Let's Not Meet~ Reddit Horror Stories

Why I Avoid My Childhood Best Friend

After the events that took place when I was 8 years old, things went back to normal for my friends and I. The guy who had tormented us was gone and we were pretty much safe again. This continued until we finished primary school. When this happened we didn't see each other very much (apart from a few who went to the same school as me). Up until that point my best friend was Jake. He ended up going going to a different school so we only saw each other twice since we finished school. When we were both 13 we had moved on and weren't friends anymore.

So, one day when I was 13 or 14 I met up with an old friend. His name was Ethan (he had also been friends with Jake). When we met up we decided to go to a large park that was located between our houses. We walked went on the swings for a while but left after a girl started shouting at us. We walked to the basketball court close to the exit as we made our way towards Ethan's house. This area was surrounded by thick bushes and trees that are easy to hide in so we had no idea what was about to happen.

We weren't paying much attention to our surroundings as we had a lot to catch up on, we didn't notice a group of masked people dressed completely in black, approaching us until it was too late. We were surrounded and we saw that they were all armed with kitchen knives. There was six or seven of them surrounding us when one of them spoke. He demanded all of our money and our phones. He said that they would kill us if we refused or tried anything.

His voice sounded familiar and when a got a better look at him, I realised that it was Jake. I don't think he recognised me because he pointed his knife right at me and demanded our stuff again. At this point Ethan had also realised who it was. Simultaneously we both told him who we were. He looked at us for a second and then he pulled his mask off and greeted us. He told me that I hadn't changed much before telling us that we were lucky and to get out of there.

We started to walk away and as we reached the exit we turned and saw them running into the bushes. Freaked out, we ran to Ethan's house and didn't leave for a few hours. When it came time for me to leave, I ran straight home (avoiding the park). I saw him again after that but I always avoided him. I almost never went out on my own again for the next few years.

So, my childhood best friend who was like a brother to me, almost mugged me. If he hadn't realised who we were, things could have been very different. The people with him seemed pretty ready to stab us even if we did what they wanted. He had screwed me over and dragged me into bad things before this, but I can't forgive him even though he let us go. He wasn't exactly a good person to begin with, but this was way too far.

I did recently hear that he has turned his life around, but I'm done with him and I hope I never see him again.