Reddit Stories - Rescue MISSION_ BRINGING Home the Ghost of a NEGLECTED Father_

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #rescuemission #bringinghome #ghost #neglectedfather #familySummary:A heart-wrenching tale on Reddit unfolds where a son embarks on a rescue mission to bring home the ghost of his neglected father. The emotional journey sheds light on family bonds and the impact of neglect.Tags:redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, rescuemission, bringinghome, ghost, neglectedfather, family, emotionalstory, heartwarming, fatherhood, forgiveness, redemption, love, relationships, familydrama, heartache, movingstoryBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Allow my distant father to come live with me following a decade, with the intention of offering him a fresh start. However, it transpires that he was financially destitute and involved romantically with a woman of my generation. Told her and now he's suing me for ruining his life. I, 25F, recently allowed my estranged father to move in with me after his retirement, hoping to build a bond and it backfired really badly

and I am in a lot of confusion right now about what to do. It all started 10 years ago after my father abandoned me and left me to live with my aunt. I was 15 years old at the time and my mother had passed away from an aneurysm four years before that incident. My mother was my dad's second wife and he already had two children before that, slightly older than me. I never got along with my step-siblings and I don't have any contact with them now. In fact, any relationship that I had with them ended as soon as my dad dropped me off. at my aunt's house that day. I was never particularly close to my father, but we did have a decent relationship. I was actually always closer to my mother and my dad and I had a normal,

civil relationship while I used to live with him. My step-siblings would spend half the month with us and then they would move to their mother's house for the rest of the month. So I did not have to put up with them for long either. Things were really bad until my mother passed away and then, it started deteriorating. My dad became really weird after my mom passed away and started acting very differently. I was the only person who used to live with him on a permanent basis and my step-siblings would come and go. He started drinking, sleeping less, and skipping work and things were just overall bad. He also stopped speaking to me and would only talk to me if he needed something. Apart from that, we wouldn't talk to each other because both of us

were grieving in our own ways. That went on for a couple of years and when I was 15, one day, he told me that we were going to visit my aunt. My mom's older sister had never married and had no kids of her own. I had a good relationship with her and I often visited her, but never with my father, so I knew that there was something strange going on that day, but I did not want to fight with him, so I went along with it. He drove me to my aunt's place, but when it was time to get out of the car and go in, he told me that he was going to get some to eat and told me to go ahead and he would come by later after he had something. I tried to tell him to come along with me and I was sure that there would be something to eat at my aunt's place, but he that he wanted to get

a drink before he went in, since this was going to be difficult for him, and so I did not argue with him much, I just went in on my own. I was inside, my aunt said that she knew that this was going to be difficult for me to accept since Dad couldn't do this anymore. I had no idea what she was talking about and when I asked her to elaborate, she was the one who finally told me that this was going to be a permanent thing now. She told me that apparently, my dad had discussed things with her and had told her that he did not think he would be able to carry on as a father anymore, and he believed that it would be for the best if I moved in with her and lived with my aunt instead. His older kids had already left for college and I was the only one left behind, and I would

leave in a couple of years for college, so he wanted me to have a good home and decent environment to grow up in until then. With him, I would always be miserable and he wanted me to have the best of everything, so he was leaving me to be with my aunt. When my aunt told me all of this, I was really shocked because he had not said a word of this to me, and I had no idea that this was going to happen.

Judging by my expressions, my aunt also realized that I did not know about this, and she told me that she had been given straight instructions by my father not to speak about this to me until he had dropped me off and now, she finally understood why. She then hugged me and told me that everything would be fine and, I'm really thankful for that, because she really made sure that it was. She stepped up as both my parents and really took care of me, something that I will always be grateful for. A couple of days

after that, my father came by to drop all my belongings off at my aunt's house, but like before, he did not step foot into the house, and neither did he try to talk to me. By then, I had accepted what was going on and I did not try to talk to him. I don't think we had anything left to say to each other at that point. For years had passed since my mother passed away and we had pretty much stopped speaking to each other and this change was just making things more permanent. After he had completed the legal formalities with my aunt, with regard to my custody, he was gone from our lives permanently. I did not hear from him again, and I honestly had no idea what he had been up to because he cut ties with all of his family as well. Not even my grandparents, his parents, had any idea

where he was or what he was up to. My step-siblings knew about it, presumably, but they never told us anything and I never asked. It was like he disappeared. It has been ten years since that happened and life has been good to me after that. As I had mentioned above, my aunt stepped up and took the place of both my parents. She was my mother and my father and she provided for me in every way possible. Thankfully, all my grandparents had a college fund for me so my education was not a problem and I was able to go to college and finish my degree. After I graduated, I got a job and currently, I am living my best life. I'm a software developer, I make a comfortable living and I live nicely. Things have been good for me and I'm grateful for that. But two weeks ago, my father got

back in touch with me and it was the most unexpected thing that ever happened to me. He got through to me via email, since that was the only public way to contact him, and wrote to me, saying that he had something very important to talk to me about, and sent me his number so I could contact him if I wanted to get in touch with him. I thought about it for one whole day and in the end, I decided to just bite the bullet and make the call. I did not discuss it with my aunt or my grandparents before doing it because I wanted this to be my own decision and I did not want them to influence it. I don't know if that was the right thing to do or not, but it's already done so I can't help

it. Anyway, when I called that number, my father picked up the phone almost instantly and he actually sounded really happy to talk to me. But I was not that happy. I had no idea how to feel about any of it and I had mixed emotions I heard his voice for the first time and then he was. He apologized to me for everything that he had put me through and told me that he had failed at being a good father and he knew it. I could tell he was emotional and so was I, but right now, I don't know if he was acting or if he was genuinely feeling sorry about what he did. But at that moment, it seemed pretty, and I kind of fell for it. He told me that he had spent every single day of the last ten years,

thinking about how he had done me so wrong and wanted to make up for it, but he hadn't known how, since he did not think there was anything in this world that he could do to compensate for what he had done. He told me that he should have been a better father, especially after I had just lost my mother. but he was so consumed by the grief of losing his wife that he completely forgot about my feelings, and he knew that he had failed to give me the kind of environment that I needed to heal. And apparently, now the universe was punishing him for everything that he had done in the past. Or rather, what he had failed to do in the past.

These were his words, and I found it really confusing. So when I asked him what was going on, he told me that he had retired and now, he was completely on his own. on the phone call, he told me that now that he had retired, he needed a place to stay. He told me that he had sold the house that we used to live in a couple of years ago and decided to travel. But now that he was almost 60, he was not interested in that kind of life anymore and wanted to have some stability again. He told me that he just needed a couple of weeks to find a place and until then, he wanted to request that I let him live within my house instead. I was a little confused because we had not been in touch for 10 years and he could have

just as easily asked one of his other kids to help him out here. So I asked him if my step-siblings were not willing to let him move in with them and sadly, he told me that they had families of their own now and they did not want to let him stay with them because apparently, that would be too disturbing for them and so, I was his last resort. He told me that he would be fine with it if I also declined, but he just wanted to give it a chance because he also wanted to make up for the past and give us a real shot at having a good relationship. Since he was also getting older, wanted to make things right before he passed away. It was emotionally charged. I couldn't say no. So I told him that I was okay with it and he could live with me until he found a place for himself.

He was really happy when I agreed and he told me that I would not regret it because he would make sure that he made me realize exactly how important I had always been to him. I wanted to have a real relationship with him, and I may be foolish, but that's who I am as a person. So I agreed to let him stay with me until he could find a place of his own. I gave him my address and within two days, he showed up at my house. However, to my surprise, he did not show up alone. While we had been talking on the phone, he had never mentioned a single thing about bringing along another person. But when he showed up at my place, there was a young woman around my age with him. And I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out who that was because I had never seen that person before.

For a second, I was scared that it might be another daughter, and that would mean that he had been cheating on my mom since the woman could not have been older than 30. But then, I got an even bigger shock and he told me that the woman that he had shown up at my house with was actually his girlfriend. I did not say anything at the time. I just welcomed them in and decided to talk to him about it later in person because I did not want to make her feel awkward. She seemed like a nice person and even greeted me very sweetly and everything. So I decided to talk to my dad about that in private, without embarrassing her. After they had settled in, a couple of hours later,

I decided to ask my dad if I could speak to him in private because his girlfriend was taking a nap and he was awake so she would not be disturbed. When we were finally away from his girlfriend, I asked him what was going on. And then, he started telling me the full story. He told me that he had actually lost a lot of money recently since he had tried to start a new business a couple of years ago, but unfortunately, that business had not done well and so, he had to return all the money that had invested and had left him. So he had to sell the house because of that, not because he was traveling like he had

initially told me. And he sold the house just a couple of months ago. not a bunch of years ago, like he had said. He told me that he had to lie about it because otherwise, I never would have let him move in with me and he was right. I never would have done that. He told me that he just wanted to talk to me and make things right with me. That was his intention, but he also really needed my help,

and his other kids had turned their back on him in his times of trouble, so I was his only option. I felt kind of bad that he had lied to me and I had half a mind to kick him out, but his condition was so pitiful that I couldn't bring myself to kick him. him out. He was actually on the verge of tears while he was narrating his story to me and told me that he had believed that he could turn his life around by starting a new business, but he had forgotten that he was an aged man, and there was no chance that it would work. It was a bunch of emotional baloney to manipulate me, and I'm a gullible fool, so it worked. I tend to go with what my

heart says instead of what my brain believes and that's my big mistake. After I found out the truth from him, I decided to tell him that he could no longer live with me and that he had to leave on an immediate basis because I was really pissed off that he had lied to me. But then he literally started pleading with me and told me that none of his other kids were speaking to him, and he did not have any friends that he could count on, so I was literally his only option. And if I kicked him out, he would have nowhere else to go. I tried to argue with him, but he started crying and he is pretty old. It heard me to watch him cry, so I told him that he could stay with me, but he would have to start

looking for a new place and I was not going to allow this to go on indefinitely. In a couple of months, he would have to move out and I would make sure of it. So I did give him a deadline and then, that discussion was over. They have been living with me since then, and it has been normal. They have not tried to do anything and I was fine with this arrangement because I knew that my dad was going to leave in a couple of months anyway. I have minimized the amount of interaction that I have with him, but his girlfriend does not know anything about it, so I try to be nice to her because she is always nice to me.

She seems to be a pleasant person who knows about what's going on behind the scenes and I kind of pity her, and I wanted to tell her everything that's going on, but then I thought that it was not my place to say anything, so I refrained from doing any of that. Anyway, three days ago, I came back home early from work since I was feeling kind of under the weather, and my dad was not at home at the time. I knew that because when I pulled up, I did not see my dad's car parked, and I knew that he was not around. I was inside my house, I could hear something going on in my room and I found it really confusing because while I was away, I thought it was common sense that nobody was supposed to go into my bedroom. When I went in,

I saw that my dad's girlfriend was sitting with her back to me and going through my closet. I could tell that she was searching for something and she had headphones on, so she probably did not see me coming. So I walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder and then she turned around. She seemed really surprised to see me and bolted away from the closet like it was on fire. When I asked her what was going on, she told me that she was just looking for some clothes because hers were all dirty right now. First of all, that was an obvious lie because I knew for a fact that she had brought enough clothes along with her, and only a couple of them were in the laundry right now. Secondly, even if she did need clothes, it would be quite foolish to look for clothes in

my closet since I was much bigger than her and they would not fit her properly. So once again, I asked her what was going on, and I kept pushing until she finally told me the truth. She confessed to me that my dad had put her up to this, and I told her to start looking for any documents related to the house, he would need it. When I asked her if he had many, anything about why, she told me that he hadn't said anything about it but right now, he was with a lawyer and that's all that she knew. It was quite easy for me to put two and two together, he was probably planning to do something with the deed and screw me out of the house, or something like that. Because otherwise, he had no reason to be looking for house-related

documents and then speaking to a lawyer. I was really pissed off, so I decided to do what I had been planning to do anyway, and I told my dad's girlfriend the truth about him and mentioned how he had nothing and nobody anymore, which is why he was still with me, and even I was going to kick him out. Now that I had found out the truth that he was planning to screw me out of having the house. I did not know how he was planning on doing that, but I was sure that it was something shady and illegal. I was not going to let that fly, so I told her the truth and she was scandalized. She immediately packed her things up, said, thanks to me, and then left the house. A couple of hours later, I was still seething when my dad came back home.

I let him look for his girlfriend all over the house and then, when he finally came to me to ask about what happened, I told him that I had found her searching through my closet and he got really nervous. He told me that he had not asked her to do that, but I was not going to believe a word of what he had said. I told him that I had told the truth about whatever he had said to me, assuming that she hadn't already known, and I was. She had known nothing about him, and when she found out, she left immediately. So now, he was not only out of a girlfriend, but he was also out of a place to live because I was kicking him out. He started howling like a banshee the second that I told him that his girlfriend was gone and told me that I had no right to do that to him

because that was not my place to say anything. He told me that he was going to tell his girlfriend anyway, in a couple of days, but it had to come from him, so it would be honest at the very least. He told me that he was looking for business opportunities and that's why he had gone out, not to plan anything shady with his lawyer, and he said that it was insulting that I would even think of it that way and that he had not told his girlfriend to look for the deed, and it must have been a misunderstanding. But I did not believe that not even one bit, since his girlfriend had no reason to lie to me, and I knew that he was lying. So we got into a huge fight and it ended with him walking out of the house and telling me that I would pay for this because I had ruined

the only relationship in his life that meant something to him. For the past three days, I have been thinking about it, and now, I feel kind of guilty about what happened. Because just in case he was telling the truth, I ruined his life for no reason. I know that he has had his fair share of mistakes and he has not treated me correctly in the past, but that does not mean that I have to stoop down to his level and behaved the same way that he did. I don't know, I just feel really lost right now. I have mixed emotions about all of this and I just really want to know if what I did was actually messed up or was the right thing to do. I'd offer telling my father's girlfriend the truth about him and driving her away from him. Update 1. Hello, first of all, thank you guys so

much for responding to my post and all the kind words that people had to say. I would also like to acknowledge the comments that called me stupid and stuff. I agree with you guys, it was a huge mistake on my part. I shall not have thought that my father would change and I definitely shouldn't have given him a second chance, even after I found out that he had been lying to me the entire time. I should have realized that he was a slimy and terrible human being and cut ties with him the second that I found out what he was like. In fact, I never should have allowed him to come back into my life in the first place. He did me a huge favor by cutting me out of his life all those years ago, and I should have stuck to it. But I really am a soft person at heart and I can't

bring myself to treat people the same way that they have treated me and I don't know, I guess you could say that it's my one weakness. I did mention that I was kind of gullible when it came to people who were valuable in my life at some point, and he happened to be one of them. But I have learned my lesson now and I'm not going to let this happen again. So thank you. guys, for opening my eyes to see the truth. Anyway, I already blocked my father the day that he left the house and since then, he did not try to get back in touch with me. Not until I made that post, anyway. Three days had gone without any contact and I forgot that after that, he would not try to get back in touch with me again. But I was wrong. Now, almost a week has passed

since he left, and he just sent me a legal notice. Apparently, he is suing me for defamation, and his grounds are that apparently, I spoke to his business associates earlier, while his business was still trying to take off, and told them that he had abandoned me and that's why he did not succeed in his business venture. Since his associates and investors started abandoning him and backing out one by one because of what I had said. And now I had done the same thing with his girlfriend, and he wanted to sue me for that. It was hilarious that he was even trying to do this because it was not true and everybody knows it. I don't even know how he managed to convince his lawyer to file such a dumb

case. It's going to be thrown out of court when I am able to prove, quite easily, that I never had any contact with any of his business associates because I never even knew these people. I still don't know these people because I have had no contact with them for the past 10 years, and it will be very easy for me to prove that. In fact, even if you ask his business associates, they will probably testify against him, and he was going to lose his. this. So I'm not worried about what was going to happen, but I just feel annoyed that he's even trying to do this. He can just let this go and treat this incident like it never happened, but I guess he likes creating drama out of nothing and then pretending to be the victim.

That's his go-to move, I'm guessing. Anyway, I have already responded to that with my lawyer, and if he wins this case, he gets the amount of money, but if he loses, he has to pay me twice the amount. Because I'm suing him back for causing me emotional distress and unlike him, at least I can prove it. As a child, he literally straight up abandoned me and I can prove it because I know that my aunt will always stand up for me, no matter what. I know that for a fact, so I have more people on my side than he will ever have. Update 2, so it has been one week in three days since my last update and guess what, my father has decided to retract his lawsuit against me because he probably realized that he was never going to win this, and if he lost,

he was going to have to pay me twice the amount that he has been demanding from me. So it was probably in his best interest to back out and save face while he still had a chance to do so. We have not had any conversations directly, but I know that he is still trying to make me feel bad and try to scare me, since I keep getting messages from fake profiles on social media, and they are really nasty. They have a lot of mean things to say about me and I know for a fact that it's probably my father since I don't think anybody else would stoop to this level and try to go out of their way to harass me online. I have thought about responding to one of his messages and telling him that if he doesn't stop this soon, he might also have a lawsuit on his hands for this.

I have also retracted my lawsuit for emotional distress since I don't want to get into that and cause myself so much trouble since emotional distress is very vague grounds, and I don't know if the court will even entertain that, so I don't even need to do anything because I don't need the money and I was just doing it as a way to get back at him. But if he doesn't stop sending me these messages, I might actually file a lawsuit against him or at least a restraining order. I think I might go with the latter since that's going to take less time and honestly, save me a lot of trouble. I don't think it will take me much to prove that those messages have been sent to me by my father. Update 3, hi, so almost a month has passed since my last

update and just to tell you guys, I now have a restraining order against my father. He made the job much easier for me because a couple of days after that update, I was just chilling at home on the weekend and he showed up, really late at night, and caused a scene in front of my house. He legitimately threw a wine bottle at my door and it shattered, which woke up all my neighbors and there was a whole thing about it. We had to call the cops and have him arrested and luckily, he was let off with just a slap on the wrist, but after that, I decided that I was not going to this BS and I decided to file for a restraining order against him. And of course, after what he had done, I was able to get that against him quite easily.

So now, I don't think he'll be showing up at my place anymore and even if he does, he's going to have to pay the price for it.