rSlash - r/Bestof You Probably Shouldn't Click This Video

Episode Date: October 15, 2026

0:00 Intro 0:12 Abandoned 5:15 Brother sister Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Today's episode is sponsored by Shopify. You know that idea you've had sitting in the back of your mind, that passion project you've always wanted to put out into the world. The hardest part is usually just taking that first step, especially with the holiday rush right around the corner. But getting your business off the ground doesn't have to be a massive headache, whether you're setting up a storefront for the first time or looking to streamline your operations.
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Starting point is 00:00:51 of shoppers are already online, browsing, and ready to buy, giving you an immediate edge on all that extra holiday traffic. If you're ready to finally launch your business before Black Friday, go to Shopify.com to start your free trial. That's Shopify.com. Go to Shopify.com today to hear your first... Welcome to R-slash Best of Redator updates, where we have one of those horrible, awful, unforgettable stories that makes you wish the internet didn't exist. Our next Reddit post is from R-slash relationships. Our parents divorced five years ago, and after that, we were basically passed around between them, as neither of them were keen to have us around, especially since they both remarried soon and had
Starting point is 00:01:33 their new families and new stepkids to worry about. When I became 18 and my sister was eight, my parents told me that I need to take care of her by myself now. In reality, I had always taken care of her since they never spent time with her. It was clear that they didn't want to be involved anymore. They transferred her full custody to me and gave us money every month so we wouldn't bother them. So that's how it's been for the past three years. I live with my sister, and I'm doing my best to make sure that she is a stable home, gets enough attention, feels loved, and is growing up well and has everything she needs. Unlike my parents, I don't see her as a burden, and I really love her and want the best for her. In these past three years, our parents haven't made any real efforts to even bother checking up on her. The plan was that I collect checks from them every month, but that's the end of their involvement in our lives.
Starting point is 00:02:26 In the first few months, I used to take her with me when I collected the checks, but they were both so indifferent and unfriendly towards us that it always made her sad. The last time I took her with me, it was right before her birthday, and I was planning a small party for her with her friends, and she was very excited. She asked our mom to come, and received a no answer. Our mom didn't even bother getting her a gift. She only wrote an extra $100 on the check and told me to get her a gift on her behalf. My sister started crying as soon as we left. The next day, the same thing happened when we went to my father's place. And he didn't even say that. He just declined to come. I was angry at them, and that was the last time my sister came to see them.
Starting point is 00:03:13 That was the last time she saw them. They never come around to see her. I only see them when I go to get the checks, and they don't even invite me in anymore. They have it ready when I arrive, and they just hand it over and say goodbye. My sister has been dealing with abandonment issues as a result. She rightly feels that our parents traded her for their new partners and kids, and she's afraid that the same thing might happen to her with me, that I might go off with some other people and leave her alone. I always reassure her that this will never happen, and I'm always there for her, that we'll live together until she completely grows up, and I'm going to take care of her, but I don't think this is completely taken away her fears.
Starting point is 00:03:56 What should I do now to help her? I want her to feel safe and loved and stable without any fear of losing me. Then, 17 days later, O.P. posted an update. So besides reassuring her verbally, continuously, making sure we do a lot of things together and being a good brother, I needed to get her into therapy and found the right therapist for her. She's a psychologist, who specializes in children's issues after divorce. The only problem was money. I called both my parents and told them I need to talk to them separately, and told them that we need more money as she needs to get therapy.
Starting point is 00:04:29 And I want to do nice things for her, and that's the least they owe us after everything. They were hesitant, but eventually agreed. I'm now getting $500 more each month from my mother, and $750 more from my father, and that's a real help. When we have extra money from what my parents give us, I put it in a college fund for her, and this extra money means that not only can she see a great therapist, but now I can save more for her. I also talk to a lawyer, as a lot of you suggested, to make sure we're getting the right amount of money,
Starting point is 00:04:59 and it seems that we are. Of course, we could go on and get them to court and make everything happen through the legal system, but that has the risk of them choosing to end my guardianship and get my sister back, which is not the right thing for her. She's much safer, better off here than in their hands. Obviously, the option is on the table if they decide to stop paying or reduce the amount. And a couple of you suggested we do something symbolic, which I liked a lot. So I bought two matching necklaces and had them engrave our names on them and told my sister that we're going to wear these to remind ourselves that each of us will always be there for the other, and we can count on each other. We've already been to two sessions of therapy, and I think things are good.
Starting point is 00:05:41 The necklace has worked, and she doesn't even want to take it off when she takes a shower. The thing that always trips me out in these stories isn't the parents, right? There's like tons of stories of bad parents. Obviously, these are really awful parents. They don't deserve to have kids. But who are these partners with kids who see Opie's parents and are like, oh, yeah, I want to marry this person? Oh, so you mean you have two kids and you completely abandon them and want to have no relationship with them and just don't love them or have any, any, like you don't even, talk to them at all? Oh, okay, I would love to invite you into my house and be a stepmother
Starting point is 00:06:16 slash stepfather to my kids. Sounds perfect. What a great parental figure you are. Our next Reddit post comes from R slash what do I do. I don't know where else to post this. And honestly, I don't even know how to write this properly. I just need some advice because I can't stop thinking about what happened. I'm a 17-year-old guy. I have an older sister who's 18 and an older brother who's 20. My brother is at university, and my sister started university this year. We live in France. This happened on Saturday. I came home from my friend's house around the afternoon. I left my stuff on the couch and went outside to sit in the garden for a few minutes because the weather was nice. When I came back inside, I could hear my brother and sister talking loudly upstairs. At first, I didn't
Starting point is 00:06:59 really care. They argue sometimes like any siblings do, so I just thought, whatever, they'll sort it out themselves. But maybe five minutes later, it got much louder. They were properly shouting at each other. I could hear it from the garden, and eventually I went upstairs because it sounded like something was seriously wrong. Shouting was coming from my sister's bedroom. When I got there, my sister was crying. My brother was shirtless and standing really close to her. There were things knocked over in the room, and some stuff was broken or on the floor. My sister had what looked like injured. around her nose and on her hands. I honestly froze for a second because my first thought was that my brother had hurt her. I told him to get away from her. He got angry at me and said it was none of my
Starting point is 00:07:47 business. Then he pushed me pretty hard. I don't know if he was trying to actually hurt me or just get me out of the way, but I remember being really shocked because I'd never seen him like that before. My sister came between us and told me to go outside, so I did. I stayed outside for maybe 10 minutes. My sister came to my room and she was still crying. Not screaming or anything, just really quiet crying. She had injuries that I could see, so I asked her what happened and if my brother had hurt her. She just said they had a fight and that it was nothing I needed to worry about. I gave her a first aid box and helped her clean up the injuries.
Starting point is 00:08:24 I honestly didn't know what else to do. I was kind of shaking myself. Before she left my room, she asked me not to tell mom and dad. She made me promise. A few hours later, my brother spoke to me too, basically the same thing. He told me to stay out of it, that it was between him and her, and that I had no idea what was going on. And this is where I'm stuck, because I know I didn't see what happened before I walked into the room. I don't know what the argument was about, but what I saw didn't feel like a normal sibling argument.
Starting point is 00:08:57 I keep replaying it in my head, especially my sister crying and the way she looked when I walked in. There was something about the whole situation that felt very wrong. And honestly, one of the thoughts I've had is that maybe something sexual happened and she was assaulted. I don't know that. I want to be very clear about that because I don't want to accuse my brother of something based on me guessing. I didn't actually witness anything sexual. It's just something that crossed my mind because of the circumstances. And now I can't get it out of my head.
Starting point is 00:09:28 It's been three days now. My brother barely talks to me. He's been really cold since. My sister also doesn't seem like herself. I've been checking on her, asking if she needs anything, sitting with her sometimes. But I don't know if I'm actually helping. The hardest part is that she specifically told me not to tell mom and dad. I understand why she might not want me to.
Starting point is 00:09:50 Maybe she's scared, embarrassed, angry, or maybe there's something else going on that I don't know about. Maybe she doesn't even want anyone involved. But I'm also thinking, what if something really serious happens? and I keep quiet because I promised her. I'm 17. I'm not some adult who knows exactly what to do in these situations. I don't know French laws or what you're supposed to do here. I don't know whether I should tell my parents, talk to my sister again, contact the police, or contact some kind of service for advice first. And I feel horrible even writing this because I don't want to betray my sister. She's my sister and I love her. I just don't want to wake up one day and
Starting point is 00:10:28 realize I knew something was wrong and did nothing. Our family is financially comfortable, and we have a pretty normal life from the outside, so it's not like there's some history of violence in our house or anything like that. That's partly why this has messed with my head so much. I've never seen either of them like this before. I just want to make sure my sister is safe. Then, two days later, O.P. posted an update. I decided to talk to my sister one more time before telling mom and dad.
Starting point is 00:10:56 Honestly, I think I needed to do that for myself, too. I kept wondering if Saturday was actually what it looked like, or if I had walked in at the worst possible moment and was filling in the blanks myself. So yesterday, I texted my sister and asked if she wanted to get some ice cream or dinner. I told her I was paying. A few minutes later, I called her and told her I was already outside and asked her to come down. At first she said she couldn't because she was busy and dinner was almost ready. I pushed a little and told her that after everything that happened Saturday, maybe it would be good for us to just get out for a while and chill. She came down a few minutes later. I deliberately didn't start talking about what happened. I took her somewhere away
Starting point is 00:11:36 from home where nobody would be around listening to us. We got ice cream and just talked about random stuff. Movies, football, stupid things we normally talk about. I wanted things to feel normal first. She was still nervous, though. I could see it. Eventually, when she seemed a little more comfortable, I told her why I'd actually asked her to come. I told her that whatever happened, I wasn't going to judge her. I wasn't going to yell at her or force her to tell me anything she wasn't ready to say. I told her she was safe with me and that I wasn't going to go around telling everyone. Damn, okay, hold on, I gotta stop here.
Starting point is 00:12:11 O.P. said, what do he say? He said like, I'm 17. I'm not some adult who doesn't know what to do. But so far he's handling this pretty much perfectly. I hope he continues to handle this perfectly. but man, I am super proud of O.P. for what he's doing here. She got angry at me at first. Then she just went quiet. She was extremely nervous, and I could tell she was struggling to breathe normally. I honestly didn't know whether I should keep asking questions or just stop. Eventually, she started talking,
Starting point is 00:12:41 and what she told me was much worse than I expected. She told me that what I saw on Saturday wasn't the first time. Apparently, my brother has been sexually assaulting her for around three years. She told me she has never consented to doing the deed with him, not once. Apparently, he says he's in love with her and has wanted some kind of relationship with her for a long time, but she never wanted that. According to her, he would emotionally manipulate her and use her feelings against her to get what he wanted. She also said that his mental health hasn't been good for a while, which apparently made her feel even more responsible for him. I was honestly just sitting there listening to her, trying to process it. She said that Saturday,
Starting point is 00:13:27 my brother hit her first. She hit him back because she was trying to defend herself. Then he slapped her multiple times and choked her. Things just kept escalating until I heard them and came upstairs. Then she explained what started the argument that day. She had plans to go out with some friends. brother found out and didn't want her to go. They started arguing and apparently he was also demanding more money from her. She refused to give him any more and the argument became physical. They apparently thought nobody else was home. They had no idea I was downstairs. I honestly didn't know what to say. Then she told me there was even more going on behind all this. Apparently my brother has been gambling and lost a huge amount of money. She said that she's known about it for the last few months.
Starting point is 00:14:16 and has been helping him cover the losses using her own savings because she was terrified mom and dad would find out. She told me she's already sold one or two of her designer bags and some other things just to help him pay it back. Apparently, they fought about his gambling multiple times, but she kept trying to help him because she wanted him to get better. She's been covering for him and using her own money because she thought she could somehow get him through all this without our parents finding out. And honestly, this is where I don't even know what to think anymore. Three years of sexual abuse, physical violence, gambling, money, whatever is happening with his mental health, it's just so much. She started crying, and at that point, I didn't care about getting every single detail.
Starting point is 00:15:00 I just wanted her to know that she wasn't alone. We stayed out for a while, had dinner, talked about some normal things again, and eventually came home. I'm glad I talked to her because at least I know I wasn't imagining what I saw. What happened Saturday was real. She was assaulted and apparently this has been going on for years. And honestly, I'm scared of my brother. I don't want to confront him. I don't want to fight.
Starting point is 00:15:25 I don't want to play hero and end up making things worse for my sister or myself. Part of me is so angry that I want to hit him for what he did to her. But realistically, that won't fix anything. It could just create another problem and make everything else more dangerous. I think mom and dad need to know. They're good parents. They're kind and loving, and our family dynamic is generally good. They're both working and high earners.
Starting point is 00:15:50 Financially, we're completely fine, so money isn't really an issue in our family. They are strict, though, especially when it comes to certain things. That's one of the reasons I'm scared about all of this. If I mess something up, I know I'll have a lot to lose too. But I also know they love my sister, and I don't think they would want any of this to continue if they knew what was happening. I don't think I can carry this by myself anymore. Ideally, I want my sister to tell them herself. I want to sit beside her when she does it and support her.
Starting point is 00:16:20 I'll tell them exactly what I saw and exactly what she told me. Nothing more, nothing less. But if she refuses to tell them, I think I'm going to have to do it myself. And that's the part that scares me the most, because I don't know what my brother will do when he finds out. I don't know whether he'll be angry at me, deny everything, blame my sister, blame me, or whether there's still something else going on that I don't know about. Then OP posted an update. Yeah, my sister and I finally told our parents.
Starting point is 00:16:51 Actually, we first told our mom. We pulled her aside at home when my dad and brother weren't there. I was honestly terrified about what would happen next. My sister was the one who told her everything, including things she had never told me before. Basically, my brother had developed feelings for her. He was jealous of her friends and became possessive. At first, she thought that he was just being himself, but eventually he started confessing his feelings to her.
Starting point is 00:17:17 She didn't want to tell our parents because she was afraid they would cut him off from the family. She said she'd been trying to handle everything alone for around three years. Then she told my mom that the first time he sexually assaulted her was three years ago, and that it had continued since then. There was a lot more to what she told us, and honestly, some of it was extremely difficult to hear. She had tried to tell our parents before, but he threatened to kill her and then kill himself if she told anyone. She said she kept trying to help him because she believed he needed professional help, but he seemed to expect emotional and physical affection from her in return.
Starting point is 00:17:55 I don't want to describe everything she told us, but some of it was genuinely horrifying. My sister showed my mom the messages, her injuries, and photographs documenting what had happened. I didn't want to look at those pictures. I only helped take a picture of her back when she needed it documented. My mom became very cold and angry. She comforted my sister and told her she was safe. Then she called my dad and told him everything. My dad was furious.
Starting point is 00:18:24 That day, my sister and I were sent to another home, and my parents confronted my brother that night. I wasn't there, so I don't know exactly what happened. My sister later told me that my dad slapped him several times and that my brother cried a lot. Apparently, he kept saying that he never harmed my sister, that he loved her, and that he was scared she would leave him one day because they had been close since childhood.
Starting point is 00:18:48 I honestly don't know what to make of that. I haven't seen my brother since that night, and neither has my sister. He's currently staying at our farmhouse with nurses and is being kept away from us. So mom took my sister for a medical checkup and arranged therapy for her. I don't know what happened during those appointments or what they discussed, and I don't want to pressure her to tell me. One thing I forgot to mention is that my sister had planned to go to the USA for university.
Starting point is 00:19:13 She wanted to get away from everything. But my brother eventually ruined that plan. When he found out that she was going to leave, he started using drugs and gambling. He was apparently struggling mentally and physically for months, and everything became even more complicated. So right now, my sister and I are at home. My brother is in another home under medical care.
Starting point is 00:19:35 I don't think my parents are planning to involve the police, at least not from what I know. They're keeping him away from us and focusing on taking care of my sister. I've also been a little removed from everything because of school. My sister didn't want to tell me everything before, and I think she was trying to protect me from some of it. She's been dealing with some fever and illness too, and she still isn't doing well. My mom is trying to be there for both of us, but my dad has been doing a lot of the practical things, and my mom is helping too. I don't really know what happens next. I'm just relieved that my sister finally told someone
Starting point is 00:20:09 and that she's not dealing with this alone anymore. Man, this story is almost like the evil twin-slash-good twin trope on like TV where one brother is born pure evil and the other is born pure good. I know they're not twins. I know their brothers separated by like three or four years here. But O.P. is a truly kind and caring brother. and the older brother is actual scum of the earth. Like, chain his feet to a cinder block and toss him into the ocean.
Starting point is 00:20:38 That was our slash best of Redditor updates. And if you like this content, be sure to follow my podcast because I put out new Reddit podcast episodes every single day.

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