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I Cut Off My Entire Family After What My Brother Did… Here's Why | Reddit Unheard Stories
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Jul 16, 2025
#redditrelationship #aita #redditstories I Cut Off My Entire Family After What My Brother Did… Here's Why | Reddit Unheard Stories For years, I cleaned up after my younger brother Jake—the golden child who could do no wrong. While I followed every rule and held our family together, Jake floated through life shielded by our parents' favoritism. But when he stole my restored 1970 Chevy Impala, crashed it while drunk, and became paralyzed… everything changed. This isn’t just a story about a car. It’s a story about toxic family dynamics, favoritism, emotional manipulation, and the moment I decided to walk away from it all. In this raw and emotional video, I share how I lost everything—my car, my savings, my peace—and ultimately found the courage to save myself. 💔 Betrayed by blood. 🚗 A car that meant everything. 🔥 A choice that changed my life forever. Watch until the end. You won’t believe how this story turns out. #FamilyDrama #ToxicFamily #GoldenChild #Storytime 🎥 Subscribe for more real-life stories that hit hard. 💬 Share your thoughts in the comments—have you ever been the scapegoat in your family?
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0:00
Have you ever had that one family
0:01
member, the golden child, the one who
0:05
floats through life, leaving a trail of
0:07
chaos in their wake, yet always landing
0:09
on their feet because everyone else
0:11
rushes in to clean up their mess? Yeah,
0:14
that's my younger brother, Jake. And for
0:17
my entire life, I've been the one
0:19
holding the mop. But the day he stole my
0:22
soul, my prized possession, and nearly
0:24
ended his own life, was the day I
0:27
finally said, "No more." This isn't just
0:31
a story about a car. This is about a
0:33
lifelong battle against favoritism, the
0:35
crippling weight of misplaced
0:37
responsibility, and the painful
0:39
necessary act of cutting ties to save
0:41
yourself. Get ready, because my family
0:44
saga is about to take a turn you won't
0:46
believe. I was spending the night at my
0:48
best friend's house, a rare moment of
0:50
peace, when my phone rang. It was my
0:52
parents. Their voices were laced with
0:55
panic, telling me my younger brother
0:57
Jake was in the hospital with
0:58
life-threatening injuries.
1:01
After some back and forth, piecing
1:02
together their frantic whispers, the
1:04
horrifying truth clicked into place. He
1:07
was in the hospital because he had
1:09
stolen my restored 1970 Chevy Impala
1:11
while drunk and crashed it. My blood ran
1:14
cold. I was beyond mad, furious, both at
1:18
Jake for doing something so incredibly
1:20
stupid, and at my parents for yet again
1:23
failing to put any boundaries on him.
1:26
This was the inevitable conclusion of
1:27
years of unchecked behavior. I hung up,
1:31
told my best friend what had happened,
1:32
and took off for the hospital. Upon
1:34
arrival, I saw a sight more grim than I
1:37
could have imagined. I hurried to the
1:39
desk, my voice tight with urgency.
1:42
Where's Jake? The nurse directed me to
1:45
the waiting room, a sterile,
1:47
anxiety-ridden space where I found all
1:49
of our family. My mom rushed to me,
1:52
pulling me into a desperate hug. "Mom,
1:55
what exactly happened?" I asked, my mind
1:58
still struggling to process the enormity
2:00
of it all. She took a deep, shuddering
2:02
breath covering her mouth, her eyes red-
2:05
rimmed. It looked like she had been
2:07
crying for hours before I even arrived.
2:10
"He was speeding," she whispered. and he
2:13
hit a tree. How is he doing? The
2:16
question felt insignificant against the
2:18
backdrop of her visible grief, but I had
2:20
to ask. She took another shaky breath.
2:24
He has spinal injuries. If he makes it
2:27
out of the emergency surgery alive,
2:29
they're not sure if he'll be able to
2:30
walk or move anything below his
2:32
shoulders. He would he would literally
2:35
be paralyzed. I sat there, the news
2:38
washing over me, a chilling wave of
2:40
despair.
2:42
I couldn't even wrap my head around what
2:43
I had just heard. I was trying to
2:46
balance a chaotic mix of emotions, my
2:48
anger at Jake, the crushing frustration,
2:51
profound sadness, utter despair, and a
2:54
heartbreaking sense of loss. If only he
2:57
listened to me, I murmured to myself.
3:00
And I spent thousands upon thousands of
3:02
dollars on that car just for it to be
3:04
flushed down the drain.
3:06
Then a more empathetic thought surfaced,
3:09
trying to assert itself.
3:11
No, I can't think like that. He's my
3:14
brother. The car means nothing against
3:16
his life. But my mom, in her tunnel
3:19
vision, heard only the part about the
3:21
car. She looked at me, her eyes
3:23
hardening. That car doesn't matter, she
3:26
snapped, her voice sharp with
3:27
accusation. You should be praying that
3:30
your brother makes it out of surgery
3:31
alive and well. I understood that truly.
3:35
I wished the best for him.
3:38
But on the other hand, I had poured all
3:40
of my savings, every spare dime, every
3:42
ounce of passion into that car. We could
3:46
have had both the car and my brother if
3:48
he weren't so incredibly irresponsible.
3:51
If he hadn't made such a reckless,
3:52
selfish choice. My parents always had a
3:55
way of focusing solely on my brother,
3:57
completely ignoring how things affected
3:59
me. It was a pattern that stretched back
4:01
to childhood. When I was seven, I had a
4:05
favorite teddy bear. My sole cherished
4:07
possession named Bear Bear. I loved him,
4:11
slept with him every night, played with
4:13
him all the time. He was one of the only
4:15
gifts I ever got as a kid. One day, the
4:19
dog my little brother begged for, Coco,
4:21
decided Bear Bear looked like a fun toy.
4:24
When I came home from school, Bear
4:26
Bear's stuffing was strewn all
4:27
throughout the house, in the living
4:29
room, our bedrooms, even the kitchen. To
4:33
this day, I don't know where some of
4:34
Bear Bear's limbs went. And my parents,
4:37
they blamed me for keeping my bear in a
4:39
place where Jake's dog could chew on it.
4:42
Then they told me that I would be
4:43
responsible for cleaning up his dog's
4:45
mess. This was their playbook, always.
4:48
We sat at the hospital until the sun
4:50
rose, the pale light filtering through
4:52
the waiting room windows. Finally, a man
4:56
in a white coat holding a clipboard
4:58
walked in, asking to speak with our
5:00
family. My heart dropped. I prayed that
5:04
Jake wasn't dead. My mother looked even
5:07
more nervous, and we followed the doctor
5:09
to a private room. He told us that Jake
5:12
was stable, but would need a few more
5:14
surgeries. Seeing him lifeless on the
5:16
hospital bed, hooked up to tubes and
5:18
machines felt surreal.
5:21
The doctor said he would be there for a
5:23
while and that we were free to leave. My
5:26
parents insisted they stay in the room
5:28
with Jake, but I knew I couldn't stand
5:30
seeing him like this much longer. I said
5:33
my goodbyes and told them to keep me
5:35
updated.
5:36
They agreed, their faces still etched
5:39
with worry. And I went on my way,
5:41
stepping back into a world that felt
5:43
utterly changed. The next few days
5:45
blurred into a miserable haze. Jake was
5:48
still recovering from the multiple
5:49
surgeries, and I was drowning in debt.
5:52
The insurance company called me stating
5:54
how much I owed for the vehicle and the
5:56
damages from the accident. Jake wasn't
5:59
on my insurance, so they flat out
6:01
refused to cover the costs. I was
6:03
hundreds of thousands in the hole, a
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staggering amount that I knew would take
6:07
the rest of my life to pay off. I worked
6:09
as an electrical engineer for an
6:11
architecture and engineering firm,
6:12
earning a decent salary, but nowhere
6:15
near enough to cover that kind of debt.
6:17
Every day at work, my mind would be
6:19
filled with rage. While I was supposed
6:21
to be submitting drawings to my manager,
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all I could think about was the
6:25
beautiful car I loved, now a mangled
6:27
wreck, and the crushing reality that my
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brother might be paralyzed due to his
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own stupid decision. To make matters
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worse, I was now completely bankrupt. I
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had painstakingly saved a bit of money
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because I planned to move out of my
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house, which was an hour and a half
6:43
away, and into a home closer to my job.
6:47
Now that dream was gone, evaporated in a
6:50
cloud of smoke and twisted metal. My
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brain fog got worse over the next few
6:54
weeks and my work suffered drastically.
6:57
My supervisor would often come to my
6:59
desk and ask if I was okay because I
7:00
would sit in front of my computer screen
7:02
without moving my mouse, staring
7:04
blankly, not blinking. I started
7:06
submitting work late when usually I
7:09
considered submitting it on time to be
7:11
late. The work I did submit was usually
7:14
wrong or needed major improvements.
7:17
I would stay long hours at the job
7:19
without accomplishing anything on the
7:20
agenda for the week. I could tell the
7:23
people around me were noticing it, too.
7:24
During lunch one day, I overheard my
7:26
coworker, Catherine, talking to my boss.
7:29
She was complaining, her voice hushed,
7:31
but clear about having to do extra work
7:34
without extra pay since I couldn't
7:36
complete my tasks on time. She said it
7:38
wasn't fair that she had to check over
7:40
my work every time because it took her
7:42
longer to correct it than to just do it
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herself.
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I felt my heart drop. A fresh wave of
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shame washed over me. I knew I had to do
7:51
something, but I felt utterly hopeless.
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I tried to be on my agame at work the
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following weeks, but the stress of the
7:59
insurance company became an everyday
8:01
battle. They would call constantly
8:04
demanding their money, offering payment
8:05
plans that I couldn't afford any of.
8:08
I then started to seriously consider
8:10
selling my current house and moving into
8:12
a tiny apartment just to pay off the
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debt collectors.
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I felt like this incident kept putting
8:18
me further and further behind the goals
8:20
I had set for myself. Goals that felt
8:22
increasingly unattainable. One day, I
8:25
got a call from my brother after he was
8:26
recovering in rehab. I braced myself. He
8:30
asked for money to help cover his
8:32
medical bills. I told him about my
8:34
situation, the crushing debt, the loss
8:36
of my car and my savings, the threat of
8:38
losing my home. He scoffed. "You
8:42
normally help me when I need you," he
8:44
whined, his voice laced with
8:46
indignation. "Why can't you do it this
8:48
time? I have to sell my house just to
8:51
make ends meet. All because of you," I
8:54
exploded, the years of suppressed anger
8:56
finally breaking through. "Fox off!" he
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screamed and then hung up the phone. The
9:02
next few days, his friends were calling
9:03
me, harassing me for being unsupportive.
9:07
Every time I tried to explain how much
9:09
debt and turmoil Jake had put me
9:11
through, I was met with criticism, with
9:13
accusations of being heartless. They
9:16
took it a step further and started
9:18
posting things about me on social media.
9:20
They talked about my looks, how I was
9:23
nothing without my car. And at that
9:25
point, that's exactly how I felt. That
9:28
car was the thing I loved the most in
9:30
this world.
9:31
a tangible link to my cherished past.
9:34
When I was a kid, me and my granddad
9:36
were really close.
9:38
We would do everything together. I'd
9:40
help him mow the lawn, join him on the
9:41
porch while he talked to his buddies,
9:43
listening to their stories.
9:46
One day, we looked through a magazine
9:48
together, and my Impala was featured. He
9:51
said that he wished he could test drive
9:52
it before he died. He got cancer shortly
9:56
after and was never able to drive the
9:58
cherry red Impala.
10:00
Since that day, I've wanted that car,
10:02
pursued it, and finally got it. I wished
10:06
I could have gotten it while he was
10:07
alive, but I knew he was looking down on
10:10
me, proud of me for living his dream.
10:13
And now it was gone. When I tried to
10:16
talk to me and Jake's mutual friends,
10:18
they would always take Jake's side,
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saying he was four years younger than
10:22
me, so I should understand and help
10:25
support him financially. I wanted this
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nightmare to end. I called my parents
10:30
and asked to meet up with them. They
10:32
were always at the hospital with Jake,
10:34
so I knew I would find them there.
10:37
Before I walked into the room, I
10:39
overheard them talking, their voices
10:41
low. My mom was saying they couldn't up
10:44
the allowance they were giving Jake
10:46
because they had to help pay his medical
10:47
bills. I walked in and they looked like
10:50
they'd seen a ghost, their faces
10:52
blanching.
10:53
"What were you talking about?" I asked,
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my voice dangerously calm.
10:58
They tried to change the subject, asking
11:00
how I was doing, how my day at work was.
11:03
"How much money have you been giving
11:05
Jake?" I pressed, ignoring their feeble
11:08
attempts to deflect.
11:10
They never gave me an allowance growing
11:11
up, especially not when I became an
11:13
adult. They looked guilty, exchanging
11:16
nervous glances, and then confessed.
11:19
They'd been giving Jake a $500 allowance
11:21
every week since he was 13. It all came
11:24
together.
11:25
This was why he was so irresponsible,
11:28
why he had no care for other people's
11:30
belongings, why he lacked any sense of
11:33
consequence.
11:35
Mom and dad had been enabling him since
11:36
we were kids. I didn't know what to say.
11:40
They were always stingy when I asked for
11:42
anything, always scrutinizing my
11:44
expenses, and finding out that Jake had
11:46
been getting a substantial, consistent
11:48
allowance from them for years felt like
11:50
a stab in the back and a punch to the
11:52
gut. This sad feeling then turned into
11:54
pure burning anger when I began to think
11:56
about how much I was in debt, how much I
11:58
had sacrificed. Here my parents were
12:01
bailing out Jake like they did every
12:03
other time and I was receiving backlash
12:06
from my family and friends demonized for
12:08
simply wanting accountability.
12:11
My parents tried to explain the reason
12:13
why they supported him as much as they
12:14
did. A pathetic attempt to justify their
12:17
favoritism, but I didn't care to hear
12:19
them out. I just turned and left the
12:22
hospital, needing to cool down before I
12:25
said something I'd truly regret.
12:27
The next few months, I bit the bullet
12:29
and sold my house. I got less than I
12:33
wanted because I needed the money as
12:34
soon as possible, which disappointed me,
12:37
but at least my debt was cleared. It was
12:40
a trade-off, a painful necessity. I
12:43
moved into a nice apartment only 20
12:45
minutes from my job, which surprisingly
12:47
was a huge plus in the long run. Every
12:50
time I visited Jake in the hospital, his
12:52
condition seemed to improve.
12:55
However, my relationship with my parents
12:58
would not. Every single visit would
13:01
inevitably turn into an argument. They
13:04
would tell me how ungrateful I was and
13:07
how I should just be happy that Jake was
13:08
alive after the accident.
13:11
Then Jake would often join in on the
13:13
ridicule, blaming me for his condition,
13:15
for his paralysis, as if I had somehow
13:18
willed him to steal my car and crash it.
13:21
My parents never said anything about how
13:23
disrespectful Jake was to me. They would
13:26
only say that he was talking that way
13:28
because of his medication or how much
13:30
pain he was in. Or sometimes they'd say
13:32
he was stressed. He didn't know what
13:35
stress looked like. I was growing tired
13:38
of the whole family, the constant blame,
13:41
the endless enabling, the sheer
13:43
emotional drain. A few months later,
13:46
Jake left the hospital and went to live
13:48
with our parents.
13:50
My parents were preparing for
13:51
Thanksgiving dinner and wanted me to
13:53
come.
13:54
I knew deep down that I shouldn't, not
13:57
after our rough interactions over the
13:59
past couple of months.
14:01
But I went against my better judgment,
14:03
hoping foolishly for a flicker of
14:06
normaly, a moment of family peace.
14:09
At dinner, my mom, ever focused on Jake,
14:12
mentioned how good he looked and how
14:13
well he walked. Jake, not missing a
14:16
beat, piped up. I'd be walking much
14:19
better if I wasn't bedridden for almost
14:20
a year. I couldn't help myself. You
14:24
wouldn't have been in the hospital at
14:26
all if you had listened to me and never
14:27
stole my car. He slammed his hand on the
14:30
table. his face contorted in anger. I
14:33
wasn't a thief and I'm not talking to
14:35
you. My mom, as she'd done for 19 years,
14:38
immediately jumped in, trying to mediate
14:40
the situation, and just as she always
14:42
did, she took his side. You shouldn't be
14:46
so rough on him on Thanksgiving. She
14:48
said, her voice laced with disapproval.
14:51
There she went again. After all these
14:54
years of taking his side, I was being
14:56
blamed for my car being wrecked, for his
14:58
reckless actions. That was the last
15:01
straw. I looked at her, my voice
15:04
trembling with suppressed rage. "You are
15:07
the reason that he is the way he is," I
15:09
yelled. "You and dad always enabled his
15:12
behavior, and you're the reason he had
15:13
to recover for so long."
15:16
Just as they tried to argue more, I
15:18
threw my fork on the table, the metallic
15:20
clang echoing through the tense silence,
15:22
and I left. I hadn't spoken to them
15:25
since that day. The last point of
15:27
contact that I had with them was a
15:29
letter I wrote. In it, I explained how
15:31
the family dynamic was overwhelming,
15:34
suffocating.
15:35
I told them that while I loved them,
15:37
they were causing more harm than good at
15:39
that stage of my life. I told them that
15:42
I would be moving to a new city and to
15:43
please not try to find me there.
15:46
3 months later, I did it. I moved to a
15:49
new city, got a new apartment, and
15:52
secured a new job making more money.
15:55
I finally left everything behind and I
15:57
felt a monumental weight lifted off my
15:59
shoulders.
16:01
I joined a classic car club that
16:02
traveled the country, a true passion and
16:05
found another impala like mine to buy.
16:08
It definitely needed some work, but I
16:10
was willing to put in the time to
16:12
restore it, to build something beautiful
16:14
with my own hands again.
16:17
Soon after, I started going to therapy
16:18
to help heal the childhood trauma that
16:20
my family had put me through. Life was
16:23
finally starting to fall into place.
16:25
That was until I got a call from the
16:26
authorities telling me that my brother
16:28
had gotten himself in trouble again.
16:30
This time it was serious. He was
16:33
involved with a shady group that flipped
16:34
cars for quick money. He would buy
16:36
stolen cars at dirt cheap prices, fix
16:39
them up so they would be unrecognizable,
16:41
and sell them significantly higher to
16:43
unsuspecting buyers. And the kicker, he
16:47
had been using one of my old credit
16:48
cards somehow. I called the credit card
16:51
company and told them that the charges
16:53
on my account for the cars were not from
16:55
me. So, I closed the account.
16:58
I had finally gotten rid of the last way
17:00
he could contact me. The last thread
17:02
connecting me to that endless cycle of
17:04
drama and disappointment.
17:06
I felt relieved, truly relieved, knowing
17:09
that I didn't have to worry about any
17:11
more family drama.
17:13
But it felt bittersweet knowing the
17:16
stress and heartache my brother would
17:17
continue putting my parents through.
17:20
I had saved myself.
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