I am at the table, finished with the breakfast I just cooked for myself, and have a greasy, sticky plate in front of me with a fork and knife. My dad is in the kitchen washing dishes. My mom is up walking around.
I have chronic pain and bladder problems, so I don't get up immediately because I want to relax after my meal. I know if I stand up, the change in posture will give me the urge to go to the bathroom, which I don't want to do right now.
My mom passes nearby. I ask if she can take my plate to dad. She takes it and starts walking to the kitchen with it, and then I hear my dad saying to wipe the plate off first. I say I have an old napkin- she comes back to get it then returns to the kitchen. I'm thankful for the help.
I'm disabled and don't work, though I try to do as much as I can. I often cook meals for all 3 of us and my dad usually does the dishes. My mom and I do some when he's not there.
A few minutes pass and then my dad is griping. "This hasn't been wiped!"
"I did wipe it!" my Mom calls.
"Come out here and look at this!" my Dad insists. He brings out the knife and fork to the table so that I can see it, and calls my mom over.
He shows me a slightly sticky knife and fork. It's true, they don't look like they were wiped. But mom says she DID wipe the plate, which my dad doesn't argue against. He demonstrates how to wipe the knife and fork with a napkin to us, as if we're both dumb.
I don't say anything. I usually don't in these moments. I feel bad now that I asked my mom to clear my dish and now she's getting yelled at. I wish I had just left my things at my place until I felt ready to get up. I don't want conflict.
My dad, back at the sink, starts rambling on. "It only took me one time to realize I should not leave my dirty underwear on the floor for my wife to pick up. After 42 years of marriage, I've never done it since. All I'm asking is for a simple thing. You wipe the dishes and silverware clean. It's an easy task. But if you don't do it, it makes it harder for the person washing the dishes. And it's already a tedious job."
I agree. I hate washing dishes. But I think, "Is it really worth yelling at us for this? Could you not have just asked, come back here and wipe the knife? Or could you not have just done it yourself since its so easy? And really, the soap in the sponge is an emulsifier... with that slight amount of stickiness you could really just go straight to it with the soapy sponge... it's not like it's peanut butter or something."
My dad continues monologuing about various things related to washing dishes - some of them good points, but none of it interesting - for the next several minutes while continuing the dishes. Nobody responds. I'm tuning him out. My mom probably is to. Although I still hear him.
I wonder, "Does he know we're tuning him out? Does he feel like it's not fair to him? Does he not see any connection between the fact that he's such a difficult person to be around and he's always yelling about stuff and the fact that sometimes we just stop listening?"
He's talking about how terrible teachers are in the teacher's lounge and how they expect everyone else to clean up their messes. I know what he's talking about. I've seen similar when I worked at a place with a shared kitchen. But it seems like catastrophizing to go from one slightly sticky fork and knife... to that topic.
No matter what we do, there will always be something that gets done a little less well because there's something else we're more focused on. And sometimes, we'll forget things we are asked to do. Does this not apply to my dad? Does he never forget to do things we request of him? Does he never simply refuse to do things we request of him? Little things like, don't leave the door open for several minutes while mosquitos are out and you're bumbling around?
I've lived with people who completely trash their surroundings and make me the one who has a lot to complain about, and I've still never become a petty jerk about it. I just think there's a better attitude you should have when dealing with people you actually care about.

Fiction with true elements. Jeramie (29m) luck has changed. He got fixed up by his mom with Angela. Angela was done with jerks and was ready to settle down. She was smart, take charge kind of person. Like mom said the girls would come around and I was so lucky so many guys, now she was mine. I was kinda of a momma’s boy and almost a virgin, so lucky. A year later we were married. Angela took charge and was trying to make a man out of me. Somehow while doing good I was not quite up to her standards. She was not that affectionate with me and sex was not what I had hoped for. She saved herself for marriage with me. She said we had sex on our honeymoon the night I got drunk but I don’t remember it. Sometimes she lets me rub up against her leg as I tell her how much of a goddess she is. When I do this she brings up things I need to do for her, that am I 100% committed to her? and if I ever look at porn? Distracted I’d like to just cum but she usually say no. No? “No means no” roll over and go to sleep. Angela sometimes worries about me being a pervert and I do feel she may be right? So I did try to tell my mom about my troubles but mom says she is good for me, gives me purpose in life. Lost my friends, do most things around the house, give her my pay check, and spend Saturdays at her mothers house doing thing for her too. I don’t mind much doing things for her mom although her mom can be demanding. Besides her mom is kind of sexy full breast and a nice ass she shows the off some and I love it. I tried talking to her mom about my struggles with Angela but she just looks at me with disgust. Sometimes she insults me but I think she just trying to help. So I go online and look up relationship stuff, take charge wives, dominate wives. Financial abuse, femdom, findom. I started jerking off quite a bit and I felt so guilty and full of shame. I found a goddess online said she could help me. I was not allowed to jerk off and cum unless I was paying. At least I was getting my frustrations out. I complained to her about my wife. She said she could help. I also told her I was cuming tooo much and I was causing problems with my concentration. She had the perfect solution. I was to edge in my wife’s panties this way I would not cum for fear of getting caught. Fin goddess would make fun of me getting even more frustrated and tell me I was not a real man and in fact a total loser. No wonder your wife won’t fuck you. What to do? Cum in her panties to get back at her but there is a huge cum tax. Goddess is so fucking right, fuck it. Goddess was recording our sessions and was so happy to please my new goddess. After a big long edging session I came twice into her panties. Goddess did mention home wrecking? Oh fuck home-wrecking. I”ll throw Angela’s panties in the hamper I don’t think she’ll notice. That’s where I got them from. Wrong she is too observant and knew I was a panty freak my mom let on she caught me playing in her panties when I was a teen. Things fell apart real quick when she went on the computer logged in right over my password and found everything, everything. She was the admin to that computer I had no idea she could do that. Ever worse I had money from my dad’s life insurance I never told her about that I used to tribute fin goddess. She got the best feminist lawyer you can get which I had to pay for. I begged and begged on my knees but she just kick me in the balls and called me a loser. My lawyer tried to help but said to settle out of court and I would get maybe a little something. She had not commingled her saving, her townhouse and my huge savings I gave her before we were married for safe keeping. now that was hers since she had it before we married it was not considered community property. I wanted to fight it but my lawyer said I had no idea what I was dealing with, she would ruin me. I had no choice but to walk away with almost nothing. The motel room was terrible and lonely. I fucked around and found out. Now what do I do. Angela said she’d get back at me, embarrassing me and make my life miserable every chance she got. Not even my mom will talk to me.

My wedding is in 8 days. My dad recently changed their pronouns to they them. My dad has been pretty absent in my life since I was 10 when my mom and dad got divorced. They were was abusive to my mom but luckily she divorced them almost immediately after they choked her and I saw them do it. They killed both of the family dogs with negligence (on accident). When I wanted to bury my dog they tried to trick me into giving them money to taxidermy the dog. They collect dead animals and display the bones. They didn’t feed me when I lived with them. They are impossible to deal with in almost any situation. Extremely Paranoid, stubborn, into conspiracy theories, occasionally believing they are god. It’s a bad time. I know getting my dad to wear an appropriate outfit was going to be a struggle I went dress shopping with them and it was just frustrating. It just felt like my dad was making the wedding all about them. I honestly wanted my dad to wear a pantsuit or a woman’s suit. I didn’t say that though. You can’t ever disagree with my dad. You can’t compromise with my dad. He is always always always the victim. When we go places they refuse to wear shoes. They refuse to shower saying it’s bad for you. The house they live in is my grandmas and the electricity isn’t on. They haven’t worked in over 6 years. The house is full of trash my dad hoards things. my dad rolls their cigarettes on restaurant tables. They bring full cups of coffee into my car just to spill them everywhere. My dad would probably dip his overgrown fingernails into my wedding cake just because. I planned on letting them come until my grandma and my dad and siblings went to Denny’s. My dad had said they didn’t want to wear a suit because it would look silly unless it’s tailored. My grandma said ok I’ll get your suit tailored. My grandpa (who was not at the restaurant) sent a photo of a woman’s suit to my dad and suggested they wore that. My dad stood up and ranted about how we were all transphobic. And stormed off making everyone in the restaurant look at them. My dad said they would start making a scene if anyone misgenders them. They later tried to convince me that that is not what happened and my dad only said they were going to correct people. My fiancé (23 M) basically said to me that I need to uninvited them. My grandma went shopping with my dad and got them a woman’s pants suit because I requested at this point that they not wear a dress. I don’t know what else to say my reasoning is that they they are a spectacle in a dress. My dad looks like and smells like they live in a dumpster. I just want my dad to show up as a supportive father figure instead of making it about them. My dad called to yell at me for being transphobic about the pants suit. And geez I can’t believe I’m saying this about anyone. But I’ve known my dad for 22 years. I don’t believe they are transgender. I just know my dad and they will do anything to be the victim. They (the white guy) somehow made blm all about them. Said that the government was after them. My fiancé would be miserable the entire wedding worrying about what my dad is saying and doing. Someone would need to babysit them. So I had to uninvited them. All oft aunts and uncles and grandma called to tell me they support me and one said they don’t think they are transgender. My dad called and promised they would behave yesterday and I felt like saying they could come. My fiancé still said no. So I had to tell my dad they can’t come. My mom told me even if they promise to behave they can’t. They aren’t capable of keeping promises. I know this sounds fake I don’t know how to convince anyone it’s real. and I swear I’m supportive of other trans issues. I just need to know if wanting my dad to wear a suit makes me an asshole. I know I’m right to uninvite them but I feel like a jerk for believing they are doing it for attention. Because I hate when people say gay/ trans issues are for attention. I dated a woman for 2 years I just don’t generally hold this opinion of others.
TLDR: Reddit am I an asshole for making my dad feel like I don’t support their gender (I don’t but I didn’t say that).

I had to go to the grocery store today. Was running out of food for the dog, short on milk and just needed some things. I haven't been out for a month because of my step dad.
I can't trust my step dad. He will just sit and watch TV while I am gone. He has dementia and 85 years old. Not too long ago he went outside in the shed. He slipped and fell. I didn't know he was outside he never tells me. His son came by for dinner and found him while I was outside vaping. I did walk around looking for him but just in the wrong places. But anyway I got out today because my step sister in law came by for awhile to keep an eye on him.
I went to Weis grocery store. While I was shopping I was getting my cat her canned cat food. It was taking me awhile because looking for different food for her I didn't find. I look up and this older guy is just standing there waiting for me. I told this guy he should have said something and I moved out of the way. We got talking about our cats. He has like fifteen plus cats that he takes care of, I have one. But I have my cat for a reason I believe
First of all I have had two cats. My first cat was about 18 years ago. She was a black cat that my neighbors supposedly were taking care of. My neighbors back then, at least the guy, were jerks. The father laid out in the sun in his bikini bottom and didn't do anything all weekend. I felt sorry for his wife and kids. They always had cats running around outside. This black cat came to me one day and I found some food for her. She kept coming back. She became my best friend.
I went through some very hard times. I even thought of suicide. You know what kept me from doing it? My cat Midnight. Just seemed like everytime she came to me I had peace. I go out for a cigarette she would come to me without me calling her. She would come because she knew I needed her. A few times she was sitting right outside the door. When she passed away she was in my arms. She was like my best friend, an angel at that. I really do believe God sent her to be my friend.
Then about a couple weeks before she passed away she ended up getting under the porch. We had a board off because we had to do plumbing work under there years ago and Midnight liked going under there in the winter. Now we had to get her out so she didn't just die. When we did we kept her inside and took care of her. A few days after this calico cat, her name is Reese, walks up to me outside. She's rubbing my legs and meowing. She just followed me inside. I kept her in my room until Midnight passed on. Now she is all over and a climber. My mom passed on a year later from pancreatic cancer. A lot of other crap happened in that year and if God hadn't brought Reese before Midnight passed on I don't know where I would be today.
I believe everything happens for a reason and what we decide changes our future. That's why we need to make sure we stay on a good path and not a bad one. Personally I don't think we need to try to be perfect because that's impossible but use common sense. There is always a better way and having faith is what helps you to get there. Sometimes we just need a little help and we get a friend

Hey, so you ever get a birthday present that's so not your style, but you really can't return it because it'd be really awkward? Normally it's like, I dunno. Shoes, or shirts or something like that, right?
For me it was four fire-breathing horses.
Okay, so I should clarify. My dad didn't really give me four fire-breathing ponies to keep. It was more of a test for him to treat me like his son again.
See, I just recently got out of a Styx oath that would have led me to eternal damnation if I didn't fulfill it. It's a long story, but to keep it short: I swore an oath on the Styx to be a brave hero by my eighteenth birthday when I really should have just pinkie promised. But yeah. My dad, God of War and dad of the year took it well. …In that he pretty much said that I was a waste of space, disowned me and he'd personally hand me over to the Styx for eternal damnation.
Nice guy. Really should get into motivational speeches.
The night before, after riding the high of not having the threat of being sent to Super Hell I had a pretty bad dream. I mean, it wasn’t the normal David nightmare. It wasn't me killing endless hordes of monsters while my dad laughed at how pathetic I was.
Well, half of that. It was just my dad. To be honest, rather I’d take the monsters.
He was laughing at me, with that smug face of his, in that all-leather biker outfit with the shades that made him look even more like an asshole, as if that's hard to believe.
Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to cuss. Anyways yeah. Me and my dad. Not the best relationship, even by demigod standards.
He gave me a toothy grin, like a shark’s as he circled around me. I instinctively stood up straight, at attention. As much as I hate my dad, ticking off a god is a pretty dumb thing to do. Plus, I was pretty dumbfounded to see him here in my dream of all things.
“Well, color me surprised. To be honest, boy, I thought I'd end up taking care of this myself. So, congratulations on that front. But, sorry to burst your bubble, it might be good enough for ol’ Styxy but…it’s not good enough for me. But, you know, I'm a generous guy! Prove me you're a warrior. Do that, and I'll welcome you back in the family with open arms. I even got the perfect way for you to prove yourself.”
Without warning, he tossed me a set of keys with a miniature boar-headed keychain and a really big switchblade on the end of it. I fumbled with it before slipping it into my pocket.
“An oldie but a goodie. Used to let my sons prove themselves to me all the time with this one. Now, I'm sure once you see what I got planned you'll know the rules, considering you're a fuckin’ nerd. But in case you forget…”
He lowered his shades, revealing balls of fire as he glared right at me.
“Sundown. My temple. Don't be late or I'll toss you in the Styx myself. Well! Have fun, yeah? I'm looking forward to watching you fail this one, like your last quest. Now, get up. Clock’s ticking after all…”
“Gaah!”
I snapped my eyes open, falling out of my bed and onto the hard floor under me. As soon as I hit the floor, I could hear one of my many siblings start to stir from their sleep. Immediately, my sister Tiffany started to sigh as she shot up from her bed. I could see her pastel pink sleep mask perched on her head as she glared into the darkness of the early morning. She groaned in frustration, her words cutting through the quiet of the dawn.
"What the hell are you idiots doing?"
To be fair, I could see why she’d think that. Most of my siblings were fond of pranking each other every now and then. The chaos of the Ares cabin was unmatched from most cabins, except maybe Hermes. But, when you cut off her beauty sleep, the threat of an angry Tiff was usually was enough to make nighttime a truce. Usually.
My sister rubbed her eyes and looked down at me. I sheepishly gave a smile as I rubbed my head, still sore from when it hit the floor.
"Seriously, David?"
Tiffany got out of bed and silently made her way to me. She wordlessly held out a hand and I grasped at it as she pulled me up.
"Thanks Tiff. I had this dream, where Dad called me a nerd and was talking to me about testing me now that my Styx Oath is..."
I felt something hard and metallic poke against my leg, from my sweats pocket. I pulled out the unfamiliar object and to my surprise, there were the same keys from my dream. My eyes widened as I realized that my dream was a little bit more than usual demigod stuff.
"Oh. That...wasn't a dream."
She raised an eyebrow as she looked at the keys that sat in my hand. I played with the accessories, absentmindedly feeling the boar head and the switchblade knife. She leaned in, peering at the keys as the dawn started to rise.
"What the hell are those for?"
She looked to the keys, then back at my face, and then the keys again. She looked at me as if I just said that Kronos was about to come back and throw an ice cream party courtesy of the Titans.
"You're telling me Dad gave those to you or something? You're joking. Have to be."
I shook my head, but I could see why she thought so. I was pretty sure I was near the bottom, if not at the bottom of his list of favorite kids. If I was being honest, I was pretty sure he wanted me dead more than a few times.
"Tiff, you know that I'm not exactly Dad's favorite by a long shot. Why would I say something like that and risk him getting even mad more mad at me because of my lying? Dad disowned me, remember? He mentioned something along the line in my dream that if I pass his test I'd be treated as one of his sons again but he didn't mention what it..."
The gears started turning as I looked at the keys in my hands.
”A test…keys…sundown…oh no. Oh, no.”
I immediately pocketed up my keys and started putting on my shoes. No time for pants, sweats would do just fine, I just had to make sure to take my wallet with me, considering I was going to New York now. I had to be quick or this test was over before it even started.
"No. I...I think I know what it is. But if I'm right, then shoot I gotta get going then! Before our brothers take it."
In hindsight, I probably should have told Tiff a bit about my thoughts. But, the more I delayed the more issues that could have cropped up. I just had to make sure it was safe.
"Take what? Where the hell are you going?!"
I burst out of the cabin, staring at what was in front of our cabin. I felt a bit of nervousness bubble up as my thoughts were proven true. Tiffany was close behind me as she walked outside our cabin. I looked at her face and caught an expression of wonder as whatever she was going to ask me was forgotten. Parked in front of the cabin was a red and gold Harley. The seat was white leather and gave a sorta…humany vibe to it that I did not wanna think about. Only one thing came to mind, something I knew instinctively from the moment I saw it. Dad's War Chariot.
Or as the god of war would call it, his chariot.
"I...I think dad wants me to take his ride for a spin."
I ran my hand over the cold metal, and I realized what Dad meant about the “oldie but a goodie.” A while back, before the Second Titan war ended, and all of the children of the gods had to be claimed, there was a ritual all sons of Ares went through. It was something all my brothers did at fifteen. Drive around his Chariot and return it before sundown. It wasn't easy, my Godly siblings, Phobos and Deimos both loved to mess with whoever was in charge of the chariot at the time. And you had to deal with monsters too, but overall when it came to demigod stuff it wasn’t the most dangerous around. I dunno if that says a lot about how dangerous this life can get though.
But, shortly after the then-counselor Clarisse La Rue became the first girl to do it, Dad pulled the plug. I dunno if it was good ol’ sexism, someone totaling it, or dad not wanting to let all of his kids drive his ride, either way it wasn't super common nowadays. It wasn't like he stopped, but it was something given, not a right. Dad letting me do this was him at least giving me a chance to prove myself to be one of his kids, which was more than I expected to be honest.
I took a breath as I looked at Dad’s ride, feeling a pit of unease in my stomach as I started to climb in. If it wouldn't end up with me being tormented for the rest of my short life, I'd tell him no and go back to sleep. But, telling a god no, especially my dad is a neat way to be turned into a rodent. Or a fine red paste. Or a rodent that would be turned into said paste.
Tiffany's brows furrowed as she processed my words, a layer of disbelief on her face as she chewed over it.
You? He wants you to drive it? I...that...what the hell?"
I fought off a wince as she looked at me, then the ride, then back at me again. I could tell she was a bit annoyed. I mean, yeah from her perspective I was singled out by dad to do something she probably wanted to do for a while. I felt a pit of guilt in my stomach, it wasn't fair, really. But at the same time I had to do this.
"I mean, seriously? He must be out-"
She cut herself off. Calling my dad crazy was another way to get turned into a rat that would then be turned into a fine paste. Actually a lot of things carried the threat, my dad is kinda a jerk. I sighed, figuring I might as well tell her about why Dad was doing this. I didn't wanna hide it, but it's not like I like to talk about the fact that I've been disowned for two years. She knew, most of us did. But it's not something I like bringing up, because yeah. It sucks.
"I read a bit about previous Ares campers. He used to do this more often, at first only his sons did, but later his daughters could. I dunno why he stopped but, this isn't really like he's doing it because he's proud of me. I'm sorta disowned, remember? He said if I can drive the chariot, he'll take me back as one of you guys again. It's...more of a test to earn myself back into his good graces, I think.”
Tiffany listened to my explanation, not saying anything for a bit She looked a bit bothered about the fact that I was chosen to drive the Chariot, which again, not surprising.
"Ugh, I guess that makes sense."
I could hear the frustration in her voice as she crossed her arms. I winced again, preparing for her to resent or hate me. But to my surprise, I heard her add more in a softer voice.
"Well, don't get yourself killed trying to pass this stupid test, I don't want to have to explain to everyone why you're not coming back."
Her icy tone defrosted as she looked back at me with a bit of concern in her eyes. She seemed less annoyed and more worried about me, which was sweet. Not that I'd let her hear that. I hoped that maybe, dad would let her give it for a spin later down the road. If anyone deserved it, it would be her. I gave a nervous laugh as I took the keys out of my pocket.
"Of course, I passed my Styx Oath, didn't I? It'd be really dumb of me to die right after barely avoiding that, right? Oh, yeah. If Ellie asks for me, tell her about dad's little test he has for me. Hopefully it won't be too long but you know how it is with godly stuff. I should be back in time for us to hang out for the rest of my birthday once I do this for dad. I'll bring back something cool!”
I felt my trepidation fade away as I prepared to drive. Lots of my siblings dreamed of piloting the chariot. It wouldn't be right to reject the opportunity when it was given to me. And, who knows? Getting back in Dad's good graces (or as much as one can get in them) might help me out. At least I would have one less target on my back. As I sat down in the white leather seat, I put the keys in the ignition and instantly it began to morph.
OOC:Read this while listening to whats coming up
The front split apart into one steel horse that slowly split into two, and then four cream-colored horses that looked around with a cruel intelligence. The seat dipped, and warped before it became a horse-drawn chariot I was now standing in. The chariot was gold and blood red, adorned with the lovely images of people dying gruesome deaths, because Dad's taste in decor is somewhere between military surplus and serial killer, apparently.
“Okay…so, I need to get to Dad's temple before sundown. I don't know New York highways though, so how can I…oh hey! A gps!”
My fingers brushed against a touch screen set up on the chariot and punched The Intrepid into the coordinates. I gave one last wave to my sister before I lashed the horses and they immediately took off. I led them out of camp easily enough, but as we reached the highway they sped up to an impossible speed for a chariot. Their speed was even faster than any cars on the highway, rivaling the time that Aphrodite camper drove us to the beach once. I pulled back on the reins, trying to get them to slow down. Instead, they gave a rebellious snort and went even faster.
I would like to say that I embraced my inner Ares kid and relished the challenge. But I'm not going to lie, when you end up going past 80 MPH in a chariot, you tend to think you're going to die, fun fact. I screamed for most of the way, yanking and pulling at their reins so we could bob and weave through traffic.
It's a bit of a drive from Camp Half-Blood to New York City, I know it well, it’s a pretty common place for me to go for some monster slaying. But, up until now, I've been in the passenger seat while Argus drives. The speed of the horses really made the time go by faster. As we entered the city, the horses started to slow down and I felt a ray of hope as I started to steer them through the city. I gave a triumphant laugh as I looked down at my ETA. It was surprisingly quick, considering how congested New York can get. And I didn't see hide or hair of either one of my godly brothers, so I felt pretty good, all things considered.
“Huh. That's weird. There's not many cars today…my luck must be turning around!”
“Traffic update: Incoming Monsters. Rerouting. Cannot reroute.”
“Huh?”
Immediately, a massive boar the size of a garbage truck burst from a nearby alley way behind me. Behind the massive pig, two armored bank cars recklessly merged into traffic. One leaned out, revealing a gray-skinned human in body armor brandishing a shotgun.
“Of course! I had to open my big mouth! Is there anything that I’m going to have to deal with?”
“You are on the fastest route!”
“Well that’s just GREAT! Now I can be on the quickest way to the underworld!”
”Rerouting to: D.O.A. Records, Los Angeles.”
“Woah, woah, woah, no! Keep me on The Intrepid! The Intrepid!”
Seeing all these enemies together though, I started to put a thought in my head. They all had something in common, now that I saw them all in front of me. A boar was sacred to Ares, Spartoi too came from a dragon sacred to him. I put the pieces together as I saw the monsters come out of the woodwork and all to me. Now things made sense. The lack of Phobos and Deimos, the sacred beings to Ares, the lack of mortals on the street.
I didn't see my siblings because Dad wanted to mess with me personally.
Even now, I don't know if he wanted to test me in a Spartan way, or if he just wanted to get rid of me without kinslaying. Either way, I couldn't back down now. Not when I was so close. I snapped on the reins and the rebellious horses continued on their path, bickering and weaving left and right as they snorted and whinnied.
I heard the wiz of something traveling through the air and quickly moved out of the way. A metal feather hit the chariot, bouncing off the hull and onto the ground. I looked up and saw a few birds. They were black and crow-like, but their feathers had a metallic sheen, like iron. Their wings flapped and I heard the sound of metal on metal as they soared above me.
“Dad called in feather-shooters too? Come on!”
I steered left and right as I evaded the metal feathers shooting at me. The newcomers behind me quickly gained as I bobbed and weaved. I had to figure a way out of this, and fast. Problem was, I was quickly outnumbered and outmatched. I wasn't the best at archery, and my sword could shoot a blast of force, courtesy of the then Forgemaster. Main issue was it took a bit to charge, and I couldn't take them on so high up.
I couldn't run. I needed to fight out of this. But even if I could fight the two Spartoi and the big pig, the problem was the birds. I didn't have a ranged option…or did I? I looked to the horses, breathing embers as they huffed and pulled the chariot further on. Ares kids couldn't talk to horses, but these were godly horses. They seemed smarter than your average horse. Maybe I could talk them into behaving, the same way I got some of my siblings to listen to the plan during Capture the Flag.
“Hey guys, are you bored? I'm sure Dad and my brothers take all the good fights, huh? You know, if you guys continue fighting each other, I might lose this and you guys will miss out on a good fight.”
At first, I thought it fell on deaf ears. But then, they stopped their jostling and started to take a more unified path as we raced along the streets. Like I thought, they enjoyed a good fight as much as their owner did.
“That's what I like to see. Look, we're pretty surrounded right now. What do you say we rampage a bit before I take you guys home?”
An evil-sounding whinny came from the horses. I couldn’t really speak horse, but I took that as an okay and pointed at the birds above us. Did I feel stupid? Kinda. But as long as it worked, I couldn’t complain.
“See them? All yours. I'll cover you guys from the ground forces, and in exchange, you guys fall in line. Alright?”
A burst of fire came from one of the horses in response and I heard a loud squawk as it engulfed one of the feather-shooters. I breathed a sigh in relief as the rest of the birds started to scatter. They veered left and right in an attempt to avoid the flaming streams that were now sporadically being fired in their direction.
“Alright! Good job, I'll leave it to you!”
I gave a smile as I turned behind to my land-based foes, quickly gaining on me. I could hear the occasional woosh of fire as the horses fought the birds. One of the armored trucks caught up to my right and one of the spartoi leaned out of the vehicle. They aimed down the sights and pointed their shotgun at me.
“Sudden traffic in your area. You will be delayed by…five minutes. You are still on the fastest route!”
“Woah, that’s not fair! Come on Dad! A gun? Really!?”
I felt a tug in my stomach. It wasn’t something I could do a lot in a row without being exhausted, but I had some sorta pull when it came to weapons. When I gave a command, they were able to fall right out of their owner’s hands.
“Alright, let’s even the playerfield shall we?”
I held out my hand and they dropped it, the gun fell onto the ground, crushed by the wheels of the car. The second caught up to my left and once again, a spartoi leaned out of their car, weapon in hand.
“Another one!? Come on! How am I going to…”
I was jerked to the side as the horses suddenly veered right. At first, I thought it was the horses misbehaving again, but then a monstrous squeal came from behind me, rushing forwards.
Crash
I heard the sound of steel groaning as the boar rushed past the truck, pushing their truck out of the way as they aggressively charged forward. It was a good thing I managed to get out of the way, or else I would have been in trouble. I could see the spartoi shaking their fist as they spun out, their car massively dented with a massive gash in the armor. Now that I had to deal with two enemies, I decided to use the boar’s momentum to my advantage. I pulled back on the reins and the boar kept barreling on, too fast to stop as I made the chariot suddenly stop and then take a sudden turn away from the temple. The boar ran straight into a brick wall, seemingly dazed but otherwise okay.
”Rerouting...”
That temporarily took care of two of my enemies. Now that I had one to worry about, and my horses were pretty steady, I could start this fight in earnest. I kept one hand on the reins as I grabbed my Miku keychain. I unclipped it, and the keychain turned into a katana, with said keychain still on the bottom. It was my sword, Anime (I want to clarify, my friend Jules named it, not me). One of the Spartoi readied a spear and lunged at me. I parried it with my blade, and stabbed at their chest. I felt my blade plunge into their body. I pulled away at it, slashing at it again to tear it apart. To my disappointment though, the monster quickly reformed.
I don't know what I expected, to be honest. They wouldn't be much of an immortal soldier if they died after the first hit. But it bought me valuable time as we pushed forward. Almost as soon as its bones knit back together, it struck at me. I guarded once again, my sword starting to glow brighter and brighter with each strike. Our blades clashed and separated again and again for, I don’t know how long to be honest. I was putting up a good fight, but I just couldn’t gain the upperhand in that fight. For starters, if it was a monster or even a demigod it’d be ten ways to Tartarus at the moment. But, no matter how I sliced or diced it, the immortal soldier kept on coming back. Also, I just wasn't used to multitasking like that, I held on as tightly as I could, but the brief times I practiced Chariot combat with my friends Jules and Cel, I was either driving or fighting. Both at the same time was hard, and I was lucky that the horses were so cooperative.
I heard the whinny of one of the horses ahead as I looked back to the front. No sign of the birds meant that there was a few extra-crispy feather-shooters along the road somewhere, which was good news. But then, I looked out in front and realized that there was a big problem. One of the trucks we left behind somehow got in front of us, blocking the road with their car. Five spartoi were standing outside of the car, swords and spears drawn as they headed the chariot off.
At this moment, I knew I was screwed. I was too fast to just stop. And, even if I did stop, I’d have to deal with all the angry skeleton men chasing me down. I just winced, bracing for impact. But then, I heard a neigh as the horses pulling my chariot started to turn into steel and combined once more. The chariot started to shift, the creak of metal folding and turning. I quickly sheathed my sword as the reins turned into chrome handlebars which I gripped like my life depended on it. The chariot continued to morph until once again it was a motorcycle with flame patterns. I veered as left as I could, narrowly avoiding hitting the side of a nearby building as I sped past the skeletal blockade. I braked, motorcycle now turning back into the chariot form as I turned back and watched as the car that was chasing me slammed straight into the other.
The now pissed spartoi stumbled out of the wreckage and started to scream undead obscenities to each other. I couldn’t speak ghost, but whatever they said seemed to be pretty rude, because both sides started to unsheath their swords and get into an all-out brawl. One of the spartoi sliced the other in two, and they didn’t reform this time as their essence slid into their black sword.
Huh. Well, that was one way to deal with them.
“Whew! Good horses.”
I turned, ready to snap the reins once again, but I stopped as I saw what was waiting for me at the other end of the road. The boar, still very much on my trail stood in front of me. It pawed at the ground in front of it, and my horses started to do the same. I stared at the boar, unsheathing Anime once again as we stared off.
“Keep straight for…500 feet.”
The thing about boars is that they can be pretty deadly. They’re brutish and aggressive, and they go down fighting. You know the crossguard that’s near the pointy end of a spear? That’s so the animal doesn’t run up the spear to take you out with it. You don’t think them being that dangerous, but there’s a reason that dad’s symbol is a boar.
I had to make this quick, and efficient or I’d end up maimed, or worse. I snapped the reins one more time, and the horses started to dash down the street. The boar squealed as it barreled to me. I could see it get closer and closer. I grit my teeth, holding my blade in my right hand as it started to shine more and more brightly. My hand held onto the grip tightly, bracing for my next action.
I’d have one shot at this.
I miss, I’m dead.
I hesitate, I’m dead.
I don’t hit the vitals, I’m dead.
Time started to slow around me as I watched the boar rush at the chariot, enraged as it reached the point where there was no stopping it now. I could see the powerful muscles push and pull, the beast using all its power in an attempt to off me for good. I felt heat coming from the front as all four horses breathed a stream of flames at the swine. The boar kept on charging forwards, through the fire as the flames engulfed it. An angry squeal erupted from the inferno as it lept up from the sea of flames, still on fire as it used its strong legs to clear the horses and go straight for me.
Breathe in
I felt a sense of calm wash over me as I pulled my sword hand back. My blade shined brilliantly, even in the May sun. I watched it fall ever closer to me, the flames still eating away at the flesh. I stared into its ever-angry eyes, burning brighter than the flames surrounding it. I don’t falter. I’ve faced monsters that have crushed my bones. I don’t feel fear. I’ve fought creatures that could have killed me in five seconds. This is it. I need it to be perfect.
Breathe out.
SHING
I swung my blade and a rush of air followed it, making an arc that flew to the boar. I don’t doubt my skills. I simply watch, confident that this will end the monster once and for all. The blast, charged from my fight flew unimpeded. The beast’s chuffs turned into surprised squeal as it sliced the boar cleanly in two, bisecting it from the snout down. I sheathed my sword and put both hands back on the reins, eyes on the road as I barely watched what came next. The flaming boar started to fade into dust, still falling through the air until only a tusk was left. I held out my arm and caught it with my right hand.
“Oh hot, hot!”
I juggled it a bit with one hand before placing it down on the chariot floor. I grinned triumphantly as I realized what happened. Dad tried to test me, to see if I was “worthy” or he genuinely tried to kill me. Either way, I beat him this time, proving to him that I was more. That he underestimated me when we first met, that I was a brave warrior all along. In the end, I proved to him that I could fulfill my Styx oath even past what was expected of me. I laughed as I sped up, I felt pretty good about my victory. I wondered how his face would look, or if I could read his expression past his dumb sunglasses.
But as I rounded the corner, a terrifying sight came to my face as my glee turned to sorrow. I watched with horror as I realized Dad’s influence on the fight kept a more dangerous foe than any before at bay. Now that the fight was over, he had no reason to keep it around, and for once, I wasn’t sure if I could get through this unscathed. I gulped as I put my hands on the reins, not ready to face the impossible challenge alone. I hoped it wouldn’t break me as I prepared what little I had to fight this foe.
”There is an unusual amount of traffic in your area today.”
“Now you tell me…”
None other, than New York traffic.
I’d like to say that I did something else. Like I defeated an army of drakons on my way, or managed to fight off crazed demigods sent by my dad…but no. It was pretty much just traffic the rest of the way there. It was long and arduous, but I managed to make my way over to The Intrepid. After that traffic,I had to say, the amount of crazy drivers was almost San Francisco bad. I’d have taken as many spartoi and boars as dad could throw at me, if it meant I wasn’t drowning in the sea of cars. I drove down Pier 86, feeling a sense of relief as I got closer and closer to the aircraft carrier turned museum. As I got within eyeshot, I realized that dad said to take it to the temple, but not where to drop it off at.
It would be really stupid to end up failing just because I wasn’t sure where to leave dad’s ride. I got off the chariot, and was eyeing the prices of a ticket.
“Adults are thirty-six, Seniors and College Students…thirty four… Oh hey! Children of Ares get in free! Now, how do I wheel dad’s chariot through the front…”
Suddenly the side gate opened, lights flashing and clanging as it automatically retracted. The person standing in the booth waved me over and I hopped back onto the chariot, driving it by cautiously. They were dressed like a security guard, shades covering their eyes as they looked down onto their phone that they were absentmindedly playing with. Eyebrow piercings peeked out from behind the shades. They were tall, looked about early twenties, and seemed like your average bored museum guard, if not for that sorta godly aura I got from them.
“Take the chariot this way, Lord Ares will be at the end of Pier 86. Can’t miss him.”
I eyed the godling suspiciously. They seemed like one of those myriad younger and minor gods I saw when I was on Olympus. Not anyone I’d know, but if they wanted to stop me, it’d be annoying to get past them. They didn’t seem to be that dangerous, at least right now. But when you were a demigod, you learned to be wary of free handouts.
“Uh…look man, I’m going to be honest. I just got through some hellish traffic to get through here. So if like, you’re leading me into a trap or if my godly brothers are going to show up to try and take this, can you just start the fight and save me the trouble? It’s been a long morning, and I just wanna get this over with.”
I stared back at my reflection through their mirrored shades. Growing up, I always thought of myself as gangly and awkward. I could see my messed up hair, tousled from the wind. I stood tall, and although I wasn’t the buffest Ares kid around, you couldn’t call me skinny anymore. I looked almost heroic as I held the reins atop the chariot. Was that how I looked now? The godling shook their head as they chuckled, putting down their phone as they looked at me in the eyes.
“Kid, even for a god like Ares who likes conflict, you don’t do something like that in a temple. You can’t just attack his kid on his own grounds. Plus, it's part of the rules of war to respect neutralized zones. Trust me, you’re home free.”
“Oh. Um, thank you.”
He nodded and went back on his phone. I snapped on the reins and the chariot trotted along, even fire-breathing horses had to follow traffic laws apparently. I was on guard, not taking the godling’s words at face value. Mortals in a daze parted around the chariot, a few snapping pictures at me. I freaked out for a split second before I heard the tourists being in awe at what I heard to be a “vintage bomber”. Dumbfounded, I stopped for a brief second. It didn’t even have wings! But, I could see the mist shimmer around me and for a brief moment, see the silhouette of the plane around the chariot. It was an old fighter, a single propellor with flaming horse art on the nose.
“P-40B Warhawk? Alright, guess we’re working with that.”
I frowned a bit, trying to think if I knew that before this, from a school project or if it was more demigod shenanigans. I was never into fighter jets, but when you’re a demigod sometimes your parent’s godly influence shoves itself into your head and it’s always confusing when it does.
I drove the “plane” to the end of the pier, where I could see my dad sitting down on a barricade, blocking off a massive plane above him. It wasn’t used for war apparently, because I had no clue what type of plane it was. Looked cool though, it was really narrow around the nose end and the wings were all near the back end. He had a big wicked-looking combat knife in his hand that he used to clean his nails. He looked up at me, disinterestedly, before going back down to the knife.
“You’re alive.”
I couldn’t tell from his tone if that was a good or bad thing. It seemed… neutral. Like he was stating the sky was blue. But, overall I’d take that as a good thing, considering our last meeting. I spoke a bit warily, not sure if he was in a good or bad mood considering my victory.
“Uh, so Father. I’m finished with what you-”
“No. You’re not.”
“I’m not!? Do I need to do anything or-”
A moment of panic snuck up into my chest. For a brief moment I was afraid he was going to pull a twelve labors on me, but then he whistled and held out his hand.
“Not until you give me the keys kid, then it’s done.”
I hopped out of the chariot, the reins in my hand turning into keys as the horses went back into their motorcycle form. I somewhat clumsily tossed it to my dad, who grabbed it. He pushed himself off his perch, first making sure his motorcycle was unharmed. Then, he turned to me, eying me up and down as he circled around where I stood. I stood still, at attention as I felt my heart racing in my chest. I felt like a deer, cornered by a wolf just waiting to strike. Yet, the first pang of anxiety soon settled down. If he wanted to take care of me, he would have done so already. Or sent something more dangerous like a Drakon at me when I was driving. I felt my heart leap up into my throat as he clapped a big hand on my shoulder. The gesture wasn’t hostile, if anything, the motion seemed friendly. But his grip was anything but. His hand, like the claws of a tiger dug into my shoulder as he grinned at me.
“I have to say, I thought you were a lost cause, but look at you kid. Took you long enough, but I guess you have enough of me in you after all. Well, a late bloomer is better than being completely useless, but man! You were one of my most pathetic kids when you took that oath. I don’t think I had a kid as wimpy as you in a long time. Well, I’m glad my little nudge helped you keep that oath up after all. It would have been a waste of a perfectly good warrior if you didn’t shape up.”
I looked at him, dumbfounded. He helped me? He didn’t do anything! I wasn’t stupid enough to point it out, but I guess he knew what I was thinking as I felt his grip tighten as he growled.
“Come on, don’t give me that look, kid. Oh, don’t look so surprised. Tip of advice: don’t dip your toes into cards. You have a horrible poker face. Your mom was the same way. But, yes. I helped. Not that kids these days would understand. Parents these days are too soft, including most of us gods. Back in Sparta, we’d leave our kids to fend for themselves. Just give them barely enough food and let them hunt or steal the rest. If they end up dying in the hunt or starved, well that’s fine. They were too weak to do anything of note anyway. You should consider yourself lucky I was generous enough to just turn my back on you.”
He chuckled low, and my blood ran cold as he shook me. I shook my head, fighting off a wave of dizziness as he threatened to take off my arm.
“Oh, but that’s in the past! You passed your agōgē period, all by yourself. Now that is true strength.”
His evil grin widened as he gave me the closest thing to an approved look he’d ever given me. I furrowed my brow as I shook my head. This credit, it wasn’t mine to take, was it? Before I could think, I spoke what was on my mind.
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t do this by myself. Everywhere I went, I had someone to help me out. If it wasn’t for the help from my friends, I don’t think I would be standing here. I didn’t-”
My dad’s good mood instantly soured as his grin warped into a snarl. His grip, although somewhat friendly now seemed dangerously tight as he frustratingly interrupted me.
“Oh for the love of! I’m complimenting you, kid. Look. I don’t care about those other twerps one way or another. Allies are fine enough in war, as long as you don’t make them do all the work. Kid, you’ve gotten strong all on your own, like a true son of mine. Don’t deny you and me the kleos you rightfully deserve ever again. Shut up and just take the honor.”
“I…uh…yes, Dad.”
I was surprised that all it accounted to was a mild scolding. My dad, too seemed to calm down after I agreed with his words, as he went back to a smile. He put his hand back into his pocket as he started to walk up to his chariot. He ran his finger across the chrome finish, taking out a cloth and cleaning off my fingerprints from the metal.
“About your joyride. Not bad, not bad at all. It took you a bit to embrace your birthright, but you ended up not even scratching my ride. Nice. Nice. Saves me the trouble of buffing it out. Now, if you could only stop complaining at everything that opposed you. You’re a man, aren’t you David? Start acting like it. If you think a bag of bones and a pig are hard, just wait until your future. The stronger a warrior gets, the stronger their foes get. Make sure you’re strong enough to stand up against them before you end up a stain on the pavement.”
I heard the engine rev as he got into the seat. He threw a bag at me that I clumsily fumbled with before I fully caught it. I opened it, and a few golden drachmas shined back at me.
“Since your agōgē finished up, consider yourself un-cut off. Even I’m not heartless enough to leave a son of mine stranded in New York. Keep the rest. Feel free to hang around my temple, and help yourself to the gift shop if you want, it’s on the house, happy birthday and all that. Just don’t go overboard.”
He turned the motorcycle, wheeling it around so he could leave the pier. He turned around, giving me a few more parting words he shouted over the roar of the engine.
“Don’t think you’re done yet, David. You got a lot more to grow. Especially now that you can receive my blessings again. What, did you think that taking a good hit was all you can do? You’ll see sooner or later. See ya kid! Don’t disappoint me.”
He revved his engine one more time and took off, leaving me behind on the pier. As I watched my dad leave, I realized that with that resolved, the last of what made my Styx Oath so suffocating was finally finished. A part of me felt that I’d always keep the consequences of it with me. Either dad would continue to disown me, or I’d be horribly injured from my jobs. But, to my surprise, everything worked out alright. I worked as hard as I could, and now everything was over, truly over. I…wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I mean, like obviously I didn’t wanna have them with me for the rest of my life. But, for all of my oath’s lifespan I had the deadline looming overhead, and my expectation was that something would happen to me as a result. I was glad to have it over with, but I never felt that I could relax until now. The feeling of not having the anxiety of my imminent demise was something I wasn’t familiar with, and to be honest I still have trouble relaxing. As he disappeared into the afternoon traffic, I realized that, so too did my previous life.
Maybe…maybe I could afford to enjoy my life now after all.
OOC: And there we have it! The final David storymode relevant to this storyline! I meant to have this yesterday but I didn't see the modmail that gave me the okay until literally an hour ago oop. Which means that yes, the Chariot and Ares both are approved from the mods.
Big thank you to Tiffany's writer, angelspoint for helping me with her parts, I had a blast working with them! Hope you enjoyed David's Victory lap!

I a (29F) have been friends with my what I thought was my best friend (25F) for about 2 and a half years. We met on hinge as dating prospects and after a little over a month of talking she called it off romantically and tried to pull away (little did I know she was still talking to her ex and hoping they’d get back together.) She had told me that her ex had cheated on her previously but never divulged any deeper into the past.
(For context: they met in high school and have been on and off for 9 years. He is extremely possessive and starts fights and is very controlling of her. She never told him about me because, “he would not like that you had feelings for me and would blow up.” So every time he came to visit her she would tell me and I would not be allowed to speak to her until he left. I had confronted her about that being stupid before and she just said, “I do this to everyone when he’s here I just turn my phone off and ignore everyone to spend time with him.” I found this incredibly weird and controlling of him. Before I met her on hinge she was living with him and a few of his friends in an apartment when she found out he was talking to some girl and he was being sexual with her over the phone. He let her read all the messages and she slapped him across the face. Months later he told her he and his friends were basically pushing her out of the apartment and made her leave. They broke up where she had to live with her mom before she found a cute new apartment she loved and put her soul into. )
Back to now.
I of course told her she deserved better because she truly is a wonderful person or so I thought. Fast forward to now and in between me getting over my feelings for her and now being in a very loving relationship with another person her and I remained very close friends. She ultimately got back with her ex after me and he broke up with her again right before Christmas claiming he loved her but was not in love with her. She was completely crushed. She would tell me basically everything going on her life including what has been going on her ex. He lives in AZ while she lives in CA. She started to date other people but most of them never stuck. She ended up meeting a really amazing guy. Let’s call him Rob. Rob and my best friend hit it off on shared interests and soon became boyfriend and girlfriend. I told her that she should rush too into things because she was still recovering from her ex and it seemed like things with this guy were progressing super fast. (They were already talking about moving in together, marriage and children) They were only together less than a month. But she has this pattern where she talks to men and once one bores her she moves on to the next. This was the first that actually stuck as a boyfriend. Things seemed good with them for a bit and he even flew them both to Vegas. He spoiled her with dinners and drinks at 5 celebrity restaurants and even stayed in a fancy hotel. Upon their return she mentioned to me about how happy she was and how good of a guy Rob was. I agreed and said this was a super healthy relationship and I was happy for us both being with people we deserved. A day later she told me her ex had found her second account on instagram where she posted poems about her life as a coping mechanism. She had before blocked him on everything when she found out he was clubbing and picking up strange women. She had ripped him a new one and told him she was really disappointed in him before blocking him on all social media and phone. I told her to block him on that account as well and move on. She was with a really great guy that was treating her very well and was healthy for her. Her ex had caused her PTSD from the serve mental abusing he put her through. Claiming he was the reason for her success in life. He also hinted as resenting her a bit for stunting his growth in life because he put all his love and support into her.
Apparently they kept talking behind everyone’s back because she had called me at work balling her eyes out that she told her ex about Rob and he was losing his shit. He was begging to know who it was and was blaming her for not waiting for him to get his life together. She said it was confusing her and causing issues with Rob because she liked Rob but she felt like she would always love her ex too. After I calmed her down she texted me that night that she may need to take a break with Rob in order to resolve this issue with her ex. I told her it was a good idea because it wasn’t fair to Rob she was talking to her ex and her feelings were becoming clouded. She told me that the weekend of mother’s days she already made plans with her family and Rob and she couldn’t bail because she didn’t want her family to know something was up with her and Rob. (Her family also HATES her ex for everything he put her through.) I thought I was a terrible idea and she should just make an excuse that Rob couldn’t attend. But she told me no because her mom wanted to get to know Rob better so he would be spending the night with her at her mom’s. I told her ok but he needed to go home to his mom on Mother’s Day and she needed to be with her own. She needed a break and a day to just let her hair down with her mom. On Mother’s Day she told me her and Rob woke up and she broke up with him. She sobbed for an hour because he was a really great guy. After that she told me she was going to reach out to her ex to resolve the issue. I thought this was also terrible but bit my tongue and supported her because she needed someone. Later that day she told me that her ex was on the way and driving to her place from Az. I told her “DONT TELL HIM YOU ARE SINGLE.” It was already too late he knew everything. I also told her don’t let him stay at your house. Last time he broke up with her she had booked a non refundable hotel room for $300 as she wasn’t allowed to stay with him because his mom HATES HER. So she lost $300. I told her make him go waste $300. Alas she didn’t listen to me. He arrived they got back together immediately and he slept in her bed that night. When I found out the next day I was LIVID. To me it felt like she went back to her abuser. He said just the right things to draw her back in. When I confronted her she feed me typical lines of: He’s changed It’s different this time I love him He was always trying to come back to me I wish you could see him like I do.
She brushed all this off as I tried to break her rose colored glasses and told me to stop being a jerk and rude. They were both attending therapy in the next 20 minutes. I couldn’t help but think the only reason he is on his best behavior is because he knew she was with another person and was finally trying to be happy. I chose my words carefully no cursing, no name calling just told her I was disappointed. I told her how hard this was for me as her best friend to see her enter this abusive relationship again. I told her this was wrong. I told her I was morally not ok with her having one man in her bed in that she pretend with and broke up with and then her ex in her bed that night. At this point I was DONE. She told me they will be moving to AZ together and renting a new house once her last day of teaching was done at the end of May.
My heart broke for that apartment she loved so much and finally made it the way she loved as an individual. I told her my heart broke for her family. For her nieces and nephew that love her so much. I told her dear god I hope this guy is the right answer to all her life’s issues and hope that he is worth it. I took old screen shots of old conversations where she told me how much she was glad she moved on from him and that she felt like she wasted her time with him and ultimately hurt herself. My last ditch effort to try and get her to see the light. She never responded. I blocked her on all social media and silenced her motivations on my phone. I still leave them open just in case things blow up Again and if she may need me.
AITAH?

Cate, Yellowknife, Canada 33yo Female 5’6'', 118-120 pounds Meds (went from none to): Propranolol 20 to 40mg/day Ketotifen (1-4mg/day) Rupall (20-40mg/day) Very new since yesterday: Amitriptyline 10mg As needed now (hate them but was told to take to avoid CNS and ANS and PNS attacks): Valium 5-10mg as needed (I don’t take it everyday at all and just started taking it AFTER my venous gases were taken so they didn’t do what you will read about)
Supplements: Curcumin LongVida Quercetin Resveratrol Benfothiamine L-Carnitine Ubiquinol NAC NADH
Hi!
My name is Cate. I am 33yo and I am from Canada. Just to give a little bit of a background, I was always an extremely active person. I have a dog I used to walk and hike with hours a day. I would happily trade a party with friends just to go walk with my dog. I always was a highly sensitive person nervous system wise. When I was young, I would tell my mom to 'turn off the sun' (lol). I lived well with it though. I became a social worker. Worked crazy hours. I’ve had insomnia for years since a first nervous injury after getting EBV. I recovered though. I moved to a very small town 7 years ago and I live with my dog. I love Life and the outdoor. The only health issue I had was a sensitive nervous system and some rosacea. I also know now that I was prone to dysautonomia but I was extremely active so having low BP and athletic HR (50bpm) wasn’t unusual. I would sometimes get dizzy when standing but not always and never had tachycardia or palpitations from it. I also had slightly stretchy skin so was prone to EDS. I know now, you’ll soon understand why. Back in 2018, I took Accutane and burnt in the sun. I developed mild SFN but it went away with time and my life was normal. More than normal. It was great! :)
In December 2023 I was prescribed Doxy for my Rosacea. I took it once and had to stop as I felt warm patches of skin on my body. It reminded me of the SFN. So I didn’t take a chance. However, I noticed in the weeks after that I had developed a weird anxiety and some insomnia (nervous system injury #1). A few weeks later, I was told to try Metronidazole. I used it for about 2 weeks. All hell broke loose. It started with pins and needles in hands and feet. Never had that before so I didn’t think much of it. Then I became very dizzy. And my mood changed. I was crying for no reason, historically. And I started having burning skin on my limbs. I stopped the meds. But it was too late. I had developed palpitations, lower voice, weak legs, etc. I had a neurotoxicity. (Nervous system injury #2) My doctor didn’t want to believe it was that but was thinking GBS. I was however hyoerreflexive so it wasn’t GBS. But he prescribed some Ativan. I took it but quickly it wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do. After even just a few days I could feel more anxiety. It was awful. So I stopped taking them after about 10 days. Things went from bad to worse: terrible panic attacks, flashes of light and stroboscopic type of images when closing my eyes, insomnia but to the point of not sleeping for a month, pelvic floor pain, myoclonus jerks, full body internal vibration, sensitivity to sound, it was scary. (Nervous system injury #3). I forgot to say but my periods also never came.
I was sent for an MRI and obviously my MRI was ok. But things were NOT normal. My palpitations were so bad, my heart would skip beats, I was so dehydrated cause I became hyperadrenergic. I also started to have anhedonia and my GI motility stopped. I could not feel hunger anymore. It was weird. But I wasn’t short of breath. Just had palpitations. Doctors told me I have FND, but it was not FND. FND doesn’t stop your periods, doesn’t mess with your hormones, doesn’t give you continuous insomnia for a month. And I never had a limb not functioning or had a seizure. Therefore. I left to find more and better answers. I knew it as the nervous system but I am not a doctor so had to rely on them for help.
I went back to my home town. I was a mess but physically I was fine. I was eating, digesting, but I had become more short fuse, still having the myoclonus, and all the other weird symptoms with some derealization and sound sensitivity. But I could still laugh etc. I went to see a doctor and he thought maybe it was a bad withdrawal so I was put on a high dose of Valium. Obviously all of my symptoms vanished but others showed up: I started having hand tremors and benzos would act very paradoxically on me. It was increasing my BP and HR, made me cry all the time and become aggressive. I had to come off then. I stayed on them for 6 weeks from 40mg (that’s crazy, I was taking 1mg of Ativan..) to 25mg and was then switched to Gabapentin. The hospital who did that however decided after a few days that I didn’t need the Gabapentin anymore and removed it. I thought I was gonna die. I started having tremors on my face and even to my tongue. I started being very agitated (obviously, I was going through a terrible withdrawal!) and was told they would inject me with antipsychotic. I honestly have never been this traumatized in my life. I restarted the Gabapentin and took it for a month. Hated it too cause ai was super paradoxical to it as well. Most people feel calm on Gabapentin. I felt so agitated and developed weird body movements like my head would twist involuntarily and my fingers were moving from left to right, especially on my left hand.
I stopped the Gabapentin after tapering. In a few days, I was back to normal. I was so happy. Could walk my dog daily, drive, go to the grocery store, I had found myself again. Until I went on a hike. It wasn’t a long hike but it was more demanding than the walks I was doing on flat ground daily. I would walk for several hours but never to the point of being anaerobic. On that hike I did though.
After the hike, I started feeling jittery. My nervous system didn’t like that at all. I went to bed, put on a meditation and fell asleep. That night is still traumatic lol. I felt electric zaps all in my body and spine. I sweat so much. I woke up drenched and with pain everywhere but mostly, every joint in my body cracked. Every single one. I had never been in pain like that in my life. But also, the palpitations were back but much much worse. And also high BP, which I never had even during the beginning after the neurotoxicity started. I wasn’t able to function anymore. I saw my GP and he didn’t like what he saw. I was completely dehydrated, muscles and joints were all painful, crazy palpitations, high blood pressure that I never had before, could hardly walk. He sent me to the hospital. He also confirmed this isn’t FND for the same reasons I mentioned before, and he knows me very well. All my muscles literally melted almost overnight. Like literally melted. And my skin had become stretchy as if all my connective tissues broke down (EDS flared up but like literally overnight).
Once at the hospital, they finally took things more seriously. I was started on on IV fluid for low potassium (very weird cause I make my electrolytes every day and never had an issue with that. You’ll see, it’s relevant). I also had elevated proteins in my body. Very weird too cause I wasn’t eating more proteins than I used to. I also had low WBC. My hormones were obviously all over the place. I was actually due to start my period and it never came. I stopped pooing again and stopped digesting my food. I know that’s dysautonomia. I had started to feel slightly better after a few days and walked a bit in the hallway. That night.. other ‘attack’. I don’t know how to call them. A few days after that, I still had pain in my muscles and was scared I was denervated (Metronidazole does that), so I though I would speed up the process by giving myself a full body deep tissue massage….. worse mistake of my life. Worse attack that night and the next day I had burning pain all over. Worse palpitations. All over. I also am now in a wheelchair because if I walk even a few minutes, I get an attack that night and wake up with even more weird stuff.
Fast forward to now. I am in Vancouver, Canada. As there isn’t many specialists in my small town (there isn’t any lol). I am worse than ever. My bloodwork look horrendous. My venous gases show I am in acidosis. I cannot breathe if I sit up or stand so I am laying down. My fasting glucose is at 6. I wore a CGM for months and I had perfect blood sugar and was never insulin resistant. I have low MPVs. Low potassium always despite eating bananas and drinking electrolytes all the time. My skin is completely dehydrated and flaking. I get palpitations even laying down.
I had a nerve conduction test and so far so good, I still have nerves. This is not just dysautonomia. Even at my worse, I didn’t have palpitations laying down in bed. And never to that extend. I have developed every problems of the Pentad like it is called: EDS, Dysautonomia, MCAS, Autoimmunity and I don’t remember the last one but I have it too.
I know this is an over reactive/over sensitive nervous system. That’s quite obvious. I have been running on NS injuries after NS injuries for almost 5 months. Also, my breath smells like ketones now I was told. I eat normally.
However, there is more. I forgot to say, on top of that, I have a pituitary tumour (but we know it’s not that causing the issues as when I was on benzos, my periods came back!), I have a thyroid nodula but it’s non-secreting (have had it over 10 years now) and I have a history of hypothyroidism for which I took meds for two months and then I never had an issue with it again. They tested it at the hospital and it’s ok. There is some auto-immunity in my family. My sister had a bout of RA after she gave birth, my mom has EDS for sure and also had Endometriosis, she also has orthostatic intolerance which is the very beginning stage of dysautonomia, she has rosacea prone skin too. Etc.
I know this cascade triggered viral infections and auto-immunity, but what do I do? These things are understood by only a small minority of doctors and I don’t know where to start. I think I will never get better if we don’t figure out the cause of my problems with the insulin and mostly why I have respiratory acidosis!
I don’t have ANA activated so far in my bloodwork for the main stuff but clearly I know what’s up..! I know EDS is considered a genetic condition but I strongly think as many doctors that they are auto-immune related. Never had any problems with that until my nervous system broke down which also activated inflammation and my immune system to start having real troubles.
Let me know where to start please, I am scared of dying in the hotel room. I am tired of being in bed but I know I am making things worse when I walk. I am developing ME/CFS, I know it, but it still won’t say why I am hypoventilating 24/7 with low potassium and low MPV and low WBC with high proteins. I am freaking out that my life and health are literally going to hell because of an antibiotic..! For a perioral dermatitis 😂..! I am remaining calm but.. not gonna lie.. it’s no fun.
Thanks for your help!!!
Cate xx

I'm ok I tired they not in my control they blood yes doesn't give them the right to control you
I'm not in my past I'm here not in Calgary im not getting touched by someone old man from Edmonton WHO DID SHIT I CAN'T REMEMBER..
I do remember... it ok not to remember.. doc said the memories will come back they have... i was 17 im 25 now why
why won't it go leave my head im oke
im fine
Can't talk to my dad he doesn't care mom cares too much she hurt her self trying fix me im oke
being boke oke i can fix my self
like i always do by my self told my self im raising my self when i get make over a 1000, my dad comes back when it gone he is too... so tell him his own bothermy uncle told the man to come home with us told him no
i will not put my kids thorough that if i have any
but oh yeah....
I'm borken to love too...
i want to but
scared will she leave me for my brother like the last one or leave me for another girl
oh well fuck it..
when will i stop helping him 😔 he the older brother why must he give up when i didn't why must i keep
PUSHING
MY RIB broken and my other brother did give a dame when his lag broke i paid and help him but he storms off on me...im done..
doc said if i worry my self any more i will grow more white hair's more and passing out will be more often
i call them mind down do me repeat a day i don't and do remember
why dose selected memory loss suck so bad and when u do want it too much
im tired of scareing my brother when i sleep or wake up im tired of being scared of love
im tired of being a bad son
im a bother who trys but it NEVER ENOUGH WHEN WHEN... WHY MY BROTHER HAVE TO BREAK MY TRUST... WHY DID I FORGIVEN HIM YET IT STILL HURTS... WHY IS IT NOT ENOUGH
IM NOT ENOUGH
I'M TIRED OF BEING WEAK...
IM SICK OF BEING KINDA...
KINDA GUY DO FINISH LAST
BUT WE NEVER SEE THE END OF IT
WE GET SO NUMB THAT SMILE OF THAT KINDA GUY...
IS GONE
THE BOY A FATHER MOTHER LOVED SEEING GROW UP IS GONE
IDK WHAT IM FOR SURE BAD SON
UNFORGETTABLE BROTHER
BAD FRIEND who can't even make time to see them
cuz all i feel numb
i can't share my story with them no more
made my best friend cry when i only told him a little of my life
what i want more this life to be a father but how i can be anything if all i see is goal not for me
just want to stop my mind thinking of the day i don't remember dame Phantom hands or idk
doc said they not real
why do they feel to dame real
how can i find some one if im broken
im fine
i tell my self i die alone
love for the rare for im common joke
Wubba Lubba dub-dub
to much old bull on my plate i thought i got rid of it yet it still get to me
could be...i want to say hi to her...but
she Deserves better then a mess like me
who wont a guy who can't get his mind of sex
sure thing most other people find gross...so why tell
someone they beautiful or...look good..
days i feel like getting use to not telling my story this might be my last time i let my self out like this feel good but bad that it won't be much or enough
time is limited so is are trust if broken then if on u or me mostly idk now how can u pick a point when mind like fireworks hard to focus
even when the mind build up too much...hate the sex drive i have now i hate i need to let go more then usually
i hate feeling alone yet thier is reason
i miss sleeping... with out having to jerk...
i miss not fighting in my sleep
stuff have gone down but...not all the time when day i feel like im good it not
almost lost it on someone saying stuff that old man said yet...it wasn't him... i hate April and may just feels like fog same as april
i don't like these Months
can't be by anyone beautiful....
but
im fine
not hurting no one not...yelling at my brother's.. or sis
blah...
just need to go find my own place to be happy almost forgotten how to be happy scared to be something not sure i want to have
cheast feel to numb like void or black hole feels numb

Hello. So, I made a post a few months ago talking about how my dad has basically stopped treating me like his daughter now that he has a new family. Not much has happened since, but here's an update anyway:
So, since I made the initial post, I've only visited my dad's house once and, safe to say, I truly am nothing more than an uncomfortable guest in that house.
I should start off by saying that every time I spend a few months without going to his house, my dad tries to play all innocent and calls me on Fridays to ask when he should pick me up. I never answer because he always calls me when I'm in a class or busy with studying, so he'll call my mom. But because he never asks me in advance, I tend to have plans on weekends with my cousins, friends, or just to work on writing since I am still working on my third book and it takes a lot of focus that I can't get in his house.
Actually, I'm now just gonna call him Eric. He's honestly not been as much of a "dad" figure to me as my stepdad has.
Anyway, it was my mom who had decided I would go over to his house. Despite the fact that Eric hasn't paid child support in over 2 years now and I hate going to his house, my mom says I should just visit from time to time to keep him from getting the court involved. She confuses me, sometimes saying that he's a deadbeat man, but also sometimes saying that he's my loving dad who deserves my respect.
However, under the circumstances, I'm fairly certain that nothing would be any different since I never visit him and he doesn't pay child support anyway. In fact, once on Christmas, he bought a bunch of new gifts for his family and wrapped them up and everything, but weeks before Christmas when I was visiting, he drove to Walmart so his wife could do groceries and he handed me $200 and said, "Merry Christmas. Buy yourself something and the rest can be child support or whatever." I bought two books, but the rest of the money that was supposedly 'child support' was nothing near to the amount he owed.
I have told my mom I would be happier if he lost custody of me and my stepdad adopted me, but she thinks that's too extreme and says, "He's still your dad. He deserves your respect and love".
Now, about the weekend I visited him, from the minute Eric picked me up, all he talked about was his new family. He talked about the older sister and her boyfriend, the younger sister and the shopping she does, and the my half-sister who can now talk a little bit. I stayed silent the whole ride until he asked me a question about my school, and when I answered his question he got frustrated and went into a conspiracy theory rant. I tuned him out for the rest of the drive after that.
The rest of the weekend wasn't any better. The older sister did what she always does when I visit and locked herself in her room, only coming out when I left the house or when I was in the bathroom so she wouldn't have to talk to me. And the younger sister had a friend of hers over and her friend had her stuff tossed on my bed and was sitting on it because it's the bed she sleeps in when she has sleepovers.
Eric's wife did a poor job of hiding how bothered she was by me visiting. More than once, she has been completely shocked I was visiting because Eric didn't tell her so she couldn't disagree.
And also, most of the weekend consisted of Eric taking me and my half-sister to a playground so she could run around with her friends, and I sat on a bench to read but I didn't have much time to myself since Eric kept leaving and told me to keep an eye on my half-sister who is a wild and fussy kid. I am not a babysitter, and while I am good with kids, that does not mean I enjoy putting my own time aside to look after them when they're not my responsibility.
I had to spend two days in either pure chaos or discomfort, and I had a talk with my mom about me not wanting to go over there anymore. She said that's fine and she won't force me to go anymore, but since she's said that before, I don't believe her. I don't have anyone to really talk to about this, and this whole situation is stressing me out because I don't remember my dad ever being as happy as he is now, and I still sometimes feel like I should be happy for him.
I don't know what to do, and any advice on anything I could do would be helpful. Everyone who's commented on my last post so far has said I'm not the jerk and that Eric isn't acting the way a dad should, but he still reaches out from time to time and says I'm his baby girl who he loves. Honestly, I almost cry whenever he says that because it reminds me of how we used to be.
Am I overthinking all of this or overreacting? What should I do? Am I the jerk here because I'm not happy for my dad?

Note: Who am I? An Introduction To The Book That Is Me : ASMRScriptHaven (reddit.com)
Note: What else have I got? Masterlist for edgiscript : ASMRScriptHaven (reddit.com)
Part 4: [F4M] Mafia Dog - Part 4 of 7 : ASMRScriptHaven (reddit.com)

Part 5

Jane: (On coms.) Yeah, Mike, everything looks good here. I’ve got eyes on Mom. And you?
(Pause.)
Ok, good. What about Ronnie and team 2?
(Pause.)
Excellent. Puppy and I will keep an eye on things from our position and let you know when we see something. Jane, out.
(Pause.)
Well, Puppy, there she goes. Mom is doing her part, but I hate sending her in as bait.
(Pause.)
Yeah, I know. But if anybody can do this, it’s her. She’s got ice running through her veins. Honestly, I think the only thing that would have shaken her would have been if we’d had to send you in for some reason.
(Pause.)
You got that right. She’s pretty special to all of us.
What about you, Puppy? How are you holding up?
(Pause.)
Yeah, it is stressful. You said you wanted in. Well, this is in.
(Pause.)
No, I wouldn’t say it gets easier, but you learn how to handle it. You never get used to someone you love being in danger, but you recognize that it’s necessary, you know that we all chose to be here doing this, and we’ve all trained for this. Honestly, we’re the ones best equipped to do this. That’s why we do it. To protect as many innocent people as possible.
(Pause.)
Yeah, believe it or not, this is all I ever wanted to do. I thought about being a police officer when I got out of the military, but then Kent recruited me before I applied and I came here instead.
And I’m so glad I did. Don’t get me wrong. I would have loved being a cop, but Kent was right. There are a lot of things that cops can’t do that we can.
(Pause.)
Yeah, like that. Not all of what we do is legal, but we try our best to make sure all of what we do is right.
Take Francine, for example. She didn’t just kidnap and beat you, she’s been involved in human trafficking, drugs, murders, and a ton of other stuff, but the cops are always behind because they need warrants and they have to follow their procedures and things like that.
They might end up busting Francine on their own, but it will take years and thousands of more ruined lives. And, unfortunately, there are always some cops working for the bad guys, so they’re slowing things up for the good cops too.
(Pause.)
Yeah, corruption is everywhere, in politics especially. In fact, we know of a couple of politicians in Francine’s back pocket.
Being a cop is more difficult when you can’t trust the laws you’re supposed to enforce. Kent has a lot of good qualities, but I think his best is finding the people who really hate that sort of thing.
(Pause.)
I wish we could do what we do publicly, Puppy, but people are afraid of us.
(Pause.)
Yeah, we are trying to do what’s best, but we don’t follow the chain of command that they want us to. That scares most people.
And I get it. We’re an unknown quantity to them. It comforts people to know that somebody who claims to have some authority says that what we’re doing is ok. Without that, it’s worrying. We say we’re doing what’s best, but from their point of view, they can’t be certain that we’re not just doing what’s in our best interests.
I think it’s easier on everybody if we just keep doing what we’re doing to help without anybody knowing that we exist.
(Pause.)
Yeah, of course I’ve seen Captain America: Civil War, seven times and counting. Why? Do you wanna watch it with me on our next date?
(Pause.)
Are you kidding? I’m team Cap, all the way.
(Pause.)
No, no. I don’t think Tony was unreasonable for taking the stance he did. In fact, he took the stance he had to take. Tony Stark wasn’t a good person, but he was smart enough to realize that he needed oversight to keep him in check.
(Pause.)
Yes, I know he’s an Avenger and a hero in the movies, but what I mean by saying he’s not a good person is that he didn’t grow up that way. He wasn’t already good before all of that. Tony was an egotistical, selfish, womanizing, arrogant jerk who had the brains and wealth to get away with it. Everything he did was centered around him, not the common good. It took facing the consequences of his lack of accountability to change his heart. When he started trying to become good, it wasn’t natural to him. It was learned behavior.
Now Cap, on the other hand, or rather, Steve Rogers, he was a good person from the start. The Sokovia Accords really were the wrong option for him. He was intrinsically good. Keeping him on a leash to corrupt politicians would have been a very bad thing. When he said he was going to do what was right his way, he was right to say it, but that worried the people who wanted to control him. He needed to be able to do what was good when it needed to be done.
(Pause.)
Yeah, I know Tony’s side had some good points, and yeah there were innocent casualties in each of their conflicts, but there were far fewer than if they hadn’t acted. Think about it. If the Avengers hadn’t have acted when the Chitauri invaded, then New York initially, followed by the entire planet would have been burned to the ground. Millions immediately followed by billions eventually would have died.
Let’s say… I don’t know… let’s say two thousand people died during the attack on New York. That’s two thousand versus seven billion.
Plus, what if the Avengers were already a part of the Sokovia Accords at that time and the governments of the world had told them to go to New York and fight the alien threat. Those two thousand people still would have died, but because the Avengers got the government’s ok, that makes those two thousand deaths suddenly all right?
It’s all so hypocritical. The Sokovia Accords weren’t about saving lives, they were about corrupt people trying to maintain power.
(Pause.)
Yeah, I do. I trust you with that power, because you’re a good person at heart, Puppy, and you actively work hard every single day to reveal to all of us that you care. You’re kind and gentle. You really care about people and do your best to show them love. When you act with violence, courage, or strength, it’s to protect and serve, not to dominate and destroy. That’s why we’re all glad that you’re with us.
(Pause.)
Puppy, I think that’s the nicest thing anybody’s ever said about me, and if I wasn’t keeping my eyes on Mom right now I’d kiss you until your lips were raw.
(Brief pause.)
Whoa. Heads up, Puppy. I think we’ve got company.
(On coms.) Mike, I’ve got movement. Two vehicles, both white vans. One south, one east. You see them?
(Pause.)
Yeah, I think Mom’s spotted them too. She’s heading inside.
(Pause.)
No, Mike, you’re right. I see them too. Gunmen getting out of both vehicles. This is it. They’re going in after Mom. Send in both teams now. You and Ronnie are in perfect positions to hit them from behind. Go, go, go!
(Pause.)
Great job, Mike. Yeah, I see them. You’ve got them all with no casualties on our side. You caught them totally by surprise.
(Pause.)
Negative, Mike. We don’t want to hang around any longer. Go get Mom and…
(Muffled sound of an explosion.)
What? No! The building. There was a detonation inside the building.
Francine. She set this up. She sacrificed her own troops to get Mom.
No, Mike, I don’t know if Mom made it to the safe room in time.
(Away from the coms.) Puppy, wait. Come back, it’s not safe.
(On coms.) Mike, I’ve gotta go. Puppy’s running for Mom.
(Puppy has fled his vantage point and has run to the building Mom entered.)
(From a distance.) Puppy, wait! Don’t go inside. There might be more explosives. Puppy!
(Pause.)
Puppy, can you hear me? Where are you?
Carissa: (Coughing at first.) Jane.
Jane: Mom, you’re ok. Thank God.
Carissa: I’m all right. Just a little dazed. I was sealing the hatch to the safe room as the bomb was going off. The blast knocked me backwards, but no debris hit me. Puppy’s got me now.
Jane: Mike! Over here. Mom’s ok, and Puppy’s here with her too.
(Pause.)
Yeah, Puppy and I will take Mom to safety. You and Ronnie gather up our troops and our gear and get out of here before any cops arrive.
Carissa: And Mike, do a quick sweep of their vehicles to see if you can’t get any information. But only a quick glance. Jane’s right. We need to get out of here.
(Pause.)
Yes, I’ll be fine. Puppy’s got me. Now go.
Jane: Mom, come on. Let’s get you out of here.
Carissa: No problem, I… Ohhhhh.
Jane: What is it?
Carissa: My left leg. I can’t put weight on it. I’m not going to be able to…
(Carissa is startled by Puppy suddenly picking her up.) Whoa. Scratch that, Jane. Puppy will carry me. Thank you, Puppy.
(Pause.)
Yeah, I’m glad you’re ok too. Now, Jane was right. Let’s get out of here.
Jane: Ok, come on, Puppy. Follow me. I’ll lead you out.
Carissa: Uh… what was that? Jane, why did Puppy just call you Cap?
Jane: Tell you later, Mom. And Puppy, I love you too.
Part 6 next.

I (F, 28)have an estranged narcissistic brother (43) and was just told today that he was diagnosed with heart failure and has 5 years left to live.
I feel really conflicted. On one hand, he’s my brother who I loved and admired as a child. On the other hand, he’s a narcissistic jerk who has been explosive and controlling the good majority of my life. For a general idea: he’s the kind of guy who read that book The Game like it was the Bible.
We had a falling out a long time ago just from lack of talking - he basically never really cared to talk to me or reach out. Then in 2020 he asked me to help him with his business (full-time making 1k a month in LA - not nearly enough to live on). I agreed to help him and did my best but he would explode on me over the smallest things. He would also constantly lecture me on how I should be living my life and would yell at me if I didn’t immediately follow his “advice”. One example of many: My beloved cat died while I was working for him and I asked him for the day off and he told me it’s selfish to be upset over a pet dying because my “pet wouldn’t want me to be sad”. A week later one of the foster kittens I was taking care of passed away as well due to underlying issues and he laughed and told me “it’s just a cat”. Then lectured me on how messed up I am for letting these things affect me.
Anyways, I quit working for him and wrote him a very nice letter telling him I love him very much and that I initially took the job to try to be closer to him again but that working for him was too toxic. He immediately cut me out and has never tried to speak to me since. He even made a post on his businesses instagram a few weeks later about “what he learned from having the worst employee he’s ever had” - not that it really matters, but I was very good employee.
My mother and sisters tell me I’m being “too sensitive” and “he’s your brother you can’t not talk to him just because he yelled at you ”. He has never apologized or tried to speak to me since then. Keep in mind he’s also 15 years older than me…
Finding out that he’s dying has really shook me though. I think I realized that I was hoping that someday when we were really old that he would grow and reflect and apologize and become a better person… but now I don’t think that will ever happen.
I feel pressure from my mom and sisters to reach out to him, but I honestly don’t want to. I feel very sad about it still. Even though he’s been a bad brother and a bad person, I still hoped he would live a long happy life. I don’t want to regret not reaching out to him, but I don’t want to let him in again and be hurt.
Any advice or similar stories would be helpful.

I’m 55, wife is 46. She’s a registered nurse working two 10 hr days from home doing quality assurance stuff that is low intensity relative to nursing. I work maybe a little more than that and make more $. We have no debt, newer cars, paid off house, so stakes are pretty low.
Her team is being asked to return to work out of this crappy office 2 miles from here for no good reason. She and other nurses complained, politely, about this in a meeting and they’re all being singled out to have these dumb individual meetings where her supervisor and two people from HR try to ambush her and make the complaint that her supervisor’s feelings are hurt despite there being no observable inappropriate behavior from the nurses who politely disagreed. No formal discipline, nothing in the personnel file cuz they got nothing on her.
Other people have already had this meeting, so they lost the element of surprise. The other nurses told em ‘this is ridiculous’ and that was it. My wife can do the same. I arranged for her to call my friend who’s an employment lawyer in another state and told her I would be willing to pay thousands for a local lawyer if she wants. Probably not necessary, but I don’t like these workplace bullies either.
She wants to abruptly quit her job and I’m asking her to try to get another one lined up first because I want her to make some money, working for jerks is not an emergency imo, and she gets health insurance for us through this large medical employer.
I told her what I wanted and she feels I’m the asshole big time. Meanwhile, as a social worker, it has been normal for me to drive long distances to crappy offices and work for worse assholes with whom this conflict would be a weekly occurrence. Despite being a nurse, she has almost always worked fewer hours than me and made less.
I think she makes her work decisions based on how much I’m making and told her that. She wasn’t happy about that and denied it. I think we all make decisions based on bills and family income. I have tended to work full time, making as much as I can, and dealing with asshole bosses as needed. I feel like there’s a gendered thing going on where I’m the real bread winner and she’s got a different standard as some theoretical stay-at-home-mom (our kid is 23 and lives in a different state).
When I started my own business a couple of years ago, we determined, based on our budget, that I need to take home $800 a week at rock bottom. She’s talking about quitting and not working for a while, and then getting a medical coding job where she would work 20 hours and take home $300 per week. I asked ‘why do I have to make three times what you make?’ and she denied that we made that agreement despite me having notes etc. I don’t know if she’s deliberately lying or what. I can tell you that half our bills is more than 0-$300 per week.
She was saying something like ‘If you’re gonna be like this, we can get divorced and I’ll go live by myself on less money,” to which I responded “Then you’re gonna need more than $300 per week.” I’m not taking a hard line on this and am not gonna go crazy if she says ‘take this job and shove it,” but I don’t want to be scrambling for shitty health insurance, having to cut way back so she can live her best life cuz I think her life is good enough. I do think she should get outta this job very soon after finding something else.
UPDATE: She got a call from local doctor, friend of a friend, who is going to formally offer her an equivalent part time work from home position, which is all I was asking for. She’s happy to work for this guy. I’m happy. Problem solved other than the fallout from a big ol argument.

I am not the OP. That is u/No_Chrysler-4-Me. Originally posted on EntitledPeople and pettyrevenge.
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There are two previous BORUs I posted last year:
First Post Jan 8, 2023
Second Post Jan 8, 2023
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Trigger Warning: Domestic Violence
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Editor's Note: THIS IS VERY LONG! OP posts a lot about his family. I will include links to other posts at the bottom of this BORU, but I will keep this post focused on the brother and OP.
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TL;DR of the above BORUs: OP's older brother is lazy and a cheapskate. OP bought a truck, an '03 Toyota Tundra. Brother gets jealous and buys a 01 Dodge Ram 1500, but it's crap. OP tries to help brother fix up the truck despite warning him not to buy it. Once it was running a little better, brother challenges OP to a race. Brother loses and becomes obsessed with practicing racing, ruining the truck further. Eventually they go camping, have more shenanigans, brother finally blows the transmission. Brother has to drive his ex-girlfriend's minivan, which he hates, tries to LS Swap the Ram, but no one will lend him the money. He eventually sells it. Brother doesn't stop there. He NEEDS a truck, so he has the brilliant idea of chopping the minivan up to make it into a truck. He needs money to Frankenstein the minivan, no one will pay, but eventually he cuts it up, uses recycled wood to make the truck bed, etc. He calls it the "Mini-Ram."
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My brother sold the Mini-Ram and got a Silverado. That was fine. It's what happened after that made things worse May 5, 2024
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I've been gone for some time. But I'm back with a bad one. I've spoken before about how my older brother competed with me needlessly. And he did a lot of beyond stupid shit. Well he finally pushed the whole family over the edge, and got disowned. And I'm going to be explaining a lot of what happened the past year, and then some from before that. But it's too long for one post.
Well going back more than a year. Some may remember my brother getting a free minivan from his ex after the Dodge Ram truck I warned him not to buy became a moneypit. I helped him work on that truck and even repaint it. And I helped him remodel his camper trailer too. Why? Because he's my brother. And I guess some part of me deep down kept hoping he'd one day change. But he tried to take credit for things I did. Especially with remodeling the camper. And he had tantrums when called out on his lies. He also became temporarily obsessed with my truck, and even implied he'd just take it from me because he hated driving a minivan. He referred to it as a chick car. He acted like a complete child because I refused to trade vehicles, and even got our parents involved. It was just a really stupid and needless situation that my brother tried to make a hill to die on.
It started when my brother bought his Dodge Ram simply because I bought a Toyota Tundra. He had a perfectly running Subaru Baja before that. Then he said he wanted a man's truck and bought the worst barely running pile he could find that was also overpriced considering the condition. He could have at least aimed for a diesel since he wanted a dodge so bad. Lots of dumb shit happened after that. Including my brother wanting to LS swap the Ram after destroying it's engine and two transmissions. But I'm pretty sure the person who offered to do the LS swap for him was a scammer. Not to mention LS swapping any vehicle basically means replacing the ECU. But it never happened anyway since the engine and transmission my brother wanted sold before he could get them. And he had no running vehicle anymore. So my brother's ex, whom he has a young child with, gave him her old 90s Ford Windstar van. It was admittedly an ugly, dent riddled POS with the rear window busted out. But it still ran and drove surprisingly well, considering that's not one of Ford's better vehicles. And then my brother decided to cut it up into some sort of van/truck. Or a ute as they're called in some places. But he made this thing ugly. Lots of spray foam, recycled wood, and rattle can paint. Even mismatched sub-lights above the cab. He frequently raided the junkyard for parts. And he even glued a Ram badge onto the grill of that van/truck. He called it the Mini-Ram. Lots of stupid cheap mods done to that vehicle too. Someone once asked me how ugly the Mini-Ram was on a scale of 1 to 1000. And I said about a 667.
My brother did a lot of other dumb things in this time. Like following me camping just to piss me off. He was a general leech who stole power from my generator, and tried to steal beer from my camper fridge repeatedly. He was so brazen as to just walk right in, and then tried to pretend to be so drunk he didn't realize what he was doing when caught. I've spoken many times about how he stole booze from me. Until my friends and I revenge pranked him and his near equally douchey friends with a growler full of laxative tainted beer. We admittedly used way too much laxative. But my brother never stole from me again because I threatened to tell everyone about his humiliation. He crapped on his own shoes squatting in the woods. And that's just a bit of it.
Eventually my brother seemed to learn his lesson. He sold the Mini-Ram to someone who actually paid him well for it. And no, I don't know what they did with it. And I don't care. But, when the 2K he sold the Mini-Ram for was combined with his savings, my brother had a bit over 4.5K to buy a better vehicle with. And he spotted a 99 RWD Silverado truck with an extended cab for sale online. He really shouldn't have sold his only method of transportation before having a replacement vehicle ready. But I couldn't fault him for taking the deal when presented, considering what he sold. And as much as my brother annoyed me, I still cared about him enough to help. He showed up begging me to drive him over 60 miles to look at this truck he found on Market Place.
So I reluctantly drove him out to see this truck. It wasn't that bad actually. Save for the rough mismatched paint, the rusty hood, the dents, the cracked windshield, and.... Actually, I guess it was kinda that bad. But not compared to the clapped out Ram my brother bought previously. The Silverado had a manual transmission, which we both confirmed shifted great as the records showed it had been rebuilt a few years before. The engine had been swapped at one time too. So it was kinda hard to gauge the odometer as it had not been rolled back for the new engine. It was at about 350.000 miles, but those numbers don't really mean jack when the engine and tranny have been replaced or rebuilt. Admittedly the engine ran like a top. The tires on the truck were in pretty damn good shape too. And on steel rims. Which I like. Very practical. I asked my brother if this was the manly kind of truck he'd been looking for. And for once he spoke logically and said that he'd rather have this than risk what happened with the Ram again. Fair enough. Besides, Chevy trucks are cool and reliable. I've always liked them. Like a rock as they say.
My brother and I scrutinized this truck in detail like a pair of pawn brokers, and talked the price down to 3K. They wanted 4K. But we could hear a sound while test driving it that was either bad ball joints or wheel bearings. We jacked up the wheels, and the bearings felt and sounded fine. But the ball joints were pretty bad. And that's not a cheap fix unless you can do it yourself. The truck was owned by the seller's father, who'd passed away a year prior. So the guy took 3K for it after we listed the problems. After driving it back, I insisted my brother get the truck to a mechanic ASAP. And he listened that time. The mechanic said the ball joints were about to come apart, and it's have caused a very bad situation if they had. And it cost him a grand to get them replaced. The truck also needed new plates ant the title registered. Which ate up a lot of the remaining budget. Then came the paint. My brother wanted the Silverado painted black right away. I told him to wait. But he didn't listen and DIY'd some body work, and then rattle-canned it with Rustolium turbo cans. The paint was full of orange peel, and overspray. He didn't even use primer. And the truck looked kinda mediocre. Then the southern weather had at it. Already numerous chips, scrapes and fades. Whatever. I stopped caring.
You'd think that'd be the end of this part. But no. There's more. What's behind door number 3? If you guessed a dumbass with a knife stuck in his ass. Then you'd win the gold! Yeah that's right. My brother got a knife in his ass.... How? How else... He and his friends all got high and decided they were gonna go outside and build a fort in the back yard of the house they rent out of scrap they found laying around. My brother while stoned wanted to show off how he can flip out a butterfly knife really fast, and decided he was gonna act like he was in an action movie, and did some sort of stupid thing where he was running and flipping out the knife really fast. The ground was wet, he slipped, and somehow got the knife in his right butt-cheek. They called me to come take him to the hospital because they were all too stoned to drive. I had to lay my brother down in the bed of my truck on a mattress because we were too scared to pull the knife out, and I drove him to the hospital like that. They rushed him in, and thankfully he only needed about 5 stiches on his butt and some antibiotics. Then I drove him back home the same way, and he insisted I take him to a drive through. He also tried to get me to pay, because...reasons! I told him to buy his own damn food.
After that there was more dumb BS that I won't bother getting into. But eventually my brother was seemingly getting bett...er...less bad. He was a bit sore his Silverado wasn't a 4X4, and my Tundra is. But being RWD kept him from trying to take it off-roading. He did try once, and had to pull the truck out of mud with a come-along. And he didn't try it again. He did want to drag race my truck again too. I said hell no. Not gonna risk either of our piles breaking down. And he was a complete douche about that too. I told him to stop acting like his dick was bigger than it is, and act his age. He didn't take that well. But he seemingly really was improving. Even being a much better dad to his daughter. Things got pretty good for him. Until I decided to buy a house. That's when the serious drama started.
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My entitled brother threw a massive fit, just because he was mad I bought a house May 6, 2024
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Yeah, I'm aware of several similar stories involving entitled family members wanting houses they have no claim to. But I guess this shit really happens. And it's no picnic when it does.
I suddenly became a homeowner some time ago because friend of mine's grandfather was moving to Florida. And his house was ripe for picking. I knew the old man well. RIP, he passed a few months later from a sudden stroke. Anyway, he offered the house and property to me for 200K. I practically ran to the bank to apply for the loan. The house is a manufactured home from the 80s. But it was remodeled repeatedly by the former owner, and has a separate garage building. The home and property could have gone for more. But he offered the house to me because he knew I'd take care of it. I had 30K saved that made a good down payment. And I was happy to leave my apartment. I'd wanted to eventually move out of there after what my cheating ex did anyway. But that's a story for another time.
As for my brother. Well he went bonkers when he found out I bought a house. He had this repeated history of copycatting me for the past decade. But this... There was no way in hell he could copycat buying a house with his terrible credit and inconsistent income. And he got in an argument with me over how I was just trying to make him look bad by doing something he couldn't. No, I just wanted a damn house. And the price was too good to refuse. Then he told me I should have turned it down because...(He had no good reason) I could practically see his screws getting looser with every dumbass excuse he made as to why I shouldn't have done it. But I pointed out all those excuses were just because I did something he currently can't. And when I bought the house, it had nothing to do with him. I just wanted to be a home owner for the security and extra space. I finally don't have to store my camper at my parents' house. And I have a garage that I can store stuff and tinker in.
I bought a camping cot, he bought a camping cot, went to the gym, he went to the gym, bought good booze, he bought good booze (Or stole it from me), I bought a new TV, be bought a new TV, I bought a truck, he bought a truck, I bought a camper, he bought a camper, I bought a used portable DVD player, he bought a used portable DVD player, I went camping in a specific place, he went camping in that specific place, I bought a house, he...(404 Error! Insert tea kettle noises and Benny Hill chase). He also acted like a complete child toward me when he built his Mini-Ram thing. He actually confronted me and said it was keweler than my boring Tundra, because it was something original. I swear, he did the dumbest mods to that vehicle. Like putting twist studs in the suspension coils to raise the ride height.
Well after weeks of openly fuming about me being a home owner, my brother suddenly acted like he had another brilliant idea. He wanted to move in with me. I laughed at him. Then he ended up demanding I rent one of my rooms to him. And for only $200 a month (Utilities included) because he shouldn't have to pay any more than that since we're family. He flipped his lid when I said fuck no! Then he got our parents involved again. Only this time they actually sided with him at first. Though it was mainly our mother. She and my brother showed up demanding I let my brother move in. And my brother had a shit eating grin on his face that I could tell he was thinking he was getting his way thanks to mommy dearest. I said "FUCK NO!" to both their faces, and my mother cried that I was using foul language to her and being an ass when I had the space now. I called my dad, and he told my mom that he'd warned her I wouldn't do it. And to leave me the hell alone. Mom whined my brother was living out of his camper next to a shabby house he was renting space from. I said that wasn't my problem to fix. And my brother has proven countless times that he cannot be trusted. My brother was fuming to the point of being red with veins popping out. My mom tried one more time to convince me with tears. And that just made me angrier.
I went on a rant that was something like this. Bro can't buy a house, so he wanted to invade mine. I refuse to ever live with my brother again. I would sooner live in the woods without electricity than with him. He's intentionally irritating as all hell. And if I had him as a roommate, I just knew he'd steal my booze, take my stuff, and invade my privacy none-stop. Not. Fucking. HAPPENING! No matter how many tears mom tries using on me. My mom broke down and finally conceded she'd never convince me after that rant. And she had to take my brother by the hand and leave with him because he initially refused to go, and kept begging her to turn back and make me let him move in. And then I yelled to him that it was a laugh that he called me a mama's boy before. Because he'd become exactly that. And this was just like the time he tried to get our mother to make me trade vehicles with him because he felt ashamed to be driving a minivan. He yanked away from mom, then told me to go fuck myself and the horse I rode in on. I laughed and pointed out I didn't ride in on anything, because I was already home. But his rattlecan horse was waiting for him in the driveway. He flipped his lid again, and looked like his head was going to explode. But mom got in front of him, and told him to just go. Then he drove off in his rattlecan Silverado without her. He'd driven her there. And then I had to take her home.
While taking her home, I made things very clear with my mother over why I could never trust my brother again. And his life was not my burden to bear. And then told her how little my brother was offering for rent anyway. Which he'd conveniently not told her. Then I later rented that same room to one of my best friends for $600 a month, and he pays for utilities. The other two rooms are my bedroom and a home office. There's an extra room in the separate garage too. So my mother tried to make me let my brother live in the garage instead. There's enough room in it's storage room for a bedroom. Again I said fuck no. And that's since been turned into another friend's rented room with a bit of a plywood remodel. Yeah, I kinda rented both the spare bedroom and garage room out to friends out of spite. But I wasn't letting my brother live with me in any capacity!
My brother later ended up having a complete meltdown in front of our parents over how he's the older brother. He should be the one who owns a house first. He's supposed to be successful, and I'm supposed to be the big loser in his shadow. Our dad poked him with his cane and told him that's not how life works, and they had a big argument. They told him to get out and not come back until he's cooled off and learned that he's just being a pointlessly jealous asshole.
The next part I post, my brother did the dumbest thing of all.
Edit: I came home late to over 600 comments, and still more pouring in. Far too many for me to answer. So I'll clear some things up here. Yes, I am no contact with my brother. And he's NC with the rest of the family as well. I do have cameras inside and outside my home. And a dash cam too. My brother knows this, and has stayed the fuck away since he left town. I'm told I'm an asshole too. Not arguing that, because it's true. I'm not exactly the nicest guy. But have someone like my brother in your life, and see how peachy you turn out.
Some have mentioned to having siblings just like my brother. Sadly I know very well people like him are increasingly common these days. My dad said a number of times that my brother probably would have ended up dead in an alley if he lived here 50 years ago with the way he behaves. As for our ages. I'm 30, and my brother is 32. I have not given my parents a spare key to my house. One is with a friend, and another is very cleverly hidden.
My house is a manufactured home. But it's not in a trailer park, and has been significantly modified with new siding and a new roof, and has a separate garage building. The previous owner was a former general contractor, and he loved to build and repair. And yes, I do have good insurance.
I keep seeing comments about a clock radio. Pardon me for not getting the reference. But I do own a digital alarm clock that has a built in CD player. Currently plays Tina Turner's Proud Mary to wake me up.
My brother and I were raised pretty evenly. He was always a jerk. But went full asshole after moving out. But our mother didn't favor him. She chewed him out plenty. And she didn't normally side with his stupidity. She just wanted him to live in a better place than in a camper next to a house filled with potheads. Addition: My brother willingly moved into that camper. He was renting half a room in that house of potheads. Then convinced the landlord to let him live in his camper on the property for the same price instead. And he bragged about his camper a lot. Which he has a full gaming center in, complete with PlayStation. He only wanted to invade my house to piss me off and make his cost of living even lower. He also doesn't like camping nearly as much as me. He mainly liked just pissing me off by following me. He loved to make me miserable. In fact, he felt entitled to make me miserable. That's the kind of person he is.
Do I have a restraining order against my brother? Not really. Just didn't bother. Because even if I did, it'd only be for like a year. And my brother wouldn't let something like that stop him if he was truly determined anyway.
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My entitled brother lost his mind and attacked me, his ex, and our father. That got him disowned by the family. But not before I beat the crap out of him May 8, 2024
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Warning: Contains domestic violence, small town drama, and idiocy. Read at own risk.
My brother's major downhill spiral started with jealousy over my house, but only got worse thanks to this next part. He started smoking pot more heavily and drinking harder. And that was making him more aggressive and violent. He got in a brawl outside of a bar for reasons I still don't know. But he got his ass handed to him on a platter. He eventually found out his ex has been seeing someone else. And ironically that someone is another friend of mine. Which was news to me. But it's not like he wasn't around my brother's ex a fair bit. They're both fairly social people, and were also friends for years. Once the secret was out, he confessed to me it wasn't planned. But my brother's ex Sara (Fake name) and my friend just clicked one day about a year ago. This sorta thing can only happen in a town like ours. I admit, Sara is very beautiful. But I've always seen her as a big sister figure ever since she started dating my brother in high school. So I never thought of getting with her myself. She kept her new boyfriend a secret for some time. I didn't even know until someone else spilled the beans. And the word traveled. When my brother found out, that was the last he could mentally take.
My brother was hoping for years that Sara would take him back. But no such luck there. When he lost his mind over the fact my friend was dating Sara, he started hunting for the poor guy. My friend is not a fighter, and a self described beanpole. So that's what I'll call him. Sara seems to like Beanpole because he's everything my brother is not. He isn't really a brave person. And came to me when he found out my brother was looking for him. He has a rather distinctively painted car. So it's easy to spot. My brother caught wind Beanpole was at my place, and came roaring his truck down the street.
When my brother showed up to my house, he started screaming and banging on my door because he wanted to kick Beanpole's ass. And when I refused to let him in, he attacked me. We had a redneck brawl right there in my front lawn. I want to say I won. But the fight only stopped when one of my friend/tenants yelled he was gonna call the cops. I sucker-punched my brother while he was distracted, and told him to never come back to my house again. And if he ever tried to hurt Beanpole again, I'd make sure he'd up in the hospital with two broken legs. This was backed by the other friends/tenants I had there. My brother is an idiot. But even he knew that pissing off my entire friend group was not a good idea. So he picked himself up off the ground and started leaving. But he clearly looked like he wanted to do something to my truck because he stopped and just stood there staring at it with his hands in his pockets, like he was debating scratching the paint with his keys. I yelled at him that I have CCTV. But then he turned around, pulled his pants part way down, and started rubbing his ass directly onto my truck's passenger side door. Then he forced out a nasty fart and said he sharted a little, and laughed like a nutbar when he took off. I immediately got the hose. I'm just glad I didn't leave windows open or doors unlocked. Otherwise he'd have done far worse. And the smell of what he did was pretty much what you'd think.
Everyone already knew Sara was never going to take him back. She avoided dating for years because my brother is so unhinged that she knew he'd do something like this. That's why she and her new boyfriend kept it secret. I went to ice my bruises and call Sara. But my brother was already calling and texting her. Over and over again, he wouldn't stop. He was begging she break up with her boyfriend and take him back. He even said he wanted to marry her and move to the northwest. Not sure why he specified that part of the US. Maybe because we live in the southeast. But she flatly told him no, never again, not happening even if hell froze over. He cried that it wasn't fair, because she was his first love (she wasn't), and they have a daughter together. Then he started sending her flowers, love letters and gifts. She sent them all back. Then she announced online that she and Beanpole had been dating for some time, and recently made plans to eventually move in together. That's when my brother really went off the deep end.
A few hours after he saw that post, my brother got wasted and then barged into Sara's parents' house by body ramming the back door. He actually cut his face because the door had a glass window. But he was so drunk that he didn't notice he was bleeding. Sara understandably freaked out, and my brother grabbed and tried to force her to kiss him. She pushed him away and he hit her for refusing him. He slapped her and threw her to the floor really hard like an angry pimp wanting his money. And his daughter saw it all and started screaming at the top of her lungs. Sara screamed too, and my brother fled. Police were called, and Sara was taken to the hospital. My brother threw her down so hard that she had a dislocated shoulder. My brother was found by police at his camper, where he was even more drunk than before, and half his face was covered in blood. He had to be taken to the hospital, where he got stitches. Then taken to jail. He got charged with trespassing, breaking and entering, and assault. (Surprisingly not DUI too, as he'd actually walked there) When our parents and I found out, well the family finally couldn't take it anymore, and went into an uproar. Our parents had it out with my brother after he bailed himself out from jail, and then he tried to fight our dad when they argued. And no surprise, he tried to blame everything on me.
My brother actually said I let Beanpole steal his woman. But couldn't really explain how. He also refused to believe I did not know until recently. Then he said that Sara was supposed to be his. Dad not only disagreed, but told my brother that he was a fucking disgrace, and that was an absolutely disgusting way to talk about Sara. She's not his property. And then my brother shoved dad as hard as he could. Dad got knocked to the floor, and my brother started kicking him. Dad isn't a small man. But he's old with a bad back and a bad knee. And needs a cane just to get around. Since we knew my brother would only have gotten crazier if he saw me, I was hiding in another room with the door cracked and listening in. I knew he might do something crazy. So I insisted on secretly being in the house when he was confronted. And I'm glad I was, because I came to dad's defense before my brother could do too much damage. I knew we were roughly even in a fight. So I ambushed and hit him in the back with a rubber mallet, and then beat the shit out of him. No police were called that time. I attacked him in defense of our dad. So he probably would have been screwed if he tried to get me charged anyway. And then he'd have gone right back to jail. Someone also once asked me if I enjoyed beating up my brother that day. I did not. I was just in an adrenaline fueled rage protecting my dad. But all things considered, I could have done far worse to my brother with that rubber mallet, as he only really got bruises. My dad gave hm a good smack in the face with his cane too though. But it's just hollow aluminum. Not exactly a damage dealer.
Our parents (mainly my dad) disowned my brother as I threw him out the door. And he spent some time crying on the porch and saying he was sorry and didn't mean it, then switched to saying we could all regret this, and we could go fuck ourselves before finally leaving. My mother spent hours crying. She'd stuck up for him before, and this was how he repaid her. My brother managed to avoid real prison time, or a trial for attacking Sara by taking a guilty plea deal. He signed away custody of his daughter. And Sara got a restraining order against him. My brother got a fine, somehow only a couple months in county jail, probation, has to abstain from alcohol for six months, and he had to pay for the property damage. Sara's dad already put in a new door, and billed my brother for it. My brother also understandably lost his job due to the situation.
Our mother secretly kept in contact with my brother, and agreed to look after my brother's truck and camper while he was serving his two month sentence. And she didn't ok it with dad first. He was pretty pissed at her for going behind his back. But she reasoned that it would be the last thing they ever did for him, because she didn't want my brother to have no place to go after getting out of the clink. And even she made it clear it was the last of her good will towards him too. Once my brother got out of jail, mom drove his truck and camper to a store to meet him, and gave him back the keys. She told me there was barely a word of thanks from him. Mostly just grunts when she tried to get him to talk to her. Dad said he still looked like an ungrateful sod. After that my brother lived wherever he could park his camper for a while until one of his remaining friends somehow got him a new job as a welder in another town 40-ish miles away that he was having to commute to with his camper for a while. But he was back every weekend. Apparently he only got the job by agreeing to work for less than what the job would normally pay. So he could move there permanently as soon as he got the ok from his probation officer. Which said officer didn't make easy I heard. I don't know the red tape of it. But he managed to pull it off. He can't leave the state. But he could still move to another county it seems. He's probably renting a space in a trailer park right now or something. And maybe he's back to doing his side hustle of hauling trash for people.
Before leaving town, my brother showed up outside my house to give me the double middle finger and dance around like a monkey while cursing at me in the street when he knew I was watching from the window. I guess it was his stupid way of trying to get in a last laugh without breaking the law or something. But then I got an idea. I've heard plenty of people say to kill with kindness. So I tried it in my own way. I grabbed an unopened bottle of my favorite honey whisky from the pantry because I know my brother really loves that stuff too. Then I went outside and walked right up to him, and shoved the bottle into his hands. I think it was the last thing he expected me to do in the moment. And I know he'd NEVER willingly break a bottle of good booze. Especially when it's free. Then I told him to have a drink on me to start his new life. I could barely keep myself from laughing when I turned to walk away. When I looked at my CCTV footage later, he actually stood there looking really glum while just staring at the bottle, and then moped back to his truck.
And then he was gone. Off to start his new life as a career welder. My brother is a childish, narcissistic, misogynistic, asshole to an extreme degree. But he's actually damn good at welding. Both with steel and aluminum. Mostly self-taught too. It's practically his only real talent. He's even done basic forging and auto body work. I've seen him do shit with scrap metal I wish I could. But that's the only real compliment I can still say about him. Maybe he'll make a decent new life and career for himself doing metal work elsewhere. He's better off away from us, just like we're better off away from him. He deleted all his social media, and I assume blocked us on everything. Not that we'd bother to contact him. One of his few remaining pothead friends in town told me my brother wants to legally change his name when his probation ends. Knowing him, he'll likely do it.
Things are much more peaceful and far less dramatic without my entitled leech of a brother here. Some part of me missed him for a while. But he's just a terrible person. And the only one who's still missing him, is our mother. She's still kinda broken up about it. But dad has been unwavering that they did the right thing by disowning him. He made his own bed. Now he's lying in it. I doubt my brother will come back any time soon. And if he does, he will not be welcome.
Edit: Got home and cracked open a bag of salt & pepper pork rinds, and was half expecting hundreds of comments like last time. I'm thankful it wasn't. Still, I'm also thankful to everyone who gave their support. To answer some questions I got in comments and DMS. I've got cameras inside and outside my house. Beanpole and Sara are still dating. But they've put off moving in together for now. My niece is doing good. But says she has no daddy anymore. My brother was barely a father to her anyway. Yes I know it was a bit much giving a known alcoholic a bottle of booze. And good booze at that. But I knew he wouldn't be able to drink it for months anyway. Which is why I was trying so hard to hold back laughter when I gave it to him. Besides, he's just gonna drink like a fish on his own dime when his court ordered sober time runs out.
I'm hoping this is the last post about current antics involving my brother. Maybe I'll tell other past stories about him. Or the story of my cheating ex. Still couldn't bring myself to post that. I typed it out and everything. But I guess it still ate at me because I really liked that woman. And yeah, this situation with my brother eats at me too. But he's toxic. And I'm better off without him in my life anymore.
​
Related Posts:
My entitled brother wanted my cot and tent for the camping trip
The time my brother stayed over and stole all the alcohol from my fridge
​
THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOP
DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7

It has been one hell of a week! A week of non-stop tears and questions with no answers, a week of losing my mind, forgetting things, being late to appts, a week of not eating or making dinner basically a week of shut down and self pity 😢 How can this be my life right now?
Haven’t I been through enough heartache from addiction already? My first fiancé was my hs sweetheart, we were together for 18 years before he unexpectedly passed away. We had just left everything behind except what we could fit in my mom’s car, which is not much with 5 people in the car 🤪 but we did it! I made the hard decision to say I’m getting outta here! I gave my fiancé a choice….to stay or come but the kids and I were ready to leave everything behind to start over with nothing and with an addiction on our backs. Cold turkey was hell! But we did it and I felt hope for our future but all it took was one mistake for him to lose it all 😢 so now I am a single mom of 2 beautiful girls that just lost their dad and need their mom more than anything, and to be honest i needed them to as if I didn’t have them I’m really not sure what would have kept me going? So I did just that…I was literally sleeping on a mattress on the living room floor under the pool table and my kids were tetrused into another room so our living situation sucked, I had no car, no job, didn’t know anyone or anything about where I was at…but witihin a year I had a job, a car, and an apartment!!!
I was so flipping proud of me and I learned a lot that year about myself and that my “fairytale relationship” that I pretended I had was more like a toxic love story.’ Betrayal trauma left and right but I didn’t know what that even was persay let alone how to deal with it and he was gone how can I ask him anything now? So I just left it all and buried it! Then almost 2 months after moving into our apartment my husband came into our life and swept us off our feet! Our knight in shining armor! He was amazing! I honestly could not believe I was lucky enough to have found someone so wonderful and someone that wanted to get to know my kids as well. We fell in love fast as we were both coming from complicated relationships as he was divorced years earlier as his wife was not faithful to him or the marriage.
That was 12 years ago and now, it’s been one hell of a week! I am utterly exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open. I hate feeling like this and it’s making me feel crazy! So here is our story…I could tell from our first sexual encounter that he didn’t seem comfortable or know how to completely handle the situation. It wasn’t bad just awkward…like he was nervous or not as experienced but we were all over each other in the beginning like most couples. We were married in 2015 and when he was just too tired to have our wedding night I admit I was a bit worried but just brushed it off as excitement and exhaustion , never had a honeymoon we did an overnight concert to see Def Leppard and it was a blast I have never seen him have so much fun and let loose like that but he still passed out when we got back. 🤪
In 2019 I went to him about an addiction I developed from painkillers the docs were giving me and I was so ashamed and miserable. He tried to be supportive I think as when I look back at it now…he was definitely not as supportive as he should have been and he even admitted that. He said some awful things and I just took it thinking I deserved it 🤷‍♀️ he would ask me if I was out sucking d*** for pills? Get all obsessive over my phone thinking I was talking to guy and I get the fear and hurt of being betrayed but I never used my sexuality to get anything I needed or wanted! Everyone has a line and I was just trying to be superwoman and yeah it helped numb all that pain that was lingering? And in the end majority of my recovery was done on my own as it should be but support means everything! I have been checking in every 2 weeks if not more for over 4 years to keep myself accountable and I have to say…All This…is such a big friggin trigger!
And I just quit smoking a month ago 🤪 anyway he also blurted out that he had a porn addiction and I heard him but I didn’t really process as I had to work on me for a while. I admit I had no idea what a porn addiction really was? So I thought ok he will work on it now that he admitted it? But nope…we had a dead bedroom on and off for years and when we did do anything I always had to initiate it and this is usually by the point of like “dude I’m your wife I may not be a supermodel however I love you and I find you sexy and attractive and I just need some kind of touch & intimacy, pure desperation! It’s sad…why am I sitting here desperately seeking a deeper connection with my partner when he chooses a million other woman over me again and again? That’s the big question?
So here we are after all this coming to ahead in Feb after finding Only Fans charges. The first 3 months I thought we were working recovery and I opened my heart and my body up again which was a big deal for me to just feel way up and more in love than ever as they make you feel like you’re the one…the one that can help them fight this as they love you so much. That you are everything to them and they think you are sexy, beautiful, they love your body and everything about you; and whereas that may be true? How are we suppose to feel that when we are always second to your fantasies that then cross over to stronger content cuz that’s just how it goes…? Unfortunately I found out he was lying right to my face🤯 then I found a pic of an old friend that use to be our neighbor in a bikini top in his deleted photos! I was crushed as I felt like it crossed a line? This trickle truth is killing me…like just lay it all out, tell me everything so I can make a decision?
We have literally been talking from the second we see each other when he or I get home until bedtime. 😢 it’s a lot ! Please someone make me understand???pornography is one thing but Now it has moved onto fantasizing about pretty much every person you see including friends, family, the person walking down the street; I mean my god when does it stop? The point is no matter how many videos I watch, articles I read, information I pound into my head…I can’t understand how he knew I was hurting and questioning thing’s and still chose all that over me? They say it’s not about sex but they are choosing to search for someone that is attractive to them to jerk off to instead of that beautiful, sexy, amazing wife? wtf happened to her? Where does the that leave her? Especially when she promised herself she would never let anyone make her feel this way again?
I do love him and he is doing everything he should now seeing a therapist, we’re seeing a couple therapist also but why do we have to threaten to leave to get action? I’m just so scared, I want to be his biggest cheerleader but I’m hurting so bad inside…please if anyone has any helpful or positive stories it would be much appreciated. ✌️&❤️ to you and yours!

If you’ve been reading my posts, you may already have read about how my boyfriend ruined my Mother’s Day dinner with my mom because I accidentally took his phone with me instead of my work phone (they’re identical).
That night was dramatic. I told him on Monday that I won’t forgive him automatically, I want an apology and a nice gesture: I want flowers and a sandwich from my favorite restaurant, at minimum.
I figured by Tuesday or Wednesday he’d be trying to see me and make amends. Nope. We talked on the phone a little but nothing happened. No plans. No attempt for me to forgive him. So I complained. He said “Let’s do it on Friday”…
Today is Friday and we are supposed to go through with these plans in a couple hours. I haven’t heard from him since early last night. No texts or calls. I KNOW WHY! He must have stayed up watching porn and playing video games all night again, and is now so exhausted that he won’t be awake until late afternoon. He won’t have the ability to drive 15 minutes away to see me because he’s so tired from jerking off and losing games.
I’m just waiting for him to hit me up and tell me he’s so tired and doesn’t know why, and that he’ll see me tomorrow. It’s such a typical routine. Most of my days off now, on weekends, I won’t see him until late Sunday night when I have to go back to work the next morning. Porn and games and sleeping on someone’s couch is better than me.
I want to BLOCK this fucker and go no-contact so bad but alas, I will stay and hope he somehow pays me back my $2200 soon so I can depart.

It has been one hell of a week! A week of non-stop tears and questions with no answers, a week of losing my mind, forgetting things, being late to appts, a week of not eating or making dinner basically a week of shut down and self pity 😢 How can this be my life right now?
Haven’t I been through enough heartache from addiction already? My first fiancé was my hs sweetheart, we were together for 18 years before he unexpectedly passed away. We had just left everything behind except what we could fit in my mom’s car, which is not much with 5 people in the car 🤪 but we did it! I made the hard decision to say I’m getting outta here! I gave my fiancé a choice….to stay or come but the kids and I were ready to leave everything behind to start over with nothing and with an addiction on our backs. Cold turkey was hell! But we did it and I felt hope for our future but all it took was one mistake for him to lose it all 😢 so now I am a single mom of 2 beautiful girls that just lost their dad and need their mom more than anything, and to be honest i needed them to as if I didn’t have them I’m really not sure what would have kept me going? So I did just that…I was literally sleeping on a mattress on the living room floor under the pool table and my kids were tetrused into another room so our living situation sucked, I had no car, no job, didn’t know anyone or anything about where I was at…but witihin a year I had a job, a car, and an apartment!!! I was so flipping proud of me and I learned a lot that year about myself and that my “fairytale relationship” that I pretended I had was more like a toxic love story.’ Betrayal trauma left and right but I didn’t know what that even was persay let alone how to deal with it and he was gone how can I ask him anything now? So I just left it all and buried it! Then almost 2 months after moving into our apartment my husband came into our life and swept us off our feet! Our knight in shining armor! He was amazing! I honestly could not believe I was lucky enough to have found someone so wonderful and someone that wanted to get to know my kids as well. We fell in love fast as we were both coming from complicated relationships as he was divorced years earlier as his wife was not faithful to him or the marriage.
That was 12 years ago and now, it’s been one hell of a week! I am utterly exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open. I hate feeling like this and it’s making me feel crazy! So here is our story…I could tell from our first sexual encounter that he didn’t seem comfortable or know how to completely handle the situation. It wasn’t bad just awkward…like he was nervous or not as experienced but we were all over each other in the beginning like most couples. We were married in 2015 and when he was just too tired to have our wedding night I admit I was a bit worried but just brushed it off as excitement and exhaustion , never had a honeymoon we did an overnight concert to see Def Leppard and it was a blast I have never seen him have so much fun and let loose like that but he still passed out when we got back. 🤪
In 2019 I went to him about an addiction I developed from painkillers the docs were giving me and I was so ashamed and miserable. He tried to be supportive I think as when I look back at it now…he was definitely not as supportive as he should have been and he even admitted that. He said some awful things and I just took it thinking I deserved it 🤷‍♀️ he would ask me if I was out sucking d*** for pills? Get all obsessive over my phone thinking I was talking to guy and I get the fear and hurt of being betrayed but I never used my sexuality to get anything I needed or wanted! Everyone has a line and I was just trying to be superwoman and yeah it helped numb all that pain that was lingering? And in the end majority of my recovery was done on my own as it should be but support means everything! I have been checking in every 2 weeks if not more for over 4 years to keep myself accountable and I have to say…All This…is such a big friggin trigger! And I just quit smoking a month ago 🤪 anyway he also blurted out that he had a porn addiction and I heard him but I didn’t really process as I had to work on me for a while. I admit I had no idea what a porn addiction really was? So I thought ok he will work on it now that he admitted it? But nope…we had a dead bedroom on and off for years and when we did do anything I always had to initiate it and this is usually by the point of like “dude I’m your wife I may not be a supermodel however I love you and I find you sexy and attractive and I just need some kind of touch & intimacy, pure desperation! It’s sad…why am I sitting here desperately seeking a deeper connection with my partner when he chooses a million other woman over me again and again? That’s the big question?
So here we are after all this coming to ahead in Feb after finding Only Fans charges. The first 3 months I thought we were working recovery and I opened my heart and my body up again which was a big deal for me to just feel way up and more in love than ever as they make you feel like you’re the one…the one that can help them fight this as they love you so much. That you are everything to them and they think you are sexy, beautiful, they love your body and everything about you; and whereas that may be true? How are we suppose to feel that when we are always second to your fantasies that then cross over to stronger content cuz that’s just how it goes…? Unfortunately I found out he was lying right to my face🤯 then I found a pic of an old friend that use to be our neighbor in a bikini top in his deleted photos! I was crushed as I felt like it crossed a line? This trickle truth is killing me…like just lay it all out, tell me everything so I can make a decision?
We have literally been talking from the second we see each other when he or I get home until bedtime. 😢 it’s a lot ! Please someone make me understand???pornography is one thing but Now it has moved onto fantasizing about pretty much every person you see including friends, family, the person walking down the street; I mean my god when does it stop? The point is no matter how many videos I watch, articles I read, information I pound into my head…I can’t understand how he knew I was hurting and questioning thing’s and still chose all that over me? They say it’s not about sex but they are choosing to search for someone that is attractive to them to jerk off to instead of that beautiful, sexy, amazing wife? wtf happened to her? Where does the that leave her? Especially when she promised herself she would never let anyone make her feel this way again?
I do love him and he is doing everything he should now seeing a therapist, we’re seeing a couple therapist also but why do we have to threaten to leave to get action? I’m just so scared, I want to be his biggest cheerleader but I’m hurting so bad inside…please if anyone has any helpful or positive stories it would be much appreciated. ✌️&❤️ to you and yours!

https://www.reddit.com/AmITheJerk/comments/1csum48/aitj_for_cutting_my_sil_out_of_my_life_even_if_it/
WOW this blew up. I did NOT expect that. Before I give the most recent update, there are a ton of questions you guys had. I tried to answer you all individually but here is more context:
Tom is the only one in the dynamic that is Low Contact with Margaret. This happened very shortly after I entered the picture when I put my foot down over an incident that was absolutely ridiculous. Margaret had accused him of trying to kill her youngest after we lent her a carpet cleaner that "smelled" (I burn sage regularly). She was dead serious about it and did NOT let up and was like "wow good to know you have no regard for human life". He broke down in tears for almost a week before I had to sit him down and tell him "This is the most insane take ever, how the fuck is sage going to kill a kid? You realize how nuts that is, right? Don't let her steamroll you like this"". He went LC pretty immediately after that.
Fern is a really soft hearted person. Its been confirmed to me that growing up, Fern got it the worst from their bio mom. Its made him extra susceptible to Margaret's manipulations and guilt trips. They were really close when they were kids and Fern sometimes feels that without Margaret, his life will be empty. It causes him a lot of distress in both directions. Losing Margaret is a devastating thought to him. Staying around her causes him a lot of pain and generally puts him in a really dark place. He's struggling with it. We still talk regularly and have a very close friendship.
Cory is a really soft spoken guy. Super funny, friendly, and nice generally speaking. He only shifts gears when Margaret is present. The rest of the family has identified this as fear. I only cut him off because of the way Margaret uses him to gather information and spread drama. He deserves better, but I think we can all understand how scary it must be for him to even think about standing up to himself, considering that Margaret regularly threatens to take the kids away from someone (over something as small as not pouring her a glass of water once) roughly twice a month. Margaret has yet to actually follow through with this and genuinely only uses it as a form of control because of how effective it has been. It's like her hail mary pass.
MIL really is a wonderful lady. She's really patient and understands how important FIL's kids are to him. She is trying her damndest to not break up a family and I think she genuinely wishes she could also stay out of it- Margaret has fully aimed everything at her at the moment and its put MIL in a really uncomfortable position. She's a pretty tough lady- I think she's just as bewildered as the rest of us and doesnt know WHAT the fuck to do with the situation, because of how absolutely extreme it is.
FIL is getting a lot of hate in the comments. While I am not necessarily disagreeing with the statement that he lacks a spine and is allowing it to happen, I also see the pain that this is causing him. While emotions aren't the easiest thing for him, I HAVE to consider how absolutely triggering the whole thing is. I mean, the last time he was around this kind of person, she attempted to kill him. I know him to be an incredibly brave man, even if he doesn't always outwardly express his feelings or his opinions. It's got to be hard to juggle and wrap his head around this. He loves his wife, he loves his daughter. I agree that he should put an end to it and that its been a long time coming- but I absolutely understand why it would be a huge hurdle for him to confront, both in real time AND within himself. I tell him ALL THE TIME that he's a good dad, because he is. He really is. I think in the face of a super domineering woman, after all he and the kids have been through, just really puts him in an emotional pickle. I can absolutely understand that.
Bio mom is a huge piece of shit. The family really doesn't talk about it much- with what they HAVE told me, I don't blame them. Bio mom frequently told the kids that she hated them and wished they were never born. She used them as ammo to get her way with other relatives. She regularly made life a competition between herself and the 3 daughters (there are 2 more that are not in the picture that I have never met) and at times was violent with them. Fern and bio mom got into arguments on a regular basis. Fern attempted suicide several times REALLY early in life because of how abusive the environment was- this was also the birth of his eating disorder issues, because bio mom regularly called him an "ugly, useless waste of space'. Tom has told me that he tried his best to stay out of the way, but that even he wasn't safe from the chaos. Oh yeah, and she regularly attacked FIL and eventually went to prison for attempted murder. Tom cut contact pretty immediately after that, followed by Margaret and FIL. Fern was the only one who tried to still have a relationship. The entire family has been absolutely NC with the biological mother and the other two daughters for over a decade.
Now to the update:
I spoke to Tom again last night about this whole thing. I mentioned that I posted on reddit about this, but I told him I wasn't going to show him until things cooled down with the family. He was cool with that. I asked him a few clarifying questions, because I'm still super confused about how any of this got to the point that it has. He told me that no one is NECESSARILY waiting on dad to say something, but that everyone knows that he is the head of the family so the NC thing wouldn't work unless FIL decided to do it as well. Pretty much, either they all have to do it, or none of them can without seriously compromising the relationships that do remain. Margaret lords the kids over everyone; apparently this is the biggest barrier for the family.
Tom says he is virtually indifferent at this point because he only sees the kids at family functions, but for Fern, FIL, and MIL its a lot different. Margaret is the only one of the siblings that has children, and she has regularly turned to the 3 of them for babysitting and financial support. They are all super attached to the kids and are really struggling with finding the lesser of two evils. I told him that I could understand that, but that I was still confused as to why everyone was okay with the automatic response to ANY barrier or boundary is "you wont see the kids again". Its not simple for anyone except me I guess. I'll admit, I'm very 'fuck them kids' in any situation like this. Children are not currency IMO- so whenever ANYONE has pulled this on me, I have not hesitated to be like "okay bye?".
Tom let me know that he still has plans to talk to his father about this, but that he ultimately feels that he cannot control any of it so he is doing his best to compromise. He doesnt like Margaret- at all. He pretty much wants nothing to do with her or her kids at this point. He also doesn't want to abandon his family over this because he feels like Margaret wins in that situation. He is playing the fence, to be fair, but I cant expect more than that from him. I get it.
I also talked to MIL yesterday. She's pretty confused because she comes from a family that confronts things heads on too; she has tried to talk to Margaret to squash things, but it goes more and more south when she does. I think this puts her between a rock and a hard place. She personally thinks that the only thing she did to offend Margaret is marry FIL. I gotta be honest, I agree, because MIL is so generous with her money, love, support, and attention that I find it very hard to believe that even a fraction of what Margaret is feeling is valid. MIL is a cool lady, and I have come to regard her as a very good person. Her current stance is "no one is going to get through to her. I am not going to give my husband ultimatums- that's his daughter. Its his choice what he wants to do. For now, I am distancing myself, which is why I am choosing to not go to Italy with them".
Myself, Fern and Tom are going over to MIL/FIL's house this Sunday. They were out of town on Mother's Day, so we rescheduled. Originally, Margaret and Cory were part of a group gift that I had fully planned and mapped out to give to mom. However, very early in the process they started pulling some lightly shady shit and I realized that this gift was going to be used to further manipulate the process. This was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. They have been completely cut out of the plan and are not welcome on Sunday. I feel bad that this means Cory also gets excluded- we all adore him and the only thing he has done wrong is not challenge his wife on, but due to their proximity and the way Margaret uses him, he also had to be cut out of it. They have not contributed to the gifts because I purposely barred them from doing so. One of them is a very large collage with images of all the children. Margaret and Cory are nowhere on this collage, on purpose. I also doubled down as hard as I could, incorporating several other gifts with the kids names, likenesses, etc without including Margaret at all. You don't get to treat someone like absolute shit and then use MY thoughtful idea to twist shit and use it against someone in the future. Sorry. If you wanted to be on it so badly, you should grow the fuck up. Maybe its over kill, maybe its mean. All I know is I've had enough and I am in full support of MIL. Also in full support of "fuck around and find out", "play stupid games, win stupid prizes", "talk shit get hit", and "dont bite the hand that feeds you".
MIL also let me know that she sent Margaret a letter in the mail- this is how bad the situation has gotten. MIL continues to try to rectify the situation, but Margaret blocks her at every turn in favor of being mean over shit that really doesn't matter in the bigger scheme of things. I'm pretty sure this double whammy of the gifts and letter will stir up an obscene amount of shit in the very near future. All that anyone would really need is an apology that takes full accountability without pointing fingers, making excuses, or playing the victim- that in itself would be a huge step for Margaret and a sign that she is open to growth. It hasn't happened yet- I doubt it ever will. I'll give more updates as it all unfolds. I anticipate this being a LONG process.

I (F, 28)have an estranged narcissistic brother (43) and was just told today that he was diagnosed with heart failure and has 5 years left to live.
I feel really conflicted. On one hand, he’s my brother who I loved and admired as a child. On the other hand, he’s a narcissistic jerk who has been explosive and controlling my whole life. The kind of guy who read that book The Game like it was the Bible.
We had a falling out a long time ago - he basically never really cared to talk to me or reach out. Then in 2020 he asked me to help him with his business (full-time making 1k a month in LA - not nearly enough to live on). I agreed to help him and did my best but he would explode on me over the smallest things. One example of many: My beloved cat died while I was working for him and I asked him for the day off and he told me it’s selfish to be upset over a pet dying because my “pet wouldn’t want me to be sad”.
Anyways, I quit working for him and wrote him a very nice letter telling him I love him very much but that working for him was too toxic and he basically cut me out and has never tried to speak to me since. He even made a post on his businesses instagram after about “what he learned from having the worst employee he’s ever had” - not that it really matters but I was very good employee.
My mother and sisters tell me I’m being “too sensitive” and “he’s your brother you can’t not talk to him”. Even though he has never apologized or tried to speak to me since then. He’s also 15 years older than me…
Finding out that he’s dying has really shook me though. I think I realized that I was hoping that someday when we were really old that he would grow and reflect and apologize and become a better person… but I don’t think that will ever happen.
I feel pressure from my mom and sisters to reach out to him, but I honestly don’t want to. I feel very sad about it still. Even though he’s been a bad brother and a bad person, I still hoped he would live a long happy life. I don’t want to regret not reaching out to him, but I don’t want to let him in again and be hurt.
Any advice or similar stories would be helpful.

Ok here is where it starts I a 5,7 12M and I was minfing my business at school with my friends let call the 1st one james he I'd a 4,7 12M the only reason he is this short is he has numerous medical conditions and my other friend 5,4M let's call him Rick because he a ginger and my 3 friend 5,2 M and let's call him Tommy
This is where it starts so I am walking around the school whit my friend James,Rick and Tommy and a kid I kid of know says that this kid I will call him tranphobic ,an you know why so he this kid say transphobic man said something about me so I tell him to say to transphobic ,an if he had the same amount of brain cells as friend he would be dead because you can't live without brain cells and the this kid comes back and said trasphobic man said something about my mom so my friend James told me a roast and the kid comes back and says transphobic man called James the r slur and made fun of his medical conditions so i said to the kid to tell transphobic man come to where we where if he's do strong and the kid comes back and says that transphobic man said when my dad drops me off at school he gets a littering ticket the I remember what he said about ja,especially and I say at least I have a dad the the bell rings when we get to class he glares at me and my friend so I call him a piece of s$#t for what he said about James
He gets up and I forgot to mention this he is about 4,6 so I'm about a foot taller and he is trying to get in a fight with me he's trying to either punch or slap me but I block it just as I am going to punch him a teacher walk in and tells hi, to sit down out of no where he yells at me f%$k you go k!!l your self you b$#%#%d f^$k you then yells at the whole class go k*^l your selves and he whips I pencil directly at my face but I block it if I didt the sharp part would have hit my eye
Now we get to the part we're the principal calls me down and I tell him what transphobic man said to James and the principal defends him because it's his 7 school no because he was kicked out but because his mom works a govement job and he also mentions how teansphobi man has anger issues with is no excuse for what he said and what he's said it the past he is very rasist ,transphobic,homophobic,fatpobic,zenophobic and BTW I have clinicly diagnosed adhd with comes with anger issues but I handle I way detter that he does so am I the jerk
Tldr kid makes fun of my friend with medical condition I bring up his dead dad he tries to fight me but is all OK because he has anger issues

Hey hey. It has always been hard for me to tell whether I'm in the right or not. I don't know why.
Let me start by telling you that I met these guys at a (still ongoing) seminar a few months ago. When we all started to get to know each other we got along pretty well and started to meet after the seminars.
One day, one of these guys (M) has started telling us about some chat GPT module his sister has told him about. Out of the blue, one of the other guys (H) has asked if she's hot. We have all laughed for hours about the dry delivery. A few days later we have started to make typical teenager-like mother jokes about H's Mom as some kind of retaliation.
It hasn't taken long for them to find out about my red-haired sister and as we all know, dudes go crazy about red-haired women. They started asking me if she's hot, if she's taken, Bla Bla Bla. All that nonsense. It was all fun and games and very dry, dumb, teenager humor (we're all 30 plus but were having a blast being dumb with these kind of jokes - judge me.)
Until today. M started asking me if I finally showed him a photo of my sister. I refused, cause it's supposed to be dumb jokes, nothing personal. He insisted. I refused again and became a bit clearer about me not wanting to share photos of my sister. H joined in, said that she's probably some kind of supermodel and that I want to hide her from them. They compared her to some red-haired girl we all know and that my sister is probably wayyyy hotter. I have told them both to stop, cause it's going too far and becoming too personal for me. M kept insisting and H said something like "he doesn't want us to use her as jerk off material". They both laughed. That's where I blew up and told them to already shut the fuck up. That I have told them several times and that they have crossed a line I have communicated several times.
They then tried to negate everything I've said by telling me that we're just making the usual jokes. I insisted that it's way more personal than the usual "haha your mom's cheap as well lol" we are usually laughing about. You know, those situational jokes where someone says "damn that's cheap" and we answer with "like H's mom".
I became louder as they didnt understand the problem I was having and told them that it's not about them making jokes, it's about the level of jokes they have crossed and that I have told them 4 or 5 times to stop, which they ignored and not only kept going, but being more and more disrespectful with every joke they made.
They are now angry at me for being so stuck up. For making jokes about H's mom but not being able to take a joke about my sister. H didn't say anything about it except "alright no more jokes about my mom for you then, as well". Which is fine for me, but not the point of that whole argument.
They've crossed a very clearly communicated line and don't care about it. I am so pissed that they disrespect me so much to ignore my "no" and "stop" several times.
AITA?

So this was in November 2023 and due to my wack ass immune system, I (15M) had gotten myself extremely sick to the point where I was vomiting almost every time I'd eat. And my body has a way of cascading things like this, so I it was no surprise when I started sickling.
I'm laying in bed, nauseous and in pain, just praying for the oxy to kick in so I can fall asleep and not deal with this hell anymore when this sharp pain starts stabbing me in my chest and I feel like I'm literally DYING. This pain I was feeling in that moment was worse than any sickle cell crisis I've ever had and I just assumed the jig was up and organ failure was imminent.
I couldn't get up from where I was laying (my mom's bed) because of the severe pain so I'm just crying so loudly and my mom wakes up annoyed and tells me to lay on my back and go back to bed but as i shift over a wave of nausea crashes over me and i begin vomiting all over my mom and her bed (woops).
Fully awake and freaking out by this point my mom picks up her phone and dials 911 for an ambulance to get me and I'm just crying like a little baby now in a pile of my own bile (too scared to eat anything because I didn't wanna barf) praying for the ambulance to get here. And after what only felt like 5 minutes, my mom runs to the front door to open it for the paramedics who lay me onto the stretcher and give me this drug I'm in too much pain to notice.
And then it calms me down. A lot. So much so that it feels like whenever I breathe, I'm breathing out all the air in my lungs and taking my first breath again like I've just been born. I vaguely feel the pain in my chest but my mind is so empty I cant even bother to think about it. I take a few deep blinks and then wake up in the ER with my mom sleeping in the chair beside my bed.
After this, it becomes a cycle of them giving me medicine, the pain subsides somewhat, and then the medicine wears off and my chest feels like it's getting knifed by a million UK roadmen. They start me off with morphine, and that doesn't do the job like it usually does, so then they give me Dilaudid AND morphine, and still yet I feel like the end is near. So they decide to pull out the big guns that worked on me when I was in the ambulance. Fentanyl.
Initially I was very skeptic and lowkey refusing treatment because of the stigma around it and the doctors reassured me over and over that it was safe and I had been given it before and blah blah blah even though these were the same doctors that would ask me how long I've had sickle cell for. But I was in so much pain that I just gave up and gave in and gave them the a-ok because their nagging was just too much.
They set me up with this little green button thing attached to my IV, that would allow me to press it whenever I felt severe and constant pain but would not allow me to exceed the "maximum dosage" they had put in place for my body. And to be completely honest this little button scared me at first. The entirety of my night nurses shift I didn't press the button once and just writhed there in the cold hospital bed because I'd rather die than willingly administer my own fentanyl.
But I wouldn't even be typing this story if I simply just hadn't pressed the button for the entire duration of my stay. It was now day 3 in the hospital and I hadn't got a single wink of sleep in the past 32 hours so I decided to press the button. It didn't hit me like it had in the ambulance, but when i tell you i relaxed, i RELAXED. I was finally able to shut my eyes and go to bed and stop myself from shaking my leg (self soothing thing I do when in pain). I woke back up to my nurse doing my 8 hour check up and for some reason, she was still bringing me morphine and Dilaudid despite me having the fentanyl push button thingy, but I was so out of it I just took the medicine so I could go back to sleep. It became I cycle of me pushing the button, falling asleep, being woken up to take additional opiates i did NOT need, then going back to bed, until early on day 5 in the hospital, my friends from school came to visit me. So obviously I try to be a good host and not to fall asleep despite me having pushed my button already for more fent (clearly addicted but oblivious because of this phantom pain my body is forcing me to experience) and coincidentally as my friends are still here, my nurse comes in for the 8 hour check up and gives me the Dilaudid and morphine again. I take the medicine and I look down at my green button because I'm not sure i've been awake this long in days and I see its glowing again so I press it.
bad idea.
I'm talking to my friends but something seems off, their voices seem so far away and there is black dots clouding my vision, I of course am so out of it that I somehow don't see any issue with these two things until I realized I hadn't said a word in like 2 minutes. Matter of fact, I hadn't even spoken for 2 minutes. My eyes go wide because I can feel my vision fading, but for some odd reason it was all black except a tiny pinhole in the center of my vision. I hear this faraway annoying beeping that I realize is the pulse-ox thing going kookoo bananas because I haven't breathed in so long and I see shapes moving around and my friends running to the hallway to get me help and all I can focus on is "If I'm not breathing, why doesn't it hurt?"
The nurses rush in and can clearly tell I'm overdosing so they put an oxygen mask over my head and say "Can somebody give him some Narcan?" and I'm laying here spectating what's going on to my own body from inside of my head wondering "I wonder what narcan is"
WELL I SURE KNOW NOW
The nurses push the Narcan in through my oxygen mask and I can suddenly hear everything perfectly. I say "woah" and then my entire body gets a flash of heat all over so I jolt up and say "WOAH" again and I look to the left to see like 6 nurses with 3 of them doing something with my arm that I obviously just messed up. But then the heat is gone, replaced by this freezing cold feeling all over and INSIDE my body. I can feel every one of my organs touching each other and they all feel cold and I just feel nauseous. By this point i was just in agony. It wasn't like any pain I've ever felt before I felt like not only was I gonna die, but it was gonna be painful and I'd feel each individual organ dying from inside my body because of how hypersensitive I was to everything around me. I could feel the scratchy hospital blanket and the way the grip of the hospital sock felt against the bed and it was all just too much for me and my head cocked straight up and i began vomiting so much liquid it was scary to watch. Feeling each chunk of food run down my throat was a sensory nightmare and it caused me to KEEP VOMITING and every time I'd move one of my limbs, it would completely jerk itself all the way to a full extended position which would shake my body and all my senses would be on fire and I'd cock my head back and continue vomiting. This was a pediatric hospital so the nurses had never dealt with anything this severe before so they were all just freaking out because I was actually tweaking so hard and I had knocked over everything they had put on my bed to help me. In addition to all this mess, I'd torn out my IV and started bleeding all over the sheets and the smell of barf mixed with blood was just such a strong smell I had continued barfing onto myself. My entire being felt cold inside and out so I was trying profusely to wrap myself in a cocoon but the nurses were so fixated on my blanket being covered in vomit and me like "contaminating myself" but I did not give a single fuck bro I was in so much pain and was so cold the only thought on my mind was the fetal position, and a cocoon. two nurses jammed those tubes that they have at the dentists office to suck your saliva down my throat so I didn't continue choking on my vomit, while the other 4 removed the fitted sheet from the bed trying their best not to interfere with my tweakage.
After they removed the sheet I had laid down and then I felt my organs shift in my body so I began vomiting again because anytime I sensed a new sensation, the big kahuna of nausea would hit me. I threw up onto the plasticky cover that goes over the mattress of the hospital bed but at this point there was only like so much left to throw up so a nurse wiped it away with an alcohol wipe. And the SMELL of that wipe gave me such sensory overload that I began crying to the point of basically screaming. As I shut my eyes really hard praying I'd fall asleep and escape the pain and coldness of my insides.
And the weird thing about all this is, I was there the whole time, y'know? Like I felt perfectly conscious throughout the entire process of being Narc'ed. I had no control over my body and anything I did, it just felt instinctual and had no thought behind it, but I was still actively thinking throughout all of it. I felt shame, embarresement, surprise, all like I was watching a movie. Except it was one of those 4D movie theaters where you can feel whatever is happening on screen, but not control it.
Eventually sleep overcame me and I woke up in the ICU with like 40 million wires attached to me a heating pack over my belly, and these bags around my legs that would inflate and deflate over and over. And all I could think in my head, was thank GOD it was over.
I had ended up getting myself a bone eating staph infection because some of my vomit got into the IV hole I'd torn out (I see why there were trying to take the blanket off) and ended up having to stay in the hospital for 10 more days so they could give me heavy antibiotics,, and had to do an additional 5 days at home self administering the medicine through a PIC line that went all the way from my wrist into my heart (it was so gross because they kept me awake while they removed it and it felt so weird).
A few weeks later the hospital called us back and apologized but they were using so much avoidant language and deflecting blame off of themselves so hard that it was pathetic to watch. Like you gave a 15 year old kid fentanyl through a SELF REGULATED SYSTEM and didn't expect the worst? Especially since I was being given Dilaudid and morphine on top of the fent? Get out my face with that smh.

She has a blanket policy: “No man she is with will…”. Apparently the reasons are that it traumatizes her and it is detrimental to men’s health, in general.
I have no experience in this rhelm. I subscribe to stupid shit like festivalsluts over30 and chubbyGoneWild. 🤷‍♂️ Maybe twice a month I’ll go to xvideos.cm or something. But I’m 39, in great shape, and not bad looking. I’m on testosterone and still only rub one out maybe once a week. And honestly, lately, it’s been to thoughts of her. Porn isn’t even a factor. I’m not jerking off with cheeto dust in my mom’s basement, ya know?
And the kicker… she was masturbating on the phone the first time we spoke. As in, it seemed like a regular thing for her. (It felt like pulling teeth to get her to delete her dating profiles. When she did, she only deleted the apps; full well knowing that her profile stays in rotation) And throughout dating her, she’ll send the most wild texts that would rival porn stories written by horny meth-heads (frequency = batches twice a day).
Don’t get me wrong, I love the sexual attention, but I can’t square it with a zero tolerance policy on “porn”. We’ve been “together” for a month and a half. But talking since January. Does anyone have any insights/experience with pwBPD and porn? (or my story?)
[For context, this is my 2nd partner with diagnosed BPD. And I just feel like this ask from her is a control mechanism]