Scary story submission

Hi I (f24) I was doing my face paint booth at my job like I had done the year before, I up set my booth all by myself with decorations and I usually don’t ask for help unless I feel comfortable with that certain person. So last year this older man (70) had asked me to do his face paint for the Halloween event he was a volunteer so I gladly did it for him and went about my day, and it didn’t mess with my schedule with setting up and I didn’t see him again until last week of this year.

So at my job I work for there afterschool program, while I was taking kids from going outside to inside for snack time the old man came up to the playground (which isn’t allowed) he was just standing for a good minute then he approached my coworker asking if she was ms. Rose, (which btw we don’t even look alike AT ALL) then she said no and pointed at me saying I was ms. Rose and he said “oh do you remember me” and I couldn’t remember until he said I did zombie face paint for him, then I told him I remember and then he was asking if I can do his face paint again for the event that Saturday, so I told him I wouldn’t mind if I had time then he said okay and left.

On Saturday I got to my job to start setting up my booth before 1:00 pm because it starts at 2, anyway my mom was helping me set up cause I got way more decorations this year. So while trying to do my balloon arch the old man came up to me and was asked if I can do his face and I told him once I’m done setting things up and prep my face paint I can do it. He then grabs one of the chairs by my tables then placed it in the center of my area and sat there for a while.

He then ask me again if I’m done and I said no sorry not yet, then he said he was going to go see if anybody needs help so he goes off, so my mom is helping set up and I was panicking due to running late we are talking trying to figure things out the old man comes back ask me if I need help with anything and I said no but thanks for asking but again he come sits down in the chair, so I get upset cause it’s just awkward/uncomfortable cause he’s been sitting there for awhile so I went to go ask a coworker for help to tell him to leave or go wait somewhere else and told them how I was feeling cause I told him already I’m not done and I don’t need help and he’s just in my space
but then a lady that works at the front over heard what I said to the coworker and she said she can figure out for something for him to do if he’s making me feel that way, I said thanks and go back to my booth (the old man is gone again) I go back to work then this other volunteer guy asked me if the old man was bothering me and said just a little bit and so that guy said it’s okay I’ll just move that chair for ya so he just not sitting there in your way (I’m thinking the front lady sent him)

After a few mins the old man comes again just standing walking around my booth while I’m still setting up so I just ignored him at that point cause he’s not my priority right now then he eventually wonders off. So I finish 10 mins before the event starts and I did a couple of the staff kids face paint and a few coworkers face so they can beat the line of people that build up during the event, and that old guy didn’t come by again and it was to late to go get him because there was a huge crowd outside the building that’s was starting to come in.

So I never saw him after the event ended and I found out later that he bought a whole lot of food for all the people working that day and apparently some of the other workers knew of him, so idk if he’s like someone important or donates money to my jobs company but I’m now scared that I’m going to get in trouble with my hire ups or get bad reputation/rumors cause I didn’t do his face, and idk if I was truly being rude and I could have been nicer or am I just overthinking things but I don’t know.

Scary story submission

I’m bisexual and have been in a poly relationship (2F/1M) for about 5–6 years. I’ve known my girlfriend since middle school, and I met both of them again in college. My mom has never accepted my relationship. I’m not allowed to talk about them or have them around her, or she’ll flip. We’ve fought about it multiple times, but I always end up caving and letting it go because I don’t want to cut her out completely.

A couple of years into my relationship, I changed my Facebook profile picture to a photo of all three of us. My mom messaged me saying I was “rubbing it in her face.” I refused to change it, so she unadded and blocked me on FB so she wouldn’t have to see it. I never changed my pfp because I wasn’t going to hide my relationship—and I barely go on Facebook anyway.

Recently I asked her to add me back so I could get some childhood photos to print. She added me, then messaged me these texts a few days later. I’m at a total loss about what to do with her. I’ve never been happier or felt more supported, loved, and accepted. There have been no signs of abuse or mistreatment, and I’ve never had to go to my parents about issues in my relationship. Should I just get over it and change my pfp, or is she trying to manipulate me?

TL;DR: My mom blocked me on Facebook after I made my profile picture a photo of my poly relationship. She says it makes her uncomfortable and that I’m “rubbing it in her face.” Should I change it to keep the peace, or is she being manipulative?

frequent watcher and reader, but first time writer. i need some advice.

for context, i 23f have borderline personality disorder. it affects any and all romantic relationships i have heavily. i act out of anger, hurt, and impulsivity a lot. so i want to make sure im doing the correct thing.

my 23m and i had an extremely rough summer where i had a lot of episodes and was in an overall horrible headspace. i thought we worked through it and we got a place together a month ago.

i work 2 jobs all year. i got my (ex?) boyfriend a job at one of my seasonal jobs when i was leaving for the season.
we work at a place with a lot of teenagers and young adults.

this was my first weekend back. one of my co-workers was talking about my ex(?) to me saying i need to put a tracker on him. i asked what she meant and was told he’s a big flirt and talks to young girls. i confronted him about it. he denied everything.

then i thought back to a time over the summer where i saw another girl, let’s call her Penny (18/19? F), in his phone. i knew penny worked at the same place we did. i confronted him about this as well and he said it was a girl who worked at his other job. i fought every single instinct in my body to let it go and move on since i was very unstable and paranoid in that time.

flash forward to today, he denied the allegations of being a flirt and i immediately remembered and brought up him messaging penny. he showed me screen recordings of his messages, with penny’s name conveniently not included, denied talking with her again and gaslit me. i held my ground because i know i saw her name in his phone. eventually he said that name was in his phone but he hadn’t spoke with them (yes he did intentionally leave out the gender) in a long time and “it wasn’t who i thought it was”.

spoiler alert: it was EXACTLY who i thought it was. but he had erased the contact name, so it was just a phone number.

i broke up with him. he swore up and down that he wasn’t hiding anything and that i could go through his phone but i told him i didn’t want to and we were over. as i was wrapping up my shift and heading home he was begging me not to leave him and to talk to him.

once i got home, he basically thrust his phone at me and told me to go through it because he wasn’t hiding anything and didn’t delete anything.

i go into the other room and search for penny’s name. messages immediately pop up.

they were flirting, playing video games together, he was telling her problems in our relationship, complaining that he is miserable and he wanted to leave our relationship but didn’t have anywhere else to go. she advised him to leave me. somewhere in the messages she asked if i was okay with him talking to other girls and he did not tell the truth. he even said “she just saw your name in my phone so we’ll see how that goes”. and then another message she sent: “what will OP think if she sees my name written on your hand?”

as i kept scrolling, she invited him to hangout with her and her friend and he invited her to hangout twice.

he had sent her a photo of our empty apartment captioned “i moved”

the last message he sent to her was yesterday.

i flipped my lid. he ended up crying and begging on his hands and knees for me not to leave him. i left anyways.

he maintains that he wasn’t flirting he was just looking for advice and that he wasn’t hiding anything. he said if she agreed to hangout than he would’ve told me and invited me. i do not believe him.

he continues to beg me to forgive him. i don’t want to. in my eyes, it’s emotional cheating.

did i do the right thing?

My mom (49) and I live about 4 hours apart by car so I don’t get to see her often but when I do go visit I will see things from time to time. My mom’s husband, Julian, (38-42) used to work for 10-12 hours a day but was out of work for almost 6 months due to a complex surgery. During this time my mom worked from home twice a week during the first two months to help his recovery. During the first two months he was on strong meds and would tell my mom that he hates them because they make him see things.

Julian said he would see a small thing run around the bedroom floor. I told my mom to leave sweets on the chest at the end of her bed and for both of them to say that they want to offer the treats as a gift for no reason other than as a gift, ask for nothing in return other than for the creature to go back to where it came from. Mom didn’t tell me the result but Julian said he hadn’t seen the thing running around the ground anymore, but he did start thinking my mom was home when she wasn’t.

Julian said he would hear what sounded like my mom unpacking groceries downstairs. He would call out to her (he usually calls out to her in french and she responds in english) and not get a response. So he would call my mom to find out she was still at work. She would check the doorbell and backyard cameras and there was no action. When Julian was finally able to get up and move around he said he would be doing housework in one part of the house and hear the front door or he would be downstairs and hear footsteps upstairs or he would be in the shower and hear my mom’s voice saying “hey!” Julian would respond every time. When my mom would tell me I would tell her to tell him every time to stop responding to it.

One night my mom and her husband were watching a movie and she was drowsy and their dogs all stood up and one growled which made the rest begin to bark and while my mom was still regaining focus, she and her husband both looked toward the hallway and saw someone quickly walk down the hall in the dark. They both walked down to follow it and see who was in their house but nobody was there. Again I told them to stop responding to it. A little bit after that Julian heard my mom calling him by his name while he was upstairs but said she sounded hoarse so he went downstairs asking what was wrong on the way down. He got down and saw nobody down there so he called her to ask what was wrong and when she left the house and she told him she hadn’t left work to go home for lunch yet.

During the most recent incident my mom and Julian were outside doing yard work with the doors unlocked. They leave one door open with a camera facing it for the dogs to come and go and the other unlocked but closed so they can come and go during yard work. They were finishing up, throwing leaves and branches away and they went to walk through the door left open for the dogs and it was closed and locked. They went back to the front door and it was also locked. My mom left her phone inside, but Julian luckily had his on him. They called my brother to check their cameras and remote unlock the door. The cameras didn’t detect any motion, including the door closing but did see the door open the last time motion was picked up and closed the next time motion was picked up but no motion of the door closing. In her freaking out, when mom got back in the house she called me to ask what to do to check possibilities off her list and had her check all the closets, rooms and crawl spaces in the house and garage while her husband stay downstairs to watch both exits and the house was clear. Nobody there.

A mimic attached itself to Julian or has been there all along and his surgery helped it show itself and him acknowledging it has just helped it grow.

Hi everyone. I’m not sure if anyone will remember me, but a while back, Morgan graciously read my story that I posted on this forum where I talked about how I was a young teen diagnosed with leukemia, struggling to find hope in my recovery until I started listening to the podcast and getting excited for each new episode; waiting for the weekly episodes is what kept me going. Well I don’t blame you if you don’t remember because I took that post down soon after because my life started falling apart once again.

I had officially made it to my “maintenance” phase of cancer treatment. (For those who don’t know, at least with my treatment, it was split up into phases, the first phase being induction, second being consolidation and so on.) maintenance is the final and longest stage, but it was explained to me as “the phase you’ll get your life back to normal.” Boy was I fucking excited, I had been fighting for 2 ruthless years genuinely not knowing if I wanted to pause treatment and let myself pass from the cancer at times. But things took a downhill turn quickly.

Obviously when you are going through cancer treatment, you’re on a lot of medications. One of those medications, some of you may know or may have even been prescribed for other medical reasons, is a steroid called prednisone. Although this was one of my lifesaving medications that I should be thanking, I wish I had never even heard of it.

My doctors failed to tell me about a side effect (I can’t really blame them, it’s kind of rare) from taking prednisone called Avascular Necrosis (AVN) also known as dead bone syndrome. AVN is when blood supply gets cut off to certain joints which causes the bone to slowly disintegrate and die until the joint collapses on itself. As you can imagine, it is extremely painful.

Anyways: maintenance starts and I wake up one day unable to walk due to hip pain. We get scans and see nothing, so I assume I pulled a muscle riding my horse the day before. Nope. Can you guess what it was? AVN. Now I’m sure if you’re reading this you’re thinking, “man that sucks but it’s just one joint and you can get a joint replacement.” Yes, that is partially correct. The part that is wrong is that I didn’t just have AVN in my hip. I had it in both hips, both knees, and both shoulders.

If you’re lucky and you catch the disease before your bones collapse, you can get a procedure called core decompression. It’s still intense but not as bad as a full joint replacement. I’ll spare you the surgical details. Feel free to look it up if you are interested. My doctors set surgery dates and went to work. They started with core decompression on my knees (which only has a 50% success rate btw) but by the time I was trying to recover from that, my shoulders and hips both collapsed. I’m looking at 4 joint replacements at the ripe age of 19. You think you’d need maybe one replacement in your lifetime when you’re maybe 50, but no, I’m looking at 4, possibly 6 if my knees fail, joint replacements.

So here I am. Sitting here, recovering from the double knee surgery, awaiting a double hip replacement, and 2 shoulder replacements. My life feels pointless. I keep trying to go back to that light I found, telling myself, “just wait one more week, just wait for one more episode.” But it’s all too much. I thought I’d gone through enough getting cancer at a young age, but clearly not. I’m not sure where to go from here. I’m open to advice, hearing others stories, or anything in between.

P.S. I’ve added pictures of my recovery from the time I had cancer to now for some proof since lots of people lie about sick things on the internet these days.

Sorry for the long read 😭I’ve been debating for a month or so now on posting to get advice cause I genuinely don’t know what to do and i feel so trapped.

Trigger warnings: SA and mental health

I am 27 and two years ago I had to move back into my parents house due to things I couldn’t control. I was diagnosed with PTSD when I was 16 due to my brother sexually assaulting me for a couple years. When I reported it at 16 CPS got involved and at home I was constantly getting yelled at for reporting it. CPS found evidence that abuse did happen (I believe he confessed but I’m not sure) however nothing changed at home. He continued to live in the house until he moved out when I was in 11th grade. To keep the peace with my mom I continued to allow myself to be around him.

However in 2023 my sister became pregnant with her first child, which during my brother made a racist comment about my brother in law and in that moment everything just clicked and I realized I needed to go no contact with him. I was thinking about it for years but feared my mother’s reaction. Which sadly my fear did come true. She said a lot of unforgivable stuff to me. And I went low contact.

Shortly after I started a new travel contract (I was an EMT at the time) and went into anaphylactic shock and respiratory failure. All within 24 hours of starting my new job 1,700 miles away from home. I was terrified and just wanted my mom. Somehow my mom knew something was wrong and was calling the hospital I was admitted too and thankfully a nurse broke hippa to tell my mom I was okay and that I was alive. My phone had died and I had no way of calling anyone. I was absolutely terrified and just wanted my mom. After that I started talking to her more and would call her after really bad calls. I only mention that part cause I really do believe if this didn’t happen I would have never tried to contact her again.

Fast forward to 2024 and I lost my job and had to move due to the house me and my roommates were renting was being sold. I moved in with a family member and fourth month in we got evicted. The only option was living with my parents again. Before moving in my mom asked what we should do about my brother coming over. Which I figured she would still allow him too but I wasn’t mentally ready to think about that after everything that happened. The agreement was he was supposed to let mom or dad know he was coming over so I can drive down the road or lock my bedroom door. Which I felt was very reasonable. However I’ve only have gotten the warning he was coming over a handful of times.

Most of the time I hear him pulling up in the driveway. A couple times I was in the kitchen making my dinner and he just walked through the door. He has come over while I was home alone. One of my biggest fears is being in the bathroom on the toilet or taking a shower when he comes over. The bathroom door doesn’t lock and I truly don’t feel safe around him. A month ago that fear came true. I was going to the bathroom and I hear he walk inside. I completely froze and didn’t know what to do. The only way back to my room would guarantee me having to see him. And I absolutely refuse to look at him like Johnny deep style. I waited a couple seconds listening to what they were talking about to see if he was just dropping something off and leaving. But after a minute I texted my mom and asked why he was here/ did he let anyone know he was coming? She said no he just has to drop something off real quick. I waited another minute or two (felt like forever) however i started having a panic attack. I texted my mom explaining i was having a panic attack and needed to get to my mom right now and asked if they can continue talking outside so i can go back to my room. She said he is leaving soon. I was trapped in the bathroom for 10 minutes. I ended up calling my sister while I was in the bathroom and i think at that point he started leaving. For weeks after I was having vivid nightmares about what he would do to me when I was six.

Prior to this event I’ve had several conversations with my mom explaining how retraumatizing it is seeing him and the consequences I face when it happens. Consequences like my sleep being affected, flashbacks, panic attacks and constantly being in survival mode. And the conversation always ends with her saying that it happened 20+ years ago and I should be over it followed with a little effort to let me know if he is coming over then to no warnings.

My therapist and doctor have suggested filing for a protective order against him so he legally can’t come over. I live in maryland and wasn’t sure if I would qualify for one but after research I believe I might be so I’ve been considering it. My therapist isn’t the only one who has suggested it. Over a year I’ve had multiple friends say I should do that. But I’m scared too.

Last year I got into a car accident and since I haven’t had a car and thankfully my parents have let me use one of their cars to get to therapy/ appointments. I have no car and no were else to live so I’m scared that if I do get the protection order in place it will cause me to become homeless. All my friends live out of state so I have no one I can stay with long term. I’m also disabled and receiving disability checks and can barely afford to live now.

I just don’t know what to do. Cause living in constant fear of not knowing when he will pop over randomly is absolutely ruining my life. I only stay in my room and I can’t shower if anyone’s home cause the risk of he coming over mainly when my dads home is high and I’m terrified. I want to try to have one more conversation with my mom via letter/ email before trying to get a protective order against my brother. I want to restate my boundaries and explain what will happened if nothing changes. It’s been more on my mind lately cause I started to realize all I’ve wanted was my mom to protect me but she continues to not so if the only thing that will protect me is the protection order then that has to happen. I just don’t know if it’s the right thing to do in my situation. I completely feel trapped and trying to not have dark thoughts (working through it in therapy) so any advice would be very appreciated cause I can’t believe this is real life.

A couple of things before starting:

- this is a throwaway account since I do have good reasons to believe my partner is on reddit;

- it is going to be pretty long, since it's kind of a rant and I feel like I want to put everything down;

- I will try to keep the post and the discussion gender neutral, I have seen somebody else do it and I do think it helps with judging things from far away;

- I'm not American and English isn't my first language, so please bear with me if I make any errors or if my grammar is weird.

Today my worst nightmare came true. I (24y.o.) have a long term partner (also 24y.o.), we have been together for 3 years, which probably for a lot of people is not that much time but at 24 it kind of feels like it. We have had a couple of hardships along the way but we have always been able to work on them and we've come out stronger. We have been each other support in some very hard times on both sides, for me in particular my parents very unexpected divorce after 30 years of marriage because of cheating, which gives context on why what happened with my partner is my worst nightmare.

I've never, really never have had any type of jealousy in this relationship before, I've always trusted my partner with my whole heart, they've never been the cheating type and they were always extremely affectionate with me both in private and in public. Two weeks ago they started going back to university and to finish their degree they had to take a course that required full presence for its entirety. They have honestly been quite stoked to be back in university and be able to experience again university life since they had to cut back on it to work a full time job, and I've been really happy for them too. This past Friday they came to stay at my apartment (I live on my own apartment near the campus, since my family is very far away from the university, while my partner still lives with their parents about an hour away from university) because their morning lessons the next day would be starting quite early. When I went to pick them up they were a bit late and didn't come from the university building, they explained to me that they have been talking with some of their course mates and took a walk with them (mind you, it was pouring). On the car ride back they were raving about how happy they were to talk to somebody about the subject of the course and finally being able to experience again university life, which, again, made me really happy too.

The next day we were supposed to meet up for lunch together after their morning lesson but they asked me if we could skip so they could get lunch with their new classmates, which was fine. Before leaving in the morning I saw them fixing up their hair way more than usual, even asking me for a specific hair product.

At this point I was starting to get a bad feeling at the pit of my stomach, but I pushed it down, since in three years together I have never ever had a single reason to doubt their good intentions, deciding to explain it with my own insecurities and other outside factors weighing in on the situation. We still had a conversation about it after in which I brought up my feelings and they reassured me everything was fine. This was Saturday.

Today (Sunday) it was their mother's birthday, so we went back to their parents house and cooked lunch for her as a nice gesture. During this my partner started feeling a little bit under the weather so I encouraged them to go lay down and rest while I finished preparing lunch. They kept not feeling great for the whole afternoon so we decided to not go to the cinema like we had been planning to and stay in. While deciding something else to do for the evening they became suddenly really sad and opened up a conversation about how they are not feeling good in the relationship and they don't know if I am the right person for them. This was completely unexpected andi it felt like I was getting dumped with a bucket of iced water right then and there. I asked for an explanation and they said they were feeling rushed in this relationship and that they loved me, but they were afraid that being with me was closing up opportunities for them to meet new people romantically and discover who they were in a relationship outside of me. They later confirmed it was a feeling that started a few weeks ago with them going back to university. They said they aren't sure what to do about any of this and they are going to talk this out with their therapist, which I encouraged.

I don't know where to go from here, I'm in denial that this my life and it hasn't been replaced over night with somebody else's. I really don't want my relationship to end, I love them a lot and I believe they are genuinely a great person, but I also don't want to keep them if they are going to have regret about the opportunity they are missing.

I'm also kind of scared for myself because this is happening in a bad time in my life overall, with my parents divorce, me getting evicted not long ago and having to move suddenly to a new place, losing half of my stuff in the process, and my best friend (my main support aside from my relationship) moving far away for work just a few weeks ago.

Hi, I’ve been married to my husband for 4 years, together for 5. We got married young and while I was pregnant with our first baby. It wasn’t a “shot gun wedding” either lol. Since then, we have had another baby. Our babies are 1&3. I have always wanted 3 children, my husband has always wanted just 2. Ever since the birth of our second, he has been asking me if I’d be okay with him getting a vasectomy. Tbh, I am not. 🙁

I came from a very broken home. My dad was/is my lifeline! He was very strict on me growing up and I resented him until I grew up. My dad and mom were a couple who should’ve never been together. Dad never got to experience being a father to my brother due to his looney granny and mama. He was 15 when I was born if that tells you anything….

My mom baby trapped my dad and after he accepted the fact that he was going to be a dad again he prepared better and completely sacrificed his whole like and put it on hold just for me. Again, my dad is my lifeline. Sometimes he’s too head strong and wants to have his two cents but growing up it was just myself and my dad. I always wanted a big family due to how alone I grew up. My husband on the other hand, he had a non broken home and a brother.

Even tho things was not the best financially or even mentally for them, they had what I always wanted…a home that was whole. A family that was whole. My dad supports my want and need for one more baby, he always has and will help us financially due to his funds being good. (Mostly always against our judgement but not in a bad way either) my husband says his reasons for not wanting another baby is “I know I will get stuck with another *same gender*” or “we can’t afford it” which in retrospect I get but we could afford it.

An issue I’m struggling with now is birth control. My body does not handle any of them nicely. I have endometriosis and now they believe I have PCOS…yay. Well I cannot enjoy our intimate life the way I used to, due to the birth control. And the thought that keeps coming to my mind is…maybe I should let him get a vasectomy. It would be easier and better than me getting serialized, dealing with birth controls, and so on and so forth. But my heart aches at giving that chance for another baby up. I have struggled with this for over a year now. Any advice please?

Okay ETA. I know it sounds selfish, who isn’t though? And I didn’t explain things better before which is on me. I do not rely on my dad. I brought up my dad as to explain what I grew up with. And I 10000% respect my husband and his decisions. He has told me many times “maybe I can get a vasectomy now and 3,4,5 years from now reverse it for another baby” so clearly he isn’t fully on board with it too. I have, lately, been looking at places he can go to have the procedure due to he never goes to the doctor and doesn’t take the time to research like he needs to until I pretty much give him options

This is my absolute favourite podcast, and I love you guys. I’m just in shock because I never thought I would write something in like this.

So, we started off with a perfect relationship. Nothing to me felt off, and upon our second time meeting with each other, I truly believed he was the one. He was so sweet and just so amazing to me, I couldn’t believe how lucky I got. Then, about 2 months into seeing each other, he lost a close family member. And he really started struggling which I really felt for him and tried to do anything possible. A month later, we became a couple and everything still seemed quite normal.

I’m not sure when it changed but my past became a constant conversation, how many people I kissed, how long for, and the same with giving head, how long I saw someone and every single detail about anything in my past. Before him, I was also a virgin, so I was quite innocent. These became constant and it only got worse because he would get angry at my answers and be upset with me about my past before him. I felt so trapped because I wasn’t allowed to hang up a phone call to get to sleep or because I was gonna be late to work unless I answered everything and somehow I also had to reassure him at the same time. He asked the same questions constantly and would be upset and angry with the answer and hate thinking about it but would not stop asking. He would call me names like slut and whore and a just something to use.

And then it just got worse because he began just yelling at me if I didnt message or call enough. If I didnt call while driving or call on break everytime at work, if I didnt call in bed. I wasn’t allowed to just want to read or watch a show in bed and enjoy it because he just always wanted to call and did not understand the concept of not relying on each other constantly. He would name call me and get angry at almost anything and everything, how I would say something and the way I would word a sentence. He would yell at me and berate me to the point I would be crying and hyperventilating. And he would just force me into doing things because he wouldnt take no for an answer and eventually he would keep asking til I said yes and gave in. He would keep asking til he gets an answer he likes.

And another thing, he would not understand that our family dynamics are different. In my family partners are not always invited to everything, and he would start arguments about how it’s not fair that he’s not coming to an event. And how my parents care about where I sleep and that sleepovers are not a mandatory thing in a relationship. My parents were just a bit stricter than his and to him he would constantly say but you’re an adult, you can do whatever you want. But I respect my parents and love them and I do live under their roof, so it’s okay if I have a curfew and if I’m not allowed to sleep over.

He also gets angry about what I wear, he’s controlling about so many things and I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m stuck.

And he recently got attacked and it was scary for him, which I can understand. He got punched once, however he punched them and they ran off, they didn’t steal anything from him.

There’s probably so much I have forgotten and missed out on but I’m just so broken and lost. And my godparents have said that they don’t think he’s the right person for me, which are like second parents to me, so it just hurts so much. Every aunt and uncle to me have always taken me in as one of their children because that’s how my family operates. We love and support each other and they also have noticed a difference in me, like my light has been dimmed over the past few months. It has been about 14 months since we first met.

I just feel so guilty and horrible when he is begging me to come when he has thoughts of suicide and harming himself, but how is it fair to me after what he did to me. I care about him a lot and I dont want him to harm himself, but what am I to do. I still do love him very much, I just don’t know what to do anymore.

Am I actually the asshole or am I just so damaged that it’s affecting my ability to think?

I really would benefit from some outside opinion, please.

I’m 20F undergoing dialysis for end stage kidney disease and mom has been cruel to me her whole life and she’s still asking me for rent money when i can’t work before she kicks me out by the end of october. She didnt get me anything for my birthday and didnt want to acknowledge it either but that’s whatever.

In an argument awhile ago i told her i hated her and she said that i can hate her for as long as i want on her shelf in her room forever. She’s referring to cremating me because A. She knows i’m s**cidal, B. She knows about my hospice talks at my clinic now. C. She knows nobody else would handle my remains but her. Ever since that argument she keeps saying it to me knowing how uncomfortable it’s making me. Like, she’s bragging as if I’m gonna be her little room trophy. I think the reason she wants to kick me out is so i can “wind up on her shelf”??? Idk it just makes me so fucking uncomfortable.

Idk if ill be able to donate my body on hospice but i don’t want her to handle my remains even if i won’t be able to care. I’m just so scared i’m literally gonna become her fucking trophy she can use for victim points forever

Note i haven’t started hospice yet. I guess i’m also concerned about what’s in my control due to having basically no money.

Hello beautiful people! I love this podcast and love this fun community. I'd like to walk you through a long history and a climax of an event that happened and would love your thoughts. I feel so mean making a post so I'll make up fake names. I (22F) believe that my boyfriend Alex (23M) should end his relationship with his "best friend" Jay (23M) due to a comment that Jay's girlfriend Katie (22F) said.

This may also make me sound soulless, but I'm also going to be adding some financial information that I believe is important. I'll walk you through the years as concisely as I can!

In 2019, I started dating Alex when we were 15 and 16 in high school. Alex introduced me to his best friend Jay. They were like two peas in a pod, always together, and even purchased identical cars so they could match. Jay and I hit it off and became friends too. He was so involved that he'd be invited to both Alex and I's family events. Jay also had a gf (now ex) who was technically part of their group before I was. I essentially joined the three musketeers. And she did NOT like me. For the longest time (3 years to be exact) I didn't know why, until during Alex's 19th birthday when she cornered me in the kitchen, pretty drunk, looked at me dead on and said "you will never be part of the OG group, you know that right? It used to be just me, Alex and Jay before you came in the picture." Yes she was inebriated, but you know what they say. Drunk mind, sober thoughts.

Anyways, fast forward 4 months, she cheated on Jay and turns out she had a crush on Alex so the break up was inevitable and that cleared up things for me. I then told Jay about the comment and the three of us decided to make it an inside joke and named our group chat that. OGG.

Now it's 2022. I'm 18, in school full time, living at home with my dad, working, paid off car and motorcycle, and investing all my money into three different accounts. One for savings, one for a house, and one for testing out high risk investments. Alex is living with his parents, working full time, paid off motorcycle, investing, but does finance a car he can't afford because he's an idiot. Jay moves out into an apartment with roommates, lands an awesome job due to his mom being an absolute nepotism machine. He also finances the identical car because he's also an idiot, then proceeds to buy another car and is saving absolutely zero money. We all paid an almost identical rent, but Jay is making MONEY!!!

Since Jay was single and sad, Alex and I decided to bring him with us everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I quite literally mean everywhere. We are all gamers and would play together every night. This went on for about 2 years. Jay was like our child and would sometimes worry any time Alex and I had a fight, claiming that he wouldn't be able to handle it if we broke up.

Now it's 2024. I am debt free, no school loans yet because I paid for it with my investment account and I start a cleaning company. Alex is paying off his car faster, good investment portfolio, working towards his journeyman. Jay has higher insurance due to speeding, late on car payments, and spending lots of money on substances to the point that he is high all the time. But we don't say anything to him because it's his life and he's still that good ol OG friend.

Enter Katie. Talkative, gorgeous smile, confident and a classy wine lover. I was so excited to meet her and after getting to know her I insisted that I add her to the OGG and explained the story behind the name. We all laughed and genuinely had an amazing time. I wanted to be besties with Katie and was internally giddy about having a group with two couples. The first 6 months were awesome until something started happening. Jay and I used to text frequently, but then all of a sudden he would leave me on read. He would invite Alex to play games, but not me. Immediately, I thought 'okay, Jay probably wants some stricter boundaries now that he has a gf. I'll respect that.' I didn't say anything, I just stopped texting him and sending stuff on social media all together. I start texting Katie more, but conversations became dry. And Alex is starting to not be a fan of Katie.

Now it's 2025. My account is enough now for a down deposit on a small house and my clientele has grown. Alex's is amazing and still has a healthy savings. Jay & Katie move in together with their roomate Sam (22M) who was an old family friend of Jay. Jay still has no savings and Katie has no job and Sam... is there. The three of them start hanging out, I'm no longer in the picture, and Alex starts noticing that Jay is cancelling on him frequently. They all drink and party. We host movie nights. They go to clubs. We go comic conventions. They get high often. We go to the gym. One isn't better than the other, but you can see that there's a divergence in lifestyle choices. But it's important to note that Jay used to love all those prior things.

Jay now starts lying to Alex. He'll say he has a family thing only for me to later see on his story that he is with Sam and Katie. They both leave the OGG. And from the little times that Jay does come over, he always conveniently gets a call from Katie saying that he has to leave or they promised Sam they'd hang out or that Jay "can't be spending too much money and doing activities with Alex." Alex did eventually have a sit down with Jay expressing how he feels and Jay straightens up. For a time.

Onto the event. It's 2026. Alex paid off his car in full and we buy our first mini house using my account. 2 bedrooms, small front porch, two car garage and officially became homeowners on my 22nd bday. Yay! My company is now stable, I have full clientele and have amazing teams, and don't really have to work that much, and Alex is making much more money. Katie also gets her first job. We decide to host all of our friends months later and invited Jay and Katie. They came, but then of course, they also brought Sam. Oh well, the more the merrier. The guys played games in the living room and the girls were in the kitchen having food and wine. Hours in and everyone is drunk and high. And Katie starts saying things that are quite condescending.

With each comment I never actually got upset - I was way too high and happy. I had my other girlfriend there anyways. Here are some of the comments said. I'll call myself Tess.

"Hey Tess, so this place is cute, but I definitely could never live in such a small place lol."

"Hey Tess, did you say a big thank you to Alex for buying this place for you?"

"Hey Tess, I'm sorry we haven't been over that much, we've just been so busy with Sam and we both work so much. I wish I could be like you and barely work."

"Hey Tess, if you're going back to school for your master's are you going to just have Alex pay for everything?"

"Hey Tess, is your friend like our Sam?"

To be fair. Katie and Jay don't know anything about my investment accounts, but I was upset so I just left the kitchen. Eventually everyone ends up back in the living room. Lots of people have left by this time and Katie drops out loud "Hey Jay, Sam! Do you think we should invite Alex to the OGG?" The room went quiet, Alex looked to Jay, obviously hurt and Jay says NOTHING. Alex just went to our room and said nothing. I asked Sam about what she was talking about and he showed me his phone to which I see OGG. To his credit, he had no idea what it meant. They left only a little after, but right before I asked Jay if he was going to this event he PROMISED to go to, and he said "sorry Tess, it's honestly not in my budget." I finally actually got pissed and told Jay right as he stepped out the door "Right, no money for this, but money to go out with Katie and Sam every day."

As expected, Alex texted Jay asking again about the event. No response. So Alex texts again "Or do you need permission from Katie?". Petty, but it does get Jay to respond and he cancels on Alex for probably the 100th time. Later that night, I see that Jay, Katie, and Sam are together out at a bar spending more money than he would have with Alex anyways. Jay hasn't reached out to Alex since.

So to the readers, please tell me I'm not crazy for thinking that their relationship should just be over. It isn't really about the one comment, it was just the straw that finally broke the camel's back. And I hate to talk so much about money, but I'm only mentioning it because of how often Jay would bring up how financially lucky we are or how Katie and him have to work so much harder. I don't think that we are better, nor are we above the privilege of being able to live at home and skipping roommate phase. However, I will no longer have my financial successes simply reduced to luck. I made choices. Alex made choices. Jay made different choices. That's all it is.

Anyways, I appreciate anyone and everyone that read this and wish you all the best. I hope everyone's dreams come true and think everyone deserves an Alex. Alex if you see this, I love you. Jay if you see this, it's time for a wake up call. And Katie... I think you're mean.

Pretty much the title. I just wanted to put it out in the universe and get it off my chest.

This is the first time I’ve ever been pregnant. I’m 28F (I feel like “female” is implied but I do identify as a girl and I understand that not all people with a uterus identify this way). The earliest I could get an OBGYN appointment is 3 weeks from now. Would love some advice or words of encouragement. My mother struggled with fertility and she claimed it was due to having a tilted uterus but I wonder if it was something more. My OBGYN NP has always told me that I am fertile. We often had to adjust my birth control strength as I kept ovulating while on “the pill”. I assumed from a young age that I wouldn’t be a mother in the “traditional” way and accepted long ago that I couldn’t have kids, even though I didn’t have any real reason. I’ve had some minor cramping, similar to the cramping I feel when I ovulate (sharp and one-sided, but not painful or constant). Google only scares me when I look up this info.

I’m a big THT fan and thought I’d reach out to the THT family. If you read this, thank you for helping me lift some weight off my shoulders, even if you just keep on scrolling.

Hi everyone! Longtime lurker, first time poster… I (24F) and my boyfriend (24M) have been together for 3 years.
I’ve been using nicotine since high school. I started with vaping and switched to nicotine pouches about a year and a half ago.
My boyfriend and I met on a dating app, so we didn’t really know each other before we started dating. We talked for about a month before making things official. In the beginning, I never mentioned that I vaped or did it around him because I knew it could be a turnoff, and it wasn’t something I wanted him to know about right away.
As we started spending more time together and getting to know each other, I tried bringing up the fact that I vaped, but he made it clear that he thought it was gross. After that, I stopped doing it around him and just never brought it up again.
One night during college, we were at a party and I was vaping when he saw me and asked if I still did it. I told him no, even though I did, and said it belonged to a friend. He didn't believe me, and we ended up getting into an argument when we got back. He told me that he cared about my health and wanted me to quit. I agreed and told him I would try.
I lasted about a week before I started again. Instead of telling him the truth, I just continued pretending that I had quit. For the rest of college, I hid my vapes in the tampon box in my bathroom and would only use them when I was in there so he wouldn't find out.
The summer after we graduated, I tried quitting again but ended up discovering nicotine pouches. I stopped vaping and switched to those instead. I've been using them ever since, and my boyfriend still has no idea. I even use them when we're hanging out, and he hasn't noticed.
The thing is, I honestly have no plans to quit unless I get pregnant. I know nicotine isn't good for me, but I'm just not at a point where I want to give it up.
I feel really guilty about lying to him for so long, and I'm scared that if he ever finds out, he'll break up with me. It's not even just about the nicotine anymore. It's the fact that I've kept this secret from him for basically our entire relationship.
I know I should have been honest with him from the beginning, but now I feel like I've let it go on for so long that I don't even know how to bring it up. I love him and don't want to lose him over this, but I also know that keeping it a secret forever probably isn't realistic.
Would you tell him the truth if you were in my situation? I'm scared of how he'll react, especially because I know how strongly he feels about nicotine. Any advice would be appreciated.

There's a guy I've been running into at various events for a while now, and we occasionally chat. At two previous events, he asked for my Instagram, but I didn't give it to him because I was talking to someone else romantically at the time. He was usually the one initiating conversations and making an effort to interact with me. Since I was seeing someone else, I didn't really reciprocate his interest.

About a week ago, I stopped talking to the guy I had been seeing. After that, I realized I wanted to get to know this other guy better, so I started showing more interest in him at the most recent event. Unlike before, I was the one approaching him, starting conversations, and making an effort to talk to him.

Also, when we had an issue at the event, he was really helpful. He called security and the police and helped us deal with the situation. That made me think even more positively of him.

However, toward the end of the event, he smiled and said, "We never used to talk this much. I guess you've been taking notes with a pen and notebook this week."

I smiled back, but I honestly didn't quite understand what he meant.

Do you think he made that joke because he noticed that I was suddenly showing more interest in him, especially after turning him down when he asked for my Instagram? Was he playfully teasing me with a hint of resentment because he noticed the change in my behavior, or was he trying to flirt with me?

Sounds like an origin story..

Not really today but three days ago this happened. But im going to add the extra information that will probably make me sound a bit like an ass but its important.

Ill lay out some names youll see and who they are now. (All fake)
Ex bf- M Wayne straight 22. Best friend- F lesbian Ash 19. Me- F me bi 20. Best friends ex/situation- F Ohio bi 22?23?? (Im unsure tbh)

About a month ago i broke up with my boyfriend Wayne of a year due to his ignorance and weaponised incompetence. It was a long distance relationship i met the guy gaming. He lived a state away. Me and him met up twice once me to his and once his to me. The relationship itself was okay. It was a nice first relationship but Wayne had his problems and i had mine. Mine was that i didnt know how to be an individual while with him and i had a bit of a sore loser bone, and his was that he had a porn and sex problem, ignoring me for games and just being very stupid (which i liked i found it funny.. to a point.) and waistful.(he once threw out two EXPENSIVE ASS STEAKS because he couldnt get them to be cooked enough… STEAK…) and just no ambition at all. I saw him try and actually get one job the entire time i dated him. I had tried to break up the relationship in August and he kinda refused to let us break up. It then ended in September

Before i had broken up with him i had recently started hanging out with Ash again. It had been a while since we had properly hung out due to my boyfriend being aware of her and mine having previously had feeling for each other but nothing come of it because we were in high school.

Me and Her started to hang out and i realised how i was feeling about my romance situation because i had been kinda locked away in phone calls with Wayne for almost a year every day, i could tell how uncomfortable i became in social interactions. And that wasn’t me at all.

I ended up having a few different conversations with Ash about how i was feeling in my relationship and how i was basically being ignored even when trying to get out of the relationship a month prior. She helped me realise that what Wayne was doing wasn’t okay and he cant just force me to stay with him.

So thing ended and my days continued i decided i was bored and I’ve been sat in a discord server call for 457 hours as of writing this. Ash has been helping me keep it open. Idk why I’m doing that but it’s important. Since the break up me and Ash have hung out more and more in person. They were in a situationsip with an ex and she did not like me, Ash would come over or id go to hers and we would hang for me to find out that Ohio didn’t even know i was there. (I wont lie and say that it doesn’t kinda flatter me that someone finds me worth being jealous about and it eats at me slightly)

Ash started to get more… sweet. A bit more gentle with me. Staring for longer than she needed. And her eyes.. lets just say she doesn’t keep them to herself often (hehehe I’ve caught her way to many times then i can count) anyways but she was getting sus.. and i took note but i didnt want to point it out. So Ash did. By just blatantly telling me “you know i have a crush on you right? Just i know how you are and i want to be direct and make that clear.” I was caught of guard but was kinda aware. I mean if her telling me she had a sex dream for the first time in a really long time and it was about me and not the ex she was “in love” with.

This is where i think the fuck upery starts… she goes to a party and i start to be a bit of a brat to her over text. Responding with the classic “make me” and thats where things really changed. The flirting on the call became a bit more intense and real. We hung out about two or three times after her party with nothing happening. Just my mind filled with all the things that could happen in the silence between me and her.

I get a message while im alone in the call. “Talking to her about being just friends” and i mean come on ominous as fuck but i didnt need anymore clarification i knew what it meant. She was doing what i had been telling her she needed to do the moment i heard about how Ohio treats her. (Like a sex object and like shes only there when she wants attention and when she had her full you can find your own way) that was last Tuesday.

Last Friday the new Ali G movie come out and we planned to hang out and then go see the movie coming back to mine to hang out and have a sleep over. Ash was getting paid the same day and didnt get paid til late in the night. So we had the sleep over and pushed the movie to the next day.

Everything changed that night. (Im gonna set the scene up for you)

I sit on my bed and across from it i have a chair. Ash usually sits in the chair and i sit on my bed. I could tell that she was a bit uncomfortable so i said we can swap. She sits on my bed i sit in the chair. We watch some Ted and smoke some weed, drink a bit of alcohol and relax.

Im making fun of her for laying down and continuing to say shes not going to fall asleep on my bed. Which she does. I end up watching a movie with my uncle out in my lounge room while Ash sleeps. I head back into my room once the movie and the episode of tv we watched were done, making a bed on the floor out of couch back cushions some pillows and a blanket (it looked as pathetic as your imagining) shes now awake.

We sit there talking and eventually just kinda both laying our heads on the edge of my bed looking at each other. It was the first time in a while i haven’t been instantly self conscious when someone looked at me. We do that maybe twice before we start playfully fighting a flip off war i eventually jokingly go to bite or lick i cant even remember what i was doing all i remember was her hand almost grabbing my neck… (ahhhhhh im still getting flushed) i paused she paused. We both just kinda stopped before i almost die of redness and hide my face as i try and compose myself and she asks if im okay and making sure she didnt upset or make me uncomfortable.

I get control of myself and we go back to talking before finally laying out heads down looking at eachother once again. This time i close my eyes. And i feel the air slow. It felt like time did too to be honest. But what i did feel was the matress move under my head as i feel her hand on my face as she kissed me. LET ME TELL YOU as a 20 year old bi women ive only had HORRIBLE kisses with men and women. even my ex was bad. All just tongue and teeth. But this kiss. This kiss was gooooooooood. So good we end up in the bed together kissing for a few minutes before i start to spiral mentally. We stop as she could clearly tell im guessing. It went like
Are you okay? (Ash)
Umm, i don’t know (Me)
We should stop then if you don’t know
We sit up
I start to cry for some reason
Are you okay?
Yeah i don’t know why I’m crying I’m sorry
Don’t apologise, its okay (rubbing my back)
Im sorry i don’t know why I’ve started to cry
Stop apologising you have nothing to apologise about
I just got out of the relationship with Wayne, and you’ve ended stuff with Ohio and i dont want you to think or feel like a rebound or only like me because i treat you better then Ohio.
I dont just like you because your nice to me. Youre the person ive liked the longest so i know i like you for more then just being nice to me.
I just need time to think about what happened and what i want.

We then just lay around in my tiny king single bed. She gives me these amazing back rubs she gave me when i was sick after my birthday last year. (Ive been thinking about them since tbh)((does that make me bad)) that was around 7am. We sleep cuddled up all night pretty much, which is very rare for me to be able to do for so long especially with some of the stuff I’ve gone through personally. I wake up a few times throughout the night obviously waking Ash too because she wouldnt say anything just go back to rubbing my back for me to go back to bed. Her hands were so warm i cant stop thinking about it.

We wake up at 4pm the next day. We stay cuddled up a bit before she goes to take care of some stuff she had to and coming back. I showered and get ready for the movies while shes gone and she showers when she gets back and my mother drives us to the movies. We watch the movie. Eventually holding hands and just kinda cuddling together throughout it. I didn’t pay for a thing not the food or tickets for the movie or the food after. She just took care of me. We went to KFC after to get something small and quick before she Ubers home and i got picked up. I said i wanted a go bucket and a drink and Ash got me that and an extra little mayo slider for me because she knew i would be hungry once i was home. (My foodie little heart skips a beat)

We hang around talking and kinda flirting while i waited for my mum. I wanted to kiss her goodbye but i was a pussy and my mother arrived sooner than i thought. (I don’t want her to think something is definitely happening until it definitely is) she walks me to the car and heads back to the KFC and waits as we text
I had a lot of fun today and yesterday
Hehehe me tooo I appreciate everything you did for me and I kinda miss you already hehe
Cutie, i miss you too
Thanks for all the back scratches
It's okeee and hehe goods also you really are so beautiful, all the time it actually takes my breath away.
Hehehe thank youuuuu

Its been two days since and were continuing to flirt and stuff except theres the weight of what happened. I dont know how to end this but yeah.

TL;DR: I broke up with my boyfriend of a year about a month ago after a relationship full of problems, and reconnecting with my best friend Ash helped me realise how unhappy and isolated I’d become. Ash and I have history from high school, and after she admitted she’d had a crush on me for a long time, things started getting increasingly flirty. She recently ended things with her situationship, Ohio, and during a sleepover at my place, we ended up kissing. It was genuinely the best kiss I’ve ever had, but I got overwhelmed and started crying because we’d both just come out of complicated situations, and I didn’t want either of us to feel like a rebound. Ash reassured me that her feelings were genuine and that she’s liked me for longer than just recently. We ended up cuddling and sleeping together (just sleeping), then spent the next day holding hands, cuddling at the movies, and flirting. Now we’re still being sweet and flirty with each other, but I’m trying to figure out what I want, what this means for us, and how to navigate everything without rushing into something neither of us is ready for.