Failure to Launch
Being around her became very draining. She was my best friend since kindergarten.
She was never able to talk about anyone but herself, and eventually, the only jokes she’d make were severely self-depreciating (about her weight, her depression, all her flaws – serious things that I could not laugh about and brought the mood down every time).
She had social anxiety so we were never able to go out and make new experiences together, and while I tried so, so hard for so many years to keep her actively included in group activities, she just did not cooperate – but complained when I didn’t do it.
All of our conversations ended up “remember when we did this?”, half-laughing at stale, decade-old in-jokes, and playing single-player video games that she wouldn’t share; I was supposed to think watching is just as fun (it worked like this our whole lives. We’re 20 now.).
Her goal is to never leave her parents’ house and be on welfare the rest of her life (they enable this). I basically ghosted when we graduated high school. I feel terrible, but I felt worse when I had to look after her. Story credit: Reddit / Lost-Paperclip