Relationships. Who needs them?
Apparently, we all do.
Oh, the hoops of fire so many of us will jump through.
The truth is... we're all afraid to die alone.
But in a love story or not, we ALL die alone.
And a bad relationship can get us to the end faster if we let it.
The stories I've witnessed.
The things I've seen loved ones go through.
It's a wonder I ever created profiles on these apps.
I know firsthand the trauma of love gone wrong.
As do most of us.
Redditor Forsaken-Banana6936 was hoping people would share their horror stories about love, so they asked:
"What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you in a relationship?"
A Bad Close
"Found out the day that we closed on our house that he was cheating."
- STLCityAmy
"I found out about a week before our new house closed before we sold our old house. So I had two mortgages at the time. I feel you."
- WillBsGirl
angela bassett revenge GIFGiphy
No Warning
"He ended things out of the blue. He had previously said he wanted to marry me. We’d started planning a life together. I had never been happier in my life with someone. Never felt so sure about something. It devastated me - I had felt in my bones he was IT. I haven’t felt that way about anyone since… it’s been ten years."
"It took a while to process. If I’m honest, years. I don’t miss him or love him anymore - I just wish I could have what he took from me."
- marieboston
In MY bed
"She left her hard drive plugged into my computer. She had been insisting that I had been cheating for months, and I suspected she was projecting, so I looked."
"She was screwing guys for money in my bed. I had to call her dad to come get her. She would not leave my house. She got mad after I broke up with her because she caught an STD, and I didn't, so she put stuff in my gas tank. Just f**king awful all around."
- nullhed
Plagued
"Herpes scare where he treated me like I had the plague until my test results came back. Wouldn't even sit near me or touch anything I had touched, cooked, etc. I tested negative twice. He then tested and was positive and thought nothing of it. Wanted to resume unprotected sex, kiss, engage in touch, etc. In other words, he treated me exactly opposite of how he did when he thought I might be positive."
- Shellhuahua
He's Gone
"He died."
"I woke up in the middle of the night and saw he was very unwell. Calling for an ambulance while fruitlessly trying to wake him. Seeing paramedics start CPR and knowing that life won't be the same. Having to ring his family and explain what had happened. Making the decision to remove life support."
"It was all unimaginably awful."
- Viking_Face
Statuses
"My ex put her new relationship status on Facebook, and that's how I found out I was single.
- SLJ7
"I've got a similar but slightly different one: my GF didn't ever change her status from 'single' to 'in a relationship' because she 'never even goes on there and doesn't even know how and why does it even matter,' and then one day she changed it to 'in a relationship with (someone that wasn't me),' and that was how I found out we weren't together anymore."
- Asleep_Onion
Cat Reaction GIF
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Abandoned
"They were much more social and charismatic than me, so when it ended all my friends left with her."
- varthalon
"I experienced this with my divorce. The part that was really frustrating is over a year later I had to see them while taking my kid to a birthday party, a couple of them were like oh where have you been what have you been up to?! I responded with well I was extremely depressed which partly led to my divorce, and through all that, no one checked in on me or invited me to anything, I guess work is going alright though. One of them kinda tried to turn it on me a bit saying I didn’t reach out. I was like well after multiple messages left on read just asking to catch up were left on read I stopped."
- Mrofcourse
Stay Away
"My wife left me for a good friend of ours. This good friend was very charismatic, but also pretty terrible. He bragged about his past exploits and felt the most pride when it included breaking up a couple only to dump the girl. We both were horrified by these stories, yet somehow it did not dissuade my wife, and we became the next couple he broke up with. That was the worst, and I have not been the same since."
- SkinnyDaveSFW
4 Years Wated
"Was supposed to fly back from a trip on my birthday, but she stayed an extra night, came home, had cheated on me. We lived together so I stayed in another bedroom while I could hear her on the phone with the guy who she cheated with who lived across the country. The calls were frequent and lasted a while. I drank myself silly and eventually moved out when an opportunity presented itself. We had been together for like 4 years at that time."
- ShawnTomahawk
Pure Evil
'My ex knowingly brought bedbugs into my apartment and lied to me about it. He did a ton of other horrible abusive crap but the bedbugs cost me thousands of dollars and multiple rounds of fumigating, living with my clothes in trash bags mattress-less for months."
- Soft-Blood5
"Bedbugs are the absolute worst. I had a small infestation a few years ago, and it took me a year and a half to stop being paranoid about them after they were gone. I still occasionally have nightmares about them sometimes. For your ex to have done that to you is pure evil."
- krone_39
Checked Out
"The worst thing for me was realizing that I had been giving everything, only to find out they weren’t even trying. It’s painful when you put in so much effort, but the other person is just emotionally checked out."
- Intrepid_Basis2785
"Same here. I would have literally jumped across an ocean for him. But he didn't even try to put his leg across a very very tiny puddle for me. After the realisation set in, I couldn't fathom how much of a fool I was. Still trying to mend the damage that put on my self esteem."
- ThrowRAdressproblem
Sad Bye Bye GIFGiphy
Bad Breakdown
"Partner’s mother passes away from cancer and they’re such a mess that I handle all the funeral arrangements, she claims emotional meltdown as justification to sleep around with randos, refuses therapy but accuses me of stealing her inheritance (mom was flat broke) when I protest, invites an army deserter addict into our home and throws me out on the street after blowing all the money on opiates. I had a nervous breakdown after that and was homeless for 18 months afterward."
- SlyJackFox
Radio Silence
"Went to a dispensary and they only took cash. They were about to close and the atm was down the street. My boyfriend offered the dispensary owner to keep me locked in their establishment as collateral so he could run down the street to the ATM."
"He never came back. I smoked with the owner and called an Uber home. We never spoke again."
- Turbulent_Physics739
Whoops
"I accidentally called my date by my ex's name. lol."
- SilkySoftCharm1
Season 4 Ross GIF by FriendsGiphy
LOST
"Losing my partner to QAnon. He was my best friend and someone I really hoped I’d spend the rest of my life with, but I just didn’t recognize him anymore after 2016. I stuck around for another 3 years after that before walking away."
- Not-NedFlanders
Reading this makes me want to delete my apps.
Of course, I can be a HUGE Debbie Downer, depending on the day.
Human beings put up with way too much crap.
And we really need to pay attention to these red flags.
When you know something is off... you know.
Trust that feeling! Then run like Forrest!
Now I gotta go check my inbox.
Just in case.
@lpeterp/Bluesky
@FPWellman/X
@bobsbeatgmail.com5/Threads