has changed for the better. I have such a different outlook on life, and had I not been in my accident, I probably would have ended up leading a terrible life with no friends and no family.
Don’t Save the Date
She cheated on me (only found out three years later when she posted the date of her anniversary with him) and ended it with me to go out with him because he was all excited to get married to her. I wanted to wait until her kids from a prior marriage graduated from college. They were engaged a little over a year later.
Funny ending. Since we were never married, but I was providing significant financial support to her, she lost all access to any of my income after she ended the relationship. My guess is he discovered after two or three years that he had made a mistake because he refused to set a wedding date. Around the year that we were originally scheduled to get married, they broke up.
A Ghosting of a Gift
21st birthday. The week leading up to it my (now ex, thank goodness) boyfriend had been ignoring me, typical stuff. So, the day comes, we take a boat ride (not my idea but hey, who cares it's only my birthday). Naturally after we end up at the bars, working our way back home and surely enough I'm drunk off my ass by the time we get there.
So, seeing this, he decides that now would be a good time to pick a huge argument with me in the middle of the bar, followed by a dramatic exit so he could smoke a cigarette, or so I assumed. It wasn't until I realized it had been like 20 or so minutes that I walked outside to realize he had left me there.
Power in Numbers
I had accused my boyfriend of cheating previously but over and over he turned it around and got upset that I didn't trust him. Finally, after talking to the girl he cheated with on the phone, we called him together and he came clean. Couldn't lie to us both.
Still Need You
This incident gave me years of depression. I met my best friend online through Minecraft, never made friends in this, and I just wanted to play with someone, so I complimented this girl’s skin. We started talking. She was American, I’m Polish and my English sucked. We moved to Skype and at first, I mostly typed, but later on she started teaching me English somehow by talking with me.
She was one year older. We knew each other for almost a year, and I was staying up all night just to talk to her and her friends who she introduced to me. She was also depressed, so we talked with each other and she was the first person who truly listened to me. We had plans of visiting each other. Then, our mutual friend told me the horrific truth.
She had passed on by suicide. Four years have passed by and now, at least, I can talk about it and not cry. I still miss her very much though.
In It for the U-Haul
When I was 21, I came home from work and everything was gone. There was only a milk crate, the tiny TV, a trash can, and the box spring to the mattress left. I started to freak out that someone had taken everything, including my girlfriend at the time, and I called the authorities. I was pretty panicked, but the 9-1-1 operator was able to calm me down and inform me of the reality: My girlfriend had left me.
Saving Who You Can
I just found out last week that all my life, my mother has been addicted to speed and has been hiding her addiction from my sister and I as best she can. On top of that, every single night, she takes sleeping pills. I also learned that her family is convincing her to lie to my father and continue her addiction, instead of getting help, purely to spite my father.
I'd always suspected my mother had a problem, but never brought it up. It was just too uncomfortable, the kind of thing that tears families apart once it comes to light. My younger sister is still in the dark, and I intend to keep it that way. For now, I'm just watching my mother slowly destroy herself, nothing I can do.
Escape
Imagine this, life is amazing. Everything is so well. Your dating this girl who you love with everything you got. You've been dating this girl for a year and your thinking to yourself, when we are both seniors, I'm going to propose to her and marry her. You remember the first time you kissed, you remember the first time you had dinner. Everything is perfect.
Now, one day, your parents come home early from work. You’re playing Rocket League in preparation of maybe joining an e-sports league one day. Suddenly, your dad starts crying and saying sorry over and over. Mom is doing the same. I ask what’s wrong and they finally say it. "Something happened to your girlfriend. She’s dead."
Now, come back to reality. That story happened to me. She passed on September 21, 2017. She was 16. My whole world disappeared. The girl I wanted to marry just disappeared before my eyes. The next day, I found out that she had hanged herself. No note, no audio, no call, no 13 tapes. Just gone without saying goodbye. All of this happened to me.
I couldn't cope with the world for a month. I skipped school and came back after winter break. I still wish I could have saved her, or that I could find out the reasons why she did what she did.
Quality over Quantity
My father was diagnosed with an advanced stage of a rare cancer, and he fought for over a year with traditional chemo and radiation. Sometime early in the year 1999, a radical trial surgery became available for him in Philadelphia. The whole family left on a road trip to the hospital where the surgery was scheduled. About half-way to Philly, we stopped for lunch. At the end of our meal, my father made a chilling announcement.
He decided he didn’t want to go, and that we should return home. He said, "I want to have fewer good days with you, rather than more bad days." We then turned around and went home.
I will never forget that day.
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Screw It, Joining the Navy
In high school I was in love with one of my best friends (I'll call her Jackie). Jackie and I dated a little bit then right before prom I found out she was screwing my other best friend (I'll call him Sam). Turned out they were going to prom together and had planned on never even coming to pick me up. I confronted him about it and he spread rumors around the school that I smacked Jackie around and emotionally abused her.
I found this out when I arrived at the prom and had a mob of people drag me behind the hotel and beat me until I couldn't scream anymore. Nobody ever believed that they lied so I joined the Navy to get away instead of going to the college I had planned on attending with my friends.
The Cause of Her Concerns
When my younger sister was in middle school, she took a very sudden and unexplained dip at one point. Seemingly overnight, she went from being a bouncy, sunny kid who loved going outside and seeing her friends to kind of reserved and struggling to keep her grades up. Her friends stopped coming around, crazy rumors about her started, and she was just overall seeming really depressed and nervous all the time.
Our parents were very into the "just suck it up" mentality, so they told her to just push through and be better. I tried to get her to tell me what had happened, and she told me the same thing she told our parents: that kids at school were bullying her and that her friends were being mean. I didn't buy it, but there was nothing I could do about it at the time.
Then, one day at the dinner table, we were all talking about town gossip, as was our family’s custom, when my mom brought up how a teacher at my sister's school was looking for a hand in getting rid of some old furniture from his late father's house. She mentioned that she had volunteered the family to go over and help out that coming weekend.
My sister’s reaction was chilling. She immediately broke down into having sobs, howling at the top of her lungs as though someone had just died. You can probably guess where it all went from there. She confessed that the teacher's son, who was a sophomore when my sister was in seventh grade, had assaulted her.
When she tried to tell the teacher about it, he immediately shut her down, called her a liar, and threatened to fail her if she ever tried to tell anyone about it. I had to spend the following day in class with that monster while my parents sorted out how they were going to handle the situation. Believe me when I say it took everything I had not to lose my cool on this kid.
I am not a violent person by nature, but I had to sit there with him a foot away and all I could think about was smashing his face into the tiles until the light left his eyes. That was over ten years ago and he's in jail now, but I think I'd still have to fight to contain myself if I was ever in the same room as him again.
Gone, Baby, Gone
My boyfriend began to act like we were nothing. He developed a real nasty attitude towards me. When I had enough and asked him why he was treating me this way, he finally cracked. He got another girl pregnant and didn't know how to tell me. He figured that if he pushed me away then he wouldn't have to do it. It only hurt even more.
First(born) is the Worst
Family forgot my 14th birthday. I quietly told them at the end of the day. My dad yelled at me for not speaking up sooner, while my mom denied she forgot and was just "waiting" for the surprise. The surprise was $10 in a brown sack lunch bag. For context, that same year my sister's 15th birthday took place in a country club, and she got a brand-new car she wanted even though she couldn't drive for another year.
We Feel For You
This is so recent (a week ago). I went to the spot I first took her to on the ship we worked on to surprise her, and she was on top of another dude. They looked me in the face and laughed when they saw me. I absolutely loathe infidelity, and feel for all the victims of heartache.
Strangers Helping Strangers
My girlfriend at the time had to leave school earlier that semester due to severe depression and anxiety over the very likely possibility of her having stomach cancer. She got tested for it with an endoscopy and cancer cells were found in her stomach lining. Within a week she was scheduled to have her stomach removed and I was stuck at school, feeling useless.
I tried getting a care package together of foods she wouldn't be able to eat again or at least not for a pretty long time. When I got to the post office with a line extending out the building and the place closing soon, I tried asking someone for help and the whole situation finally broke me down. I just tried talking through the sobs as I asked for help with mailing the package, as I had never mailed one before.
It was a pretty low point.
Looted
As roommates in college we purchased furniture and electronics for the house, the agreement being that when we graduated and moved out that one would buy the other out. The day comes when my roommate begins packing up for his new job in another city. I say my goodbyes and head to work for the day. I return eight hours later to an empty house. The jerk took everything he could.
Over the Hill
My ex-wife and I went up to Big Bear to go snowboarding and spend some time together. We were having issues and I thought to be fun to get away and do something fun together. Let's just say it did not go well. She said she grew up snowboarding, but she never made it down a hill and had a terrible time. So we went back to the cabin and she was pretty much just on her phone, not talking to me.
We make it back and she says she needs to just shower and be alone for a bit. She goes off and I just hang in the den. She left her phone in her purse and it just kept buzzing, so I checked it out because what if someone was trying to reach us or something? I open it up to read a full conversation between her and this guy. It wasn't good.
I read how that day’s texts started and they started really early in the morning. "Hope you're doing ok up there." "We'll see, doubt it. He's trying too hard. He should just know it really doesn't matter. Wish I was up here with you instead." Just the worst stuff. And that was before I even woke up. I was pretty devastated and really didn't know what to do.
I knew I didn't want to fight because I realized she wasn't worth fighting for. Grabbed my bag and drove back to San Diego. I took her phone with me, so I could text him and tell him "We're coming home early, let's meet." I ended up inviting him to a coffee shop and waited for him to show up. When he walked through the door, he saw me immediately and kind of stopped. I waved him over and wasn't too far from the door, so I told him we need to talk.
He comes over and already front loads with the "It's not what you think," blah blah blah speech. I told him that if he wants her, he can take his sorry ass to Big Bear and go get her. Because I was leaving and we're through. See you when we sign the papers. And I left. Second worst day of my life but I'm glad it happened. Met my lady three years later and we've been together for four years, now engaged.
The Steve Rogers That Never Was
I was a surgical intern, and there was a fourth-year med student (just one year behind me) on our general surgery team as an acting "intern." Dude was an "All American" in every sense—extremely bright, tall and good-looking, charming to talk to, class president, etc. He was literally like "Captain America" Steve Rogers incarnate.
Wanted to be a general surgeon at my hospital, and all of my attending physicians were extremely fond of him. They already were talking about how great of a resident he would make and what to do when he was an intern. It was nearing the end of his rotation, and he was scheduled to do a routine surgery with the chair of the department—specifically, so the chair could evaluate him and give him a letter of recommendation afterward.
The evening before his big day, he and I went over the steps of the procedure, and the little quirks that the chair liked, so he could impress the chair for a good letter. He left and we texted about some additional tiny details about the surgery later. Next morning, my chief tells me I need to scrub in for the surgery that the student was supposed to do, because he hadn't shown up yet.
I told a third year medical student who was also on our team to go look for him, because it wasn't like him to be late (this guy was militantly punctual, it was odd he'd be late on a day like this). About an hour into the surgery, my chief resident comes in and asks me to scrub out and informs me that the student I had sent earlier had found him in his apartment, in a pool of his own blood.
Shot through the neck. None of his possessions were missing, and he had no clear enemies. Someone just broke in and shot him. I had trouble believing it, it was very bizarre and surreal. I was later questioned by a detective because I was technically the last person to communicate with him (via text). A few months later they eventually caught the kids responsible a few states away and they got their due. But the whole ordeal left me in a funk for a while, because it was so completely random and senseless, and that kid had literally EVERYTHING going for him—he was one of the really good ones.
Just a Shot Away
I almost killed someone in the aftermath and in the midst of the most disturbing discovery I’ve ever experienced. I found out that my now ex-husband was having an affair with someone whom I had previously considered to be my best friend. Spoiler alert, she turned out not to be a friend at all. She would have me babysit her kids to keep me occupied while she was sleeping with my husband.
Extra spoiler alert, she wasn't the first one he cheated with. God, I was dumb back then! Shortly after I discovered all this, we were in his truck and having a vicious alcohol-fueled argument about it. He was about to get violent with me. He tried to grab me several times and was clearly going to hit me. Extra extra spoiler, this would not have been the first time he had done so…
I pulled out my .22 handgun (semi-auto) from my coat pocket and held it up to his head. I seriously considered just ending his life in that moment. His attitude then very quickly changed from violent and aggressive to “Woah, woah, woah, let’s not do anything too crazy here.” After a few seconds, I decided that he wasn’t worth it.
I decided that I had better things to do with my life. I also had people (i.e. our family and children) who depended on me. He backed off. So, I shot the gun into the ground out of my window. That felt good and released the anger I was feeling into the innocent dirt. I got out of the truck and told him to never come back.
When I got home, I dumped all of his stuff out onto the yard and changed the locks on all the doors. That was about 32 years ago.
Pushing Through the Pain
I originally took an office job because my body couldn't handle working in a retail store. I was constantly spraining my wrists and elbows, and my hips and feet hurt a ton. A chiropractor told me my leg bones were sliding up into my hips from standing so much, and probably from lifting heavy things as well. Three months after losing/quitting my job, at the age of 20, I got the news I was dreading. I was diagnosed with Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.
Suddenly I had an explanation for all of the pain I was in, all of the intestinal problems I had, and how weirdly my bones/joints/tendons move around. I learned that a person’s skin doesn't always hurt to the touch. But in the last year and a half my condition worsened significantly. At first I was extremely depressed, spending lots of time in bed trying to feel better, learning about my body and the horrifying things it can and shouldn't do. After seeing a good doctor, things started to look up.
The hardest part about all of this is that I am 23 years old, female, pretty, and other than my super dark eyes and bruises I look completely normal. I even have great muscle mass and tone, because I'm held together by them. I cannot tell you how many times doctors, even school nurses, didn't give me the care I needed because I looked fine. There's more but I hate thinking about it.
There are medical researchers working daily trying to at least find the gene that causes this, people who also have my illness giving advice to others, and even yoga/Pilates instructors with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome posting videos online. People have developed lists of supplements and medications that work for them. Communities try to spread awareness and hope. I suspect this is the only life I'll have, and if it has to be this hard then I have to be stronger, even if it's just mentally.
The Wrong Thing to Say
Literally just a couple of days after my mother had passed, a guy decided to make fun of me over it. He yelled out a yo’ mamma joke, with the punchlines being "She's dead." I snapped. Everything went red. I don't remember what led to it, but the next thing I remember is holding the guy at arm's length by the collar, with him crying and crawling at my arms screaming something.
What I realized next was that I was holding him in the middle of the road, with a bus quickly approaching. Luckily, something switched back on in my head and I pulled the guy and myself away from the road just before the bus would have hit him. Back on the sidewalk, I dropped him onto the ground and stood over him for a bit.
I walked home feeling numb and, for the next couple of weeks, I barely spoke to anyone or ate, while isolating myself to my room. I’ve bumped into the guy a few times as the years went by. Every time he sees me, he always just walks away as quickly as he can. And I always just feel weird about the whole thing.
One Monster Can Change a Family Forever
I grew up best friends with my sister, and one day she didn’t come home from work. I was 16 at the time, she was 22. I heard my parents start to rumble around the house turning the lights on and I could hear more commotion and panic. The cops had called our house because they found my sisters car damaged on a street in the middle of a neighborhood with the driver side door still open and they found one of her shoes was in the middle of the street.
The next morning, still no sister. She worked as a bartender. She left work that night and, some guy followed her, and sideswiped her car. When she got out to swap insurance, he kidnapped her and put her in his truck and drove off. That night, he continued to assault and abuse her and held her captive through the night and into the next day.
My sister managed to escape that next day and run to the nearest house, banging on the doors, the homeowners let my sister in and called 9-1-1. They could tell she had been beaten and attacked. She was taken to the hospital which is when we got the phone call where she was. She had two broken ribs, her face was nearly black and blue, both black eyes, and scratches all over her body.
After that, I’ve never had my sister back. She survived the attack, but she suffers horrible, horrible anxiety and panic attacks. She can’t go out in public alone. She drinks heavily and is terrified to move out of my moms and live alone. I don’t know, I just used to look up to her. We would laugh and watch movies and bounce on the trampoline, and she would drive me to try local food chains.
We would listen to music and ever since I’ve never had my big sister back…I’ll always love her, but it breaks my heart. In one day, her life changed for the worst.
A Matter of Public Interest
So, I broke up with someone. I was at university, and I knew the whole time he was cheating on me. I went home for my sister’s birthday, wanted to devote myself to both my sisters and took them for a meal. He turns up and started telling me that he felt like he wasn’t a part of my life because I didn’t invite him to my sisters' meal.
I got a call from my best friend, her breaking down on the phone telling me that she was having a miscarriage, so when we had finished the meal I went straight up there. I stayed the night at her place because she was hysterical. I got texts the whole time saying how I prefer to see my sisters and best friend more than him, I explained that I had reason to see my friend and reason to see my sisters.
He had stayed at my parents the whole time, and the next day he forced himself on me for not wanting to have sex and that the reason for this is that I “must be cheating on him.” I spent the next day in my room crying while he sat with my parents, I jumped on the opportunity of getting back to uni a day earlier than scheduled.
My friend J knew something was wrong, I told him everything, he got all of our friends together in my flat and they all sat around me while I called him and broke up with him. They listened to everything he said to me, telling me I was cheating on him, how I was only with him for money (he was jobless and technically homeless), and generally manipulating me. The phone call ended, and all of my friends cuddled me.
I then got a call from my dad, accusing me of cheating and that I was not a good daughter and didn’t talk to me for about a month. My ex still comes around, still tells people we’re together even though it’s been over two and a half years. I’ve now been in a relationship for over a year, but no one knows because everyone loves my ex and no one can be as good as him.
I went to see a counselor because of all of this and she just said "Damn..." and that she couldn’t help me. It’s the most horrific breakup because it’s just still happening. I’m over it. Everyone else isn’t.
Life is Unfair
Last year I had to carry two of my bullmastiffs to the vet—they were sisters—because one had a thing on her tongue, and figured I'd carry both for a checkup. It was supposed to be a routine visit, but it turned into the worst day of my life. I left the vet without them since they both had cancer and had to be put down, because it was getting worse.
I was with my mother, sister and my wife, who all came along for the ride. Everybody was stunned and in tears, and I tried to brush it off like no big deal and that everything will be fine and that this was for the best. When I dropped everybody home and was finally by myself in the truck, I had to pull over at the next corner to just let it all out.
I cried so hard that driving became impossible, and must have remained parked there for 10 minutes easily. A month after that, at my workplace, I adopted this stray dog who wandered into our site, named him Bruno. He was super playful and the cutest mutt ever. Anytime work got too stressful or my anxiety got the better of me, I'd leave the office and walk out to the car park where he 100% was always there to get my mind off of things.
I have spent 30 minutes almost every day just sitting down and rubbing his tummy. Just the sound of my truck coming down the hill to the office he'd know it was me and prepare his assault on my clean work pants with his dirty paws. The last time we spent together, I was outside giving him his usual tummy rub and love up, and I was called out to make a couple of runs in my truck.
There was a bad thunderstorm that day, and I must have been gone for only 15 minutes when returning to my office site I saw the reddish mane of my buddy Bruno all wet and sodden just lying in the middle of the road lifeless. I told myself it could not be him, no way. I parked my truck in the office and a few of my employees knowing the relationship me and this dog had, told me the bad news.
They saw a car hit him. Being their employer, like the scene with the bullmastiffs, I played it cool and had them go and pick up his body for me, which we buried on site here. Like before, as soon as I was left alone, I collapsed in anguish. I have never cried so hard in my life, and this time I cried for days after as well. Anytime I would pull up to work and begin parking, the fact there was no excited mutt to navigate around just broke me up.
I have lost family members, teammates, and very close friends alike, never cried for them as I did in these two cases.
Soap-Opera Level Betrayal
Had a good bud of mine who's the godfather of my son, living with me and my wife. I travel a lot for work and was out of the country for about six months in the Middle East. Came back and found out she was pregnant with twins, and that they weren't mine.
Ask for a Doctor’s Note Next Time
I was with this girl for just shy of two years. Holidays, festivals, discussions of marriage, the lot. Claimed she lived at home with her mom, who had terminal cancer, and as a result, her mom didn't want to bring anyone new into her life, as the pain of knowing she would soon leave them was too much. Therefore, we spent all our time at mine, and I never met her family or mum.
Received a message from a guy one night asking how I knew her. This one text ended up changing my life. I explained the whole story. Turns out her mom was fine, and the girl had been engaged to this guy and living with him the entire time...they were due to get married in two weeks. It still blows my mind that she managed to play us both so well the entire time.
No Privacy When Your Memory is an Open Door
I was in a coma for two and a half months in 2015 when I was 27, following a serious car accident. When I woke up, I still had a tracheotomy and couldn’t speak. I don’t remember a damn thing from the time I was in a coma, but what blew my mind is when I woke up, my new boyfriend at the time was standing there with my parents.
They were chatting to each other like they knew each other. I am a super private and had made every effort for them to not even know of him, so I found this disturbing. I also had no recollection of the accident for months and for a week or two after waking up I had to be retold where I was and what had happened every time I dozed off and woke up.
I had no idea where I was and I thought I was 23, not 27, over a period of months. I also had a really hard time recognizing faces. Like I would see people I knew that I knew but I couldn’t remember why or their names or anything, they would just look familiar. One time, about a month after I had woken up, my parents took me in my hospital bed for a walk in the courtyard of the hospital.
We passed a large mirror in the lobby and I freaked out. I saw my reflection and I knew it was me because I recognized my parents pushing the bed, but I didn’t recognize my own face. There were no injuries to my face or anything, I just didn’t recognize myself. It also blew my mind that I had gone into the coma in late winter, and there was quite a bit of snow on the ground.
When I woke up it was spring, and there was no snow (I had a large window in my hospital room). The news that shocked me the most was the fact that my parents had gone in and packed up my entire apartment. Like I mentioned, I was super private and the idea that they went in there and boxed up all my stuff and gave up my lease was hard to grasp. Obviously, it made sense, but I was troubled by it all.
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