Everyone has skeletons in their closet. However, for these people, if their secret ever got out they know it would break the hearts of every one of their loved ones.
Their Furry Friend May Have Saved Their Life
“When I was 17 years old, my parents had recently split up. My mom walked out, my sister was my only sibling, and was already in a college across the country. I lived with my dad at the time, and he was the only family member I had within 1,500 miles. It was Christmas Eve, my father was getting worse in the ICU. I had already been dealing with him not paying bills. We didn’t have the heat on in the house in the middle of winter.
I was a mess at the time, only having my beloved dog with me. It was about 48 degrees in our house, so she and I stayed in my bedroom where I had a space heater. I tried to overdose, I drank a bottle, and took a mixture of pain medications. I remember crying my eyes out Christmas Eve, asking for my dog’s forgiveness if I didn’t wake up, and for someone, anyone to help me.
I awoke 14 hours later to my dog whimpering and nudging me. When I woke up, it was the strangest feeling I’ve ever had like I was meant to be here, and nothing will stop me. I’ll never tell a soul as I’m ashamed of considering taking the easy route out.
I spent Christmas Day alone with my dog, holding her for the majority of the day; she didn’t leave my side once during my slumber and the day. It’s like she knew something was wrong with me.
I still have my girl to this day. I always thank her in my head for keeping me going or I would’ve woken up and attempted it again if I didn’t have her.”
She Always Thought Her Friend’s “Games” Were Strange, Then One Day It Hit Her
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“When I was a little girl (3 or 4 years old) I had a friend who came over to my house to play. She liked for the two of us to play in the doghouse in the backyard where she would try to get me to play a game that she said her dad played with her. The game involved touching each other in ways an adult should never touch a child. My mom thought it was weird that the girl always wanted to play in the doghouse with me, and so she got rid of the doghouse quickly.
I didn’t understand what the game meant then, and it took two decades for me to realize just what it meant. It was like lightning just struck me one day, and I suddenly remembered the incident and understood what it meant.
That little girl was abused by her dad, and I can’t even remember her name. I still haven’t gotten the courage to ask my mom if she remembers the girl. I’ve never tried to find her. I have never told anybody, and I’m ashamed of my cowardice.”
They’d Do Anything To Get Their Baby Brother Back
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“My mom and her boyfriend abused my two younger siblings and me when we were young. I was the oldest, at age 5 at the time of my brother’s first birthday, when I noticed something wasn’t right. But at that age, I didn’t understand what was going on, and I thought abuse was normal. Until one day, a few days after my brother’s birthday, she told me my brother was ‘sick,’ and that he needed to go to the hospital. I didn’t think much about it, and said my goodbyes, as my mom dropped me off at my aunt’s house on the way to the hospital.
I arrived at my aunt’s house, she gave me a bath, and my cousins and I played and watched television until it turned dark. Then something went wrong. We heard a knock on the door. I heard, and started after the door, thinking my mom was here with my baby brother. I was thinking he was okay and everything was fine. My aunt opened the door and started to cry. I tried to piece it all together before I realized there were two tall men at the door. Police officers. They picked me up and told me I had to go away. I remember screaming for my aunt, and I didn’t get to say goodbye. At the time, I didn’t understand what was happening. I even thought maybe they were picking me up and taking me to my mother.
We arrive at a place I cannot remember much about, where they fed me and took care of me that night until the sun came up. After I had woken up, it was off to another location. They were taking me to a foster home. I was living with a large family I didn’t know, and it was all too scary for me. I stayed there for a few weeks until I was moved somewhere else. There I waited in a room when I saw somebody I knew. My grandparents and my sister. But my brother wasn’t there. I began to worry that he was still sick. I got excited, still, and even more so learning that they were taking me home. That’s when they began to explain to me where I was and why all of this had happened. All the abuse and neglect was too much for him. He wasn’t sick. He was dying. And the reason why I was taken away was simply that my mother was charged with abusing us and causing him to pass away.
All this didn’t phase me at the time since I was just a child. But after the years, I started to blame myself for not being able to do anything about it, even though I was so young and couldn’t possibly do so. Every year, on his birthday, I go to where he was buried and put a flower on his grave. My aunt told me he loved yellow, so I always make sure to get yellow flowers, and maybe a small toy I think he would’ve liked. And sometimes I wonder if he’s up there, looking down on me, and likes the fact that I still visit him every year.”
She Felt Trapped In This Relationship
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“I’m currently 25 years old and spent almost six years with my 28-year-old boyfriend. We lived together, and he was bipolar. I worked two jobs so he wouldn’t have to worry about bills or food. He had a part-time job he barely went to. We both got in a miserable rut and smoked every day. I had to do all the cooking, cleaning, and providing. It was a difficult and stressful time for me. I lost all my friends because I was either working or too burnt out to do anything.
Two years into the relationship, I became very unhappy. I wanted to end it. My boyfriend told me he would kill himself if I left, so I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t bear all the pain. About a year later, I started an emotional affair with a co-worker, we’ll call him Ben. After just over a year, it turned into something more intimate. Sending naughty messages and the occasional meetups to fool around. This happens on and off again for about three years.
About six months after that affair, I met a dominant guy online and had a virtual dom/sub relationship with him. A year after that affair started, I met another co-worker who was 24, let’s call him Jason. We instantly hit it off, and end up screwing in his car. So at this point, I’m still with my boyfriend, while also messing around with Ben and Jason and still messaging this dom guy doing whatever he wants on cam. I realize I’m being a terrible person and need to sort out my behavior. Just because I don’t love my boyfriend doesn’t mean I should treat him this way.
A year goes by, and I break all contact with all the guys I was seeing. I’m still living with my boyfriend at this point. Jason starts talking to me again, and I finally realize how miserable I am and that I can’t go on living such misery, and that my boyfriend deserves better than a lying cheating girl who messes around. It took months of working up the courage, but I eventually broke things off. Two days later, he committed suicide. It’s all my fault. I’ve been struggling through this. Jason has been my rock. We’ve been together for over a year now. He’s the only reason I’m still alive.”
They Never Felt Motherly Love In This House
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“My mom abused me throughout my childhood by either being active in the mistreatment or being silent and allowing her boyfriend to do it.
Fast forward to now, her mental health issues are taking a toll. She has drinking and substance abuse problems, and a gambling addiction. When she calls me, she sounds like someone I don’t even know. Last week she was in the hospital for a heart attack, and I really wish she would have died.
I lost her when I was a kid. I feel like this other mother is an imposter, and I just want it to die and for her pain to end. I don’t remember when the abuse started, but my earliest memories are of it occurring. Here is a funny joke. What do someone who wears glasses and someone who was abused from an early age have in common?
They think how they see the world is normal.
I never thought to question anything, ever. For a number of years. I was a quiet child and didn’t make many friends because people scared me. By the time I realized something was wrong in my household, I refused to let the few friends I did have over.
I have a vivid memory of being small; I must have been around four because my younger brother was an infant. My mother had taken the three of us into one of the bedrooms and locked the door while her boyfriend smashed things downstairs, and was just losing his mind. He had a cattle prod, and I could hear the crackling of the electricity through the walls. My mom had burns from it all over her arms. She asked me, a small child if I would call the police if he broke in.
I started crying and begged her to please not make me. That I would get in trouble, and he would hurt me and I was scared.
She asked me, ‘Do you want me to die?’
Those words are clear in my mind; I can still hear it perfectly. To this day, I have nightmares of having to call 911, and not being able to speak, or pushing the wrong buttons.
The abuse became worse. Every trip to the hospital was an accident. Every public outburst was treated as a parent having to wrangle an unruly young kid.
I tried to run away in the winter. I packed some clothes in my backpack and went out onto the ice of a river near our house. I laid down out in the middle, in the cold, and daydreamed. Just watching the snow fall down. I was nice and warm in my coat and multi-layered pants.
But I went back. Because I was scared of what would happen to my mom. Her boyfriend told me that if I ran away, he would kill her and my brother, and keep me alive so that I would have the memory.
I stayed until I was 14 and he tried to drown me in dirty dishwater. I ran and started living at a friend’s house. My mom would call constantly, begging me to come back. That the situation had gotten so much worse for her. But I was too afraid, and the guilt piled up.
He ended up leaving when I was 18. I have not talked to him since. I consider the time I was around him like a terrible nightmare.
My mother spiraled. What was once a functional drinking woman turned into a complete mess. She turned to working the corner to subsidize her addiction. She lived on the streets, and every time I moved and slowly got better, she would call and ask for money. I gave in to that for a long time.
I was hospitalized and diagnosed with a number of mental disorders. She called me a malingerer, and that my pain was nothing in comparison to her own.
I got married and had two children. She tells me my husband will leave because I am crazy, that my children will grow to be addicts, and that I am her clone. That I can’t escape it.
She is like a voice in my head, berating me. While at the same time working her way back in like some sort of abusive spouse.
When I listen to music intended for exes, it makes me think of her. Adele’s Hello is about my mom for me.”
Even If He Doesn’t Remember This Incident, It’ll Haunt Them For Years
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“I am the reason my cousin is mentally handicapped.
We are the same age, and when we were 7 years old, our grandpa bought us dirt bikes. Well, we decided to make our own trail in the woods; it took the entire summer. I put this tree branch purposely at a roughly head level, just so he could duck under it, and it would look awesome.
The branch was heavy, but I was able to set it conveniently between two trees. He was braver than me, so he went first.
Being dumb kids, we didn’t wear helmets.
I yelled for him to duck, but he didn’t, and hit his head on the branch, got knocked backward and hit his head straight into the ground.
I told everyone it was an accident. Grandpa sold the dirt bikes. I didn’t see my cousin a whole lot after that.
That was nearly 25 years ago. I see him every Christmas, and it’s always the same. In a wheelchair, being spoon fed by his mom. He can’t speak; he likes to draw funny shapes.
He most likely doesn’t remember the accident, and I don’t know if he remembers me.
But that’s what haunts me.”
Letting Go Was The Hardest Thing This Mother-To-Be Would Ever Do
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“I had a baby when I was 15 years old, and he was given up through a closed adoption. The most painful thing I’ve ever gone through.
He turns 18 in a few months, and if he so chooses, he can find me. I’m married and have kids now, and my kids have no idea he exists. I want to meet him, but I’m terrified he’s got mental disorders like his biological father (who is now in prison for murder).”
They Kept This Secret To Spare Their Parent’s Peace Of Mind
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“I spent two years of my life being violated by the guy across the street.
It started when I was 10 and he was 15, probably as a game of doctor or truth or dare. It wasn’t until years later and I looked back, and considered the fact that I was in elementary school and he was in high school, that I realized what it was. It finally ended when I was 12, and my family moved away. He was good at grooming, saying things like it was totally natural and that I’d get in trouble if anyone found out. He’d show me smut and even got physical a few times. He kicked me in the ribs once and locked me in a closet a few times. When I realized what was going on, it was probably years later when I was 16 and thought about the fact that I was 11 when he was 16 and how screwed up it really was. I knew I’d never tell anyone. I didn’t want my parents finding out. They both had to work full time. I got home from school at 3 p.m., my mom at 5 p.m., and it normally happened in the hour and a half or so that they weren’t home. I never wanted them to feel like it was their fault that I was assaulted and then violated, so I’ll take it to my grave. My spouse and best friends don’t even know. And no one ever will.”
They’re Afraid To Admit They’re Losing Their Religion
“I am a leader at my church (volunteer, not paid or making a career of it). I used to teach Sunday school; still occasionally fill in if someone is sick. Went to a Christian college for a bit. Minored in New Testament Greek. Married a Christian girl. Had kids who are growing up in our church.
I can no longer bring myself to honestly believe in God. I wish I could, but it just doesn’t make any sense. I only maintain the illusion of keeping the faith because it would cause a lot of heartbreak to people who I really care about if they knew.
It’s like I lost a friend who I had for 34 years, who I was close to, who was always there for me, who knew me better than anyone else. But I can’t mourn this loss because my family and close friends still believe this friend is alive, and if I tell them I don’t believe, they’ll feel like they lost me.”
After All He’s Been Through, He Still Hopes For A Happy Ending
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“My wife cheated on me with a professional soccer player. She claims to not have fooled around with him, but I don’t know if I can believe her. Before I found out, we were having arguments and weren’t getting along. One night, I finally had enough and approached her to discuss what was happening to us. It was then that she told me that she didn’t know if she loved me anymore. Two weeks later, I found intimate pictures of her sent to him, texts between him and her that discussed getting together to hook up, and the most hurtful things a wife could say about her husband. At this point, I understood why she was feeling detached from me. All her emotional needs were being met by this other man.
We have three amazing kids. A son and two daughters. 10, 9, 7 respectively. They are good kids. I am dumbfounded that my wife would do this. We have been together for 20 years and married for 14. I think back to when she loved me and we were happy. Life has been challenging for us, but not any different or difficult than most couples. I am so in love with her. She is an amazing mom, extremely beautiful to me, and has a very attractive bubbly personality that everyone loves. I am so proud that she is my wife. At least I was.
Fast forward to now, it roughly been seven months, and she has yet to show any remorse or show me any affection. I’m lonely, sad, afraid, and ashamed. I am very ashamed to say that I have thought about suicide. That way she would be rid of me and she could be happy. Of course, I could never do that to my kids. They would be so hurt and confused. At this point, I pray that I will get a fatal disease or have a fatal accident.
We have been and still are going to counseling. She did end the relationship with the other man the day after I found out. She did say she loves me but is not romantically in love with me. Her actions are just not showing me much.
I haven’t told a soul except for the counselor. Close friends of mine always ask me what is wrong. My brothers and parents do the same. I don’t want them to think that my wife is anything but a good wife and lover.
Right now, I’m pushing through. Hopefully, this has a good ending.”
They Didn’t Know Who To Go To After Years Of Bullying
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“I was bullied a ton in school, like a lot. And I almost never had a ‘good sleep’ it was always me crying myself to sleep or trying to change who I was. I never told my mother or father, or anyone for that matter, because I didn’t want them to be ashamed of me. I still haven’t told my parents, and the bullying still affects me, after all, that time.”
They Don’t Need Anyone Else But Their Fiancée… Right?
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“My fiancee is the only person I actually enjoy being around. I don’t really say that out loud because it puts unfair pressure on her, and exposes my antisocial tendencies. I wasn’t always this way – it happened over the past six or seven years after a deep depression and struggle with prescriptions. I’ve been happy and prescription free for several years, but I haven’t been the same. When I make myself hang out with friends, I sit there thinking about how long I should stay before I can duck out and go home without looking like a jerk. It’s hard for me to have conversations with people because I just think things like ‘When are they going to leave me alone?’ or ‘When can I leave?’ I’m pretty good at hiding it and have several people who consider me to be their friends, but I secretly get no enjoyment out of those relationships.
I’m not sure why my fiancee is different, but it makes me very afraid of losing her. I’m positive I won’t find anyone else that I will be able to love like I love her. There have been a few months here and there in the past where we split up and I went out on dates with several other women – some of them were pretty and nice, but I hated the entire process and never followed through on subsequent dates.
I wish I could change that about myself, but I don’t know how.”
This Friend Is Caught In The Middle Between This Rocky Marriage
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“My friend’s wife doesn’t love him anymore, but she doesn’t want to divorce him because of their baby girl. I think they’ll separate in less than a year.
The husband is my friend (not close, but still consider him a good friend) and we have common friends with his wife. They have arranged free days for each other: she gets Tuesdays; he gets Thursdays. It’s been three times now that SHE comes to a friend gathering, gets a couple of drinks, and starts crying about how she isn’t happy with her guy because she doesn’t love him anymore and wants to get out but can’t due to her daughter. Five people know about this including myself, and to my knowledge, the husband doesn’t know yet.
I have to add: I DO NOT feel comfortable intervening in other people’s business if they want to separate or stay together I think that’s something they must decide as a couple. I cannot brainwash or suggest someone into being together or separating their spouse it’s not right for me. All I can do is lay down the facts for the other person and let them take their decision.”
He Abused His Authority And Their Friendship
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“There was this teacher in my previous college that I befriended. He became a mentor and probably one of the closest people in my life. You know, the kind of person you feel you’ve known forever?
He emotionally blackmailed me for intimate favors. I never told anyone in person. He was married. Still is, if I recall properly. I don’t know if what he did to me was worse or the absolute betrayal I felt.”