Friendship Stories

I moved into a house with two friends, R and E. I moved in earlier and introduced R to my friend group because none of her friends were at university yet. Before she met them, I told her I had feelings for someone in the group. Despite this, she began subtly flirting with him. When I told her it hurt me, she said she would never date him, but later invited him over privately without telling me and only informed me at the last minute.

Within the span of about a week, she told me she thought he was flirting with her and that she wanted to pursue him. I left the house for a few days, and when I returned, I told her that if she continued pursuing him, I did not want to be friends and wanted her to keep her distance from me. She responded by saying they were now in a relationship. This happened about a week and a half after I had told her about my feelings, and he had been my friend first.

At one point, I found R and the guy together in our kitchen. I told her that he could not be in the house, and this led to an argument. She attempted to apologise, but I stood my ground and told her to leave me alone and not speak to me. After that interaction, I did not approach or engage with her again.

E, the second flatmate, said she would stay neutral but acknowledged that R was in the wrong. Over time, R stopped coming to the house frequently.

As of 07/01/2026, R moved out without telling me and informed the landlord that she felt “unsafe” living with me, which she used as a reason to end her lease. A few weeks earlier, E had also said she planned to move out, initially explaining that it was due to worsening physical health and that she wanted to pursue treatment in her hometown. However, the landlord later told me that both R and E had stated they were moving because they did not feel safe living with me.

This was shocking to me, particularly regarding E, as we never had any conflicts. She continued to knock on my door, ask to spend time with me, and sent friendly messages, including wishing me Merry Christmas. I never harassed, threatened, or confronted either of them after the initial argument with R. I respected boundaries and left R alone. Despite this, both claimed they felt unsafe, which I believe was influenced by R’s original statement and E repeating it.

As a result of these events, I feel betrayed by both R and E, as well as isolated from my wider friendship group, who have distanced themselves from me after I set boundaries.

I'm so fucking upset by all this.

I have this online friend. We're both bisexual but I lean towards girls and she leans towards guys. I have liked her before and she got her phone taken last summer. I told her and she just lind of ignored it, we both just swept it under the rug. I mean I kind of expected it anyways, she expressed that she didn't want to date anymore of her best friends because it never worked out. She came back around a month ago or two ago, and those feelings have resurfaced. I feel stuck because I have to watch her throw herself at these guys who will never see her for what she's worth. Just someone to joke about sex with and lie to. I've tried to wait out these feelings but it's just so hard. She'll probably just sweep it under the rug again.

im so embarassed to talk about girls to my friends because i dont want to come across as sappy or desperate, and i feel like i shouldnt need someone like that in my life, and i can just have close friends. but to be honest, ive never had that close of a friend before.

the girl that i was "talking" to (at least i viewed it that way) added me first, and she was super sweet when i first started talking to her. we had a few common interests and were doing all the classic texting stuff. however, i kept asking if she wanted to talk more in person because i only ever saw her during school. she kept avoiding the conversation and eventually i just said that i loved talking to her and spending time with her and that i liked her, and i asked for her number. she said that she just wanted to be friends and that i didnt do anything wrong and that im still a good person, and that shed rather just stay on snap bc its easier for her.

when we first started talking, i tried to be as authentic as possible and talked about the stresses and anxiety that i had in my life, bc honestly at the time she was one of the best friends i had ever had. i felt like i could count on her and could trust her more than i ever have even with my closest friend (i dont talk to him much anymore now that i moved far away). me and her even shared pretty personal stories about our family situations and struggles that we were having. after i told her that i liked her quite a bit, she seemed to become a bit more closed off, and i did in return. i dont really like her the same as i did before, but we still talk for a few minutes over snaps every day. however, now i feel like i have to walk on thin ice when im talking to her and have to avoid certain topics, and cant really talk about my problems like i feel like i used to be able to do with her, in fear that she'll think that i like her still. its not that i like her, its just that i miss having such a close friend and someone i could trust.

i forgot to mention, about two weeks into becoming quite close with her (or at least i thought so), i sprained my ankle and bruised my other foot pretty bad. im still hurting every day from it, meaning i cant train for football, which is the biggest and most important part of my life and my dream is to play pro. my feet are hurt so bad that i cant even walk for more than five minutes without them getting sore. rehab is so so slow, and being hurt for over two months now has made my mental health absolutely horrible. i feel so anxious all the time, and i cant escape it. im trapped in my house all day, sitting on my a** and not being able to train or play pickup with friends. my car also broke down at the same time i hurt my feet, and i havent been able to find a job for the past 4 months. i cant go anywhere, i cant do anything active, i cant even go on a walk to help clear my head. i live with my dad and stepmom, and their pretty emotionally absent. ive never been able to trust them enough to tell them about things like this, especially because it gets brought up and sometimes held over my head by them and my brother as well. i feel like my brain is trapped in a cage, ramming itself against the walls to try and get out, but only hurting itself more in the process. ive tried drawing, ive tried playing video games, etc., but nothing fills the void that soccer/football occupies in my life.

i feel horrible, not only for me, but for her as well. i feel like i lost a close friend that i could genuinely talk to, and i feel like i betrayed her trust as well by letting my emotions get the better of me and spilling them out to her all at once. i dont know if theres anything i can do to make this right, and i feel like our friendship is permanently damaged. i cant get her out of my brain, not even in a romantic way, just in a support way. im scared to apologize again bc i feel like shes already moved on from me and has replaced the time that i spent with her with someone else. she has told me a couple days ago that shes up until 2am sometimes on facetime, and it makes me so disappointed bc ive never been able to have that close of a relationship with someone, romantic or not, and it also makes me feel dispensable and like im not worth her time or effort.

ive tried watching videos and telling myself that itll all be okay, and that im worth enough. and truly, i do feel like im a good person to be around, and i check up on all of my friends, including her, very regularly. but i feel like no one has ever done that for me. i feel like im always the one trying to start conversations with other people. im always the one checking up on others. im the one asking about how theyre doing or whats going on in their lives. im always the one saying that im there for them if they ever need to rant. but i cant remember a single time that any of my friends have ever asked if i needed to rant, if i had something on my mind, if i had something i wanted to talk about. ive heard that everyone sorta feels this way, but i just dont think thats true. i feel like when i could talk to her, i finally had my person that i could lean on, but now i think ive lost it for good.

ive heard that trying to fill a void with someone is not a good way to start to any kind of friendship. and i can understand that. but right now i feel so lost and stressed out, like all of my problems are slowly seeping their way into the cage enclosing my brain, ready to drown it out. i cant take it anymore. i need someone that will listen. i need someone that can relate to me. please tell me what i can do to make this all go away, and to help me find true friends that vouch for me and will support me in times like these.

not my typical post this is a horror but no option for horror

this is chapwr one lmk what u guys think

Chapter One — The Hollow Tree

I ran but she caught me when the moon slipped behind the clouds and the world went silent.

Her grip closed around my ankle with a strength that belonged to graves and forgotten things. I fell hard, the breath knocked from my lungs, my palms sinking into the cold mulch of the forest floor. Dead leaves clung to my skin like the hands of the unburied, and for one hopeless moment I imagined that I, too, was sinking—downward—into the dark earth they all returned to.

A low hum trembled through the soil. A voice without words. A summons.

I twisted to look behind me.

I should not have.

She emerged from the dark like a memory that should have died centuries ago—long limbs bending in wrong directions, bones clicking against each other like rosary beads in restless hands. Her hair, long and dripping, veiled most of her face, though the smallest sliver of a grin stretched beneath it, white as moonlit marble and sharp as split stone.

The forest held its breath.

Even the wind dared not speak.

“Please,” I whispered, though my voice felt like it belonged to someone already fading.

Her head tilted. Not with mercy—no creature of mercy would be found in this place—but with recognition. As though she had been waiting, patient and starving, for the moment I would return.

The stories had warned me. My grandmother’s voice echoed, faint and trembling, from the deepest corners of childhood: Do not run from the Hollow Woman. She will come faster. Do not speak to her. She will hear you for a century. Do not look back. She is always closer than you think.

Yet I had done all three.

Her fingers tightened, cold as river stones, and she dragged me across the earth toward the hollow tree ahead—a towering corpse of a once-mighty oak, its trunk split open by some ancient and merciless storm. The gap gaped like a mouth, the inside impossibly dark, impossibly deep, as though it tunneled straight into the underworld.

The closer we drew, the more the forest changed. The trees bowed inward, crooked like mourners at a funeral. A smell seeped from the hollow—wet soil, rotting bark, and beneath it something sweet, like overripe fruit left too long in the sun.

“No,” I gasped, clawing at the ground. My nails scraped through moss and root, catching on stones slick with dew. My body obeyed terror’s instinct, but my mind was trapped in the slow, creeping dread that had haunted me since I first heard her voice two nights ago.

It had come with the storm.

I had been lying in my grandmother’s abandoned house—our ancestral ruin—when the lightning split the sky and the walls groaned like a living thing. A whisper curled through the cracks in the floorboards, thin as winter breath: Come back to me.

I thought it was grief. Or loneliness. Or the house settling around its last inhabitant.

But then the whisper came again.

And again.

And last night, when the moon was whole and bright, I saw her standing beneath the oak tree at the edge of the forest, her shadow stretching longer than her body should allow.

She had been waiting.

“Not yet,” I murmured, desperate, choking on soil as I fought against her grasp. “Please—not yet.”

For the first time, she paused.

Her grip, though unyielding, stilled. Slowly, achingly slowly, her face lifted, and beneath the curtain of her tangled hair I saw the hollow where her eyes should have been—deep, shadowed pits that seemed to draw in the light around them.

When she spoke, it was not with a voice but with a sound like roots cracking beneath frozen ground.

“You left me.”

My heart stuttered. A coldness spread through my chest, not the fear she inflicted but something older, deeper, something that knew her.

Because I had left her.

I didn’t understand why or how—but the moment she spoke, the truth whispered beneath my memory like something long buried scratching at the coffin lid.

“I don’t remember,” I whispered, and my own words tasted wrong, as if they were stolen from someone else’s mouth.

She dragged me another inch toward the hollow tree.

The moon finally slipped from behind the clouds then, its pale, shivering light spilling across us. For a moment—just a moment—she stopped moving. Her body stiffened. Her smile dropped into a grim line carved of stone.

The moonlight touched her skin, and she recoiled as though burned.

I felt her grip loosen.

Only a little.

Only enough.

With a cry torn raw from my throat, I twisted sharply, kicking with all the panic of a creature half-dead and unwilling to finish the job. My heel struck something soft—her face, perhaps—and her grip faltered.

I scrambled backward, breath ragged, legs shaking so violently they barely obeyed me. She hissed, a sound like a dying wind through hollow places.

But she did not lunge.

She watched.

The moonlight kept her rooted.

I staggered to my feet. Pain lanced up my knee. Blood soaked into my sock. Yet I ran—not with hope, but with the terror of someone who knows the night is far from over.

Behind me, her voice seeped through the trees like mist:

“When the moon dies, you are mine again.”

And above the forest canopy, the clouds thickened—slowly smothering the light that protected me.

I used to date this girl, but we broke up cause she didn't really like me, but we stayed best friends. I've only had one person i've ever had a crush on like me back and that's my current partner. I first got a crush on one of my guy friends, but never told him. Then one day, he told me he had a crush on her and I acted normal about it, but I actually wanted to cry. Then, I knew one of my other guy best friends liked her. but I couldn't help. but catch feelings for him. I feel like I should be angry, but i'm not. I can't help how I feel, but everyone else has told me I should be mad at her, but I'm only mad at myself.

I'm quite a sensitive person, I saw this video where this guy with his family, spread his mom's ashes into the lake and it spelled out "love" idk why but I started crying, even now, I'm tearing up. I think that's how my sadness started today. I feel ugly but not super ugly, I don't have a boyfriend, I have one online friend but we don't talk much, I have other online friends but those guys are trying to get with me or just being odd. I think I just need a boyfriend. I think I just need a hug or someone genuine to hang out with. I made a new online friend today but it feels fake. It all feels fake, I only talk to my friends when I'm in a good mood or just try my best to be friendly and all but during my worst moments, I don't have anyone. Who would love me or like me like this? I'm not supposed to burden them with this. I also feel insane. Maybe I'm just undiagnosed or something, idk.

All the time i always do my best to reach out and build connections with people. But most of it i just got ignored until one dah i reached the point where i’m so dont with building the connection with people and suddenly people think i am the bad one for not initiating things and reach out first? Like i’m jusy so tired and honestly gave up with interpersonal relationships

I'm deeply in love with my friend, K. She's no shit EVERYTHING I've ever wanted in a person, AND she's the most attractive woman I've ever seen, I've never been so glad to be bisexual in my life. I've never wanted to care for and love someone as much as I do her. I want to love her and treat her the way she really deserves to be. She knows I want her and she knows a hint of how much I yearn for her (I'm wasn't overbearingly forward when I had admitted I wanted her), there's only one sticky issue. I've been not given a direct answer to my relationship inquiry, so I've kinda been jus left in this limbo of the unknowing. About 9 months ago I asked and she said she wasn't in the emotional headspace to be in a relationship, but she really likes me too. We've both made it obvious we find each other attractive, I compliment her at least once a day and she compliments me unprovoked too. She didn't ghost me after, we still talk frequently thankfully, and we even have plans for her to come down to my state to see me and my daughter. I'm not very emotionally or mentally stable, and one of my disorder's side effects is maladaptive daydreams, in which every one I have relates to her. If I want to fall asleep fast or I'm struggling to fall asleep, all I have to do is think about a situation where her and I are in each other's presence, it's a full proof method that has yet to fail me. I want to be able to provide for her and give her a comfortable, happy life. I want to sacrifice everything so she can have anything and everything she dreams of. With my explanation in mind, you you think I'll end up getting the girl?

hey guys, you ever feel like you're just kinda on the sidelines and not really part of your own friend group? like you're there, but not really *there*? 😕 that's the vibe i've been getting lately, and idk if it's just me overthinking it or what; but man, it's starting to eat at me. so, here's the scoop... i’ve got this crew that i’ve been tight with since forever. we hang out all the time, you know, it's like one of those things where they’re practically your siblings, or so i thought. we used to hit up the mall, play video games till dawn, crash at someone's place, and just vibe. but these days, it's like when they make plans, they're almost always in some secret group chat that doesn't include me. and okay, maybe it's not a "secret chat," but it sure feels like it when you're not in on the inside jokes they crack later. like, it's all “dude, remember when...?” and i'm sitting there pretending to laugh ’cause it's awkward to be the only one out. don’t get me wrong, they’re not awful or mean or anything, they just get so caught up with each other that the world tilts their way, know what i'm saying? it's like that quote from 'friends', "we were on a break!", but i'm stuck on pause. low-key, it makes me reconsider if they’re really as close as i thought or if i’m just tagging along for nostalgia’s sake. like, do you guys think history justifies hanging out, or should it be more about how you connect now? 🤔

i bring it up sometimes, dropping hints like, "oh, man, i really loved those hangouts, we should do more of that"—you know, keeping it low-key and casual, but it never really leads anywhere. maybe they're just oblivious? anyway, i try to be upbeat and supportive. you know, offer the ride, share the playlist, the works. those meme wars we have online are fun, but it ain't the same as real deal interactions. it's confusing, right? one moment they're like, "bro, where have you BEEN?", and i'm thinking, "um, here, just not included." it's a weird space to be in, stuck between wanting to confront things and just shrugging it off, hoping it’s just a phase. you ever just want to shake things up, like propose something wild, but then second-guess if they’d think you're just being overly dramatic? my input is always met with a pleasant “cool, cool,” but i never see a callback on those; maybe i’m just not the glue, you know? or perhaps the dynamics have shifted, making me more of a benchwarmer than a starter in this friendship game. idk, maybe i should diversify my friendship portfolio, start meeting new people, perhaps at school where there’s no history hanging over my head. maybe i'm overanalyzing the situation, like one of those film critics who see plot holes in just relaxed, casual hangouts. but it'd be nice if they’d actually check in and notice. but hey, what about you guys? do you have that “aha moment” where you switch things up, or just roll with it? i understand we’re all busy now, prepping for college, juggling jobs and exams, and everyone’s in their lane grinding, but making time for your homies proves crucial to maintaining the bond, don’t you think? it’s like, you defeat the final boss together, that shared victory sticks, but when solo practices become all the rage, you’d think something as small as sending a "yo wassup" would be fair game. the odds are, someday soon, i’ll find my groove again, either with them or without, since this high school drama can’t make or break me, right? let’s face it, life won’t sugarcoat itself, and we might as well take the bitter with the sweet and just sip it slowly. you sit back, take the backseat for a minute, and rethink what this chapter’s teaching you ’cause fomo is part of the deal. thanks, guys, it’s just good to let this out sometimes, you know? 😊 cheers to y’all having the patience to hear me ramble. but what’s your take? have you felt low-key sidelined by your crew, and how do you usually handle it? ✌️

My mental health has always been a shit show and it has caused me to be a bad person to the people around me sometimes. I've also always had a kind of bad/dysfunctional relationship with my parents.

3 years ago, I lost my support system presumably because of something I did. I say presumably because I still don't know what exactly caused it but it might have been a small decision I made that tipped off an amalgamation of grievances between everyone. My support system decided to drop me overnight and I never got closure. I reached out to them to see if this was something that could be talked about because I was confused about it but was met with bullying and ostracization. They said some pretty mean things about me that I fear are now coming true. They told me I would never be able to make real friends and that I would always have a hard time succeeding in life.

This happened closely before I moved to a completely new country where i knew no one and because I was processing my loss, i had a hard time forming connections with anyone else. I'm three years in at a new school and I have no close friends, i have friends that have made it clear to me that i am not part of the "inner circle" and I am borderline being stretched so thin just trying to pass classes. My advisor tells me i might have undiagnosed ADHD but I don't know if I can take another blow to my ego of having a mental illness that can't be rationalized and is just something i have. My relationship with my parents are still no better, if anything only worse due them growing more stubborn with age, and me growing into an adult.

Sometimes, I feel like i was the same person my support system said I would turn out to be and that there is nothing I can do to escape that fate. I've tried hard, out of spite but there's only so much spite can fuel before it starts burning me too.

What do you say when you don’t want to attend an invitation because the person invited you to their birthday party purely out of formality? They ignore me except for sending the invitation, hang out with the whole group without me, and I can sense they have an issue with me but don’t want to confront it. Instead, they make the situation worse by posting Instagram stories shading me. Honestly, I just want to cut this person off peacefully because I’ve tried to clear things up before, and they still keep acting shady toward me.

Hey! It's Caralia. So if you've read Caralia and Luna part 2, you have the full story. This is NOT a continuation of that story. Go check that out, anyways!

So, as we previously know, Jaylen was part of the same friend group as Willow (girl that bullied me). btw, Willow went back to the original friend group she was talking mess about. Jaylen was telling me what happened yesterday, and it went something like this.

Jaylen texted that she was kinda friends with a controversial person Ria in a group chat with Willow and friends > The entire group was shocked, but quiet about opinions. > The following day at lunchtime, Jaylen was talking to Willow and friends and said that she was cool with Ria, but not completely friends > Willow was overreacting, jumping around, and yelling all about Jaylen's a traitor, a liar, and completely judging Jaylen for having separate friends. > Jaylen tries to handle it respectfully

As Jaylen was telling me, many people in that group chat started avoiding Jaylen, and Jaylen is going to confront Willow. STAY UPDATED!!

Last thing, thanks for reading. If you don't want to write a comment, vote in poll.

Please excuse my grammar, english isn't my native language.

In a few months I will be graduating high-school and it's dawning on me that I'll have to say goodbye to all my friends when I move to college. The thing is, while I certainly consider them friends, I don't feel that close with them if that makes sense. I'm part of their circle but I feel like I'm always in the background, laughing at someone else's jokes, trying to fit in. I might even be forgotten about sometimes as I'm rarely invited to gatherings unless I'm already there. I'm well liked in my class, I have a reputation for being uncontrovertial, but I'm never the first person to get invited to hangouts or whatever plans they have. I know I'm atleast partially to blame, I'm shy and I get uncomfortable when sharing things about myself with other people, even things I enjoy. I don't find myself having much in common with the people around me in terms of interests either. As a result I struggle to start conversations or talk about anything other than academics. Looking back at my life now, it's always been this way. I become friends with whoever is physically nearby, then I become an afterthought when the school year ends. I really envy the bonds that other people people have with their friends.

i have a best friend. She's been my best friend for the longest time after all my friends stopped being friends with me around some year in middle school, if i'm not wrong.

i've felt her love all this years—as a friend, of course. i felt so close to her, almost as if we were siblings. i always felt comfortable around her and just did whatever i want because i felt like she accepted me however i was.

Thing is, after all this long, long years, where things have changed drastically and we're definitely not as close as we used to be....................... i think i like her.

That shouldn't be a problem. Friends tend to fall in love with their friends and that's how they end up marrying and having a family and blah blah blah. It's normal and it should be.

*Should* be, because it's not normal.

We're both girls. And that...... kind of terrifies me.

i have nothing against homosexuals. i love y'all people, would never see a bit of hate from me towards you or anyone else. It's just—

Yeah, i have a faith. And *this*?

This kind of f*cks up everything.

i've dealt with this feeling for *a while* now. Tried to suppress them, tried to understand them, tried to forget about it.......

Nothing works.

It just feels so wrong however i look at it.

i don't like her in a way i can imagine or daydream about us being in a relationship and having a future together—no, i just-- i just want her to be by my side. To be together. As just friends, or a bit something else, in some sense(?). That she does love me back. That it would be mutual. That, even if she has lots more of friends aside from me, at the end of the day she still comes back to hug me and tell me she loves me.

i have never talked to her about this because— first of all, i'm shy, even with her. i've changed and i don't feel as close as we were back then. Just saying all of this here is embarrassing enough, because it feels like admitting something huge and making it *real*—it's scary. i'm doing this only because i'm desperate to let it out and it's anonymous. And, second— HOW THE HELL DO I GO AND TELL HER "hey, i think i like you. Not sure tho but what'd you think"?!! i wouldn't go and say it that way, but in ANY way i say it, i feel like i'm going to ruin a friendship i've taken years on to build, after being left by many and become isolated.

Look, maybe i'm just overly attached to her because she's literally my only friend left (and i feel like this is going to break any time) or idk i'm going through a phase or something. Or maybe i just admire her or something and i'm mistaking it for romantic love??

But every time i look at her—bathed in sunshine, beneath moonlight; under blue skies or a sunset of hues. Even sweating overwhelmed by summer heat or soaked in cold winter rain. She just shines. She's beautiful. She's so damn pretty it hurts. Her smile is something i want for only me. i'm guilty of feeling a little possessive in that way. But especially in the way she speaks—her voice, her words, her gestures. How she feels and how she shows it; in the way she does mundane chores or a complex project of any kind, of anything she's interested in.

i just......... Feel short of words.

i feel so in love that it truly hurts—because i like her, so much, and she seems unreachable... And even if she was at my very reach... It feels incredibly wrong.

i'm scared of ever saying something even slightly related to my feelings to her, because anything and everything feels exposing, from what i do and what i don't.

i just feel so stupid......

Being in love is difficult, i hadn't been in forever... i hate it... But i also lover her so much it kind of numbs the hate... But then i hate to admit it... Damn it...

Also, do i have to actually put that question it tells me to put at the end...?

Have you ever just woke up and your mind is like i gave up on any kind of relationship like you just no longer wanna engage and just enjoying the solutide because all this things is just getting tired. Like you just wanna surrender and okay with being alone.

Im tired of actually putting so much effort to keep any kind of relationship and just ended up feeling everything is not reciprocate at the end. I’d rather let everything fall apart once i dont put any effort and hopefully it’ll open a new door for better things for myself.

Maybe how i show up authentically is actually by being with myself and building the relationship with myself.