When you are close with friends as a kid, it’s natural to expect they’ll be part of the big things in adulthood.

Sometimes that doesn’t happen. Check out why this person went no contact with her old pals.

AITA for blocking and deleting my childhood “friends”?

I had two close friends, “Sarah” and “Chloe” – not their real names. We were a tight-knit trio growing up.

​When I was 17, my mum passed away due to illness. It was devastating.

There was more devastation to come.

During that time—my final year of school and the years immediately following—both Sarah and Chloe essentially disappeared. They went off to university and left me behind to navigate my profound grief alone.

I felt completely abandoned when I needed them most.

​Despite how they treated me, I was always there for them: ​When Sarah tragically lost her own mum a few years ago, I dropped everything.

I was there for her instantly, offering constant emotional support, listening, and helping in any way I could. I gave her the support I wished I had received from her.

​When Chloe went through various difficult breakups and other personal losses, I was her constant shoulder to cry on. I always made time for her.

​I genuinely believed our bond was strong, even if I carried the hurt of their past abandonment. ​

Then something shook her perception.

Chloe recently got married. She made all of our mutual friends bridesmaids, except for me. When I asked her about it, she gave a weak excuse, saying she “didn’t want uneven numbers” with the groom’s side.

This excuse felt like a slap in the face and resurrected all the old pain of being left out when they went to university, especially given how much I had been there for her.

​I told Chloe honestly that I wouldn’t be attending the wedding.

I explained that after years of feeling excluded and carrying the deep wound of them abandoning me when my mum died, this final exclusion was the “nail in the coffin” and I couldn’t celebrate with her.

​I also reached out to Sarah to explain how deeply hurt I was by Chloe’s actions and by their past abandonment. I detailed the years of emotional pain I’d carried.

But the broken friendship did not heal.

Sarah never replied to my long message detailing my pain. Weeks later, all I received from her was a one-line message on my birthday: “Happy birthday.”

That was it. No apology, no acknowledgement of my feelings.

​Chloe did reply to me, essentially saying she was upset by my decision not to attend her wedding, but that she was “drawing a line” under the whole situation and moving on. ​

Both responses felt completely dismissive of over a decade of hurt and my efforts in our friendship.

I realized I was done. I was tired of giving so much more than I received and being treated like an afterthought. I blocked both Sarah and Chloe on everything.

​Some mutual friends think I was harsh and that I should have just “gotten over” the bridesmaid issue and let the past go, or that I overreacted to their final messages.

​AITA for blocking both friends after years of carrying the pain of their abandonment in my grief, their repeated exclusion, and their complete lack of accountability when I finally aired my feelings?

Here is what folks are saying.

I would!

I agree. They sound like bad people.

What? I had empathy at 17. It’s hardly rare.

I wonder why they did that. I mean, the real reason.

I love how direct this is.

Good riddance.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.