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When you get into a committed, long-term relationship with someone, it’s easy to assume that you will live happily ever after. But the truth is, nothing is as plain sailing as that. Relationships – particularly if you are passionate or emotionally-driven people, can be rocky at times, with turbulence only natural when you spend so much time with another person. That said, arguments should not get hurtful or involve violence of any kind – if these elements are introduced, it’s time to seek help and support immediately.

But even with those we love the most we do fight. And unless you are both very good at regulating your emotions (in which case, kudos!) the chances are you’ll have an argument every now and then. And if your particular brand of argument includes raised voices, there’s a good chance that your neighbours might hear, especially if you share a wall.

It’s not particularly nice, but it can be the reality of living in close proximity – whether that’s in apartment buildings or in terraced streets. When walls are thin, you can sometimes hear passion of every kind. But that’s all part of living near to one another – no one likes it, but so long as things aren’t violent, threatening, or too frequent, we can turn a blind eye to it. After all, they do so for us.

However, the couple in this story fight frequently. It has never been an issue raised by their neighbours – until now, that is.

Read on to find out what happened here.

Got into a fight with my next door neighbours last night over firewood

I got into a fight last night with my neighbours who never even speak to me.

Me and my boyfriend live next to these people who never speak to us, we fight a lot so we assume it’s because they don’t like us.

Every time we go out back into the yard or go let our dog out, they become so quiet and stop talking with one another. They are an older couple.

The husband is in his fifties and she’s probably his age or a little younger. I’m 32 and my boyfriend is 27.

Let’s see where this drama started.

We had a fire last night, and apparently my boyfriend went out back to the woods outside of both of our fences (what he thought was not their property, which I don’t technically think it was) and grabbed four or five logs that were just sitting out there and have been sitting out there for a long time.

He used the logs to start a fire in our fire pit. I went inside to grab our pizza and snacks. We were about to have a whole movie night in our backyard with a new inflatable projector I had just set up. It wasn’t too late either… maybe 8:30 pm.

I heard my boyfriend talking to someone who was raising their voice at him, so I came out back. Apparently, the next door neighbour raised his voice at him and was like “hey! don’t take none of that wood. it’s our wood and wasn’t for you to take.”

So my boyfriend apologised and the neighbor was still very rude with him. We didn’t know it was theirs. Apparently it was their wood from the tree they had recently cut down from their yard within the past year and it was just sitting out in the woods behind both of our yards so we didn’t know it belonged to someone.

So of course, the girlfriend went out to apologise too.

I came out and was telling him I’m sorry and that I didn’t know and that I’m autistic, so that he knew I was disabled (which I am and have it on papers) and then I offered him money or the wood back and he kept saying no.

His wife came out right after and was screaming at me at the top of her lungs and told me it wasn’t ours to take and I apologised yet again and she was so rude and nasty to me screaming at the top of her lungs.

My boyfriend who was already sitting out there still looked at her and was like “go back inside and stop yelling or I’m calling the cops” and she was like “go ahead call them, and I’ll call them next time I hear you guys fighting and you’re trying to keep him from leaving you.”

She didn’t have to take it there, and it was completely unrelated to wood. I feel as if she’s been dying to say that for so long and as if she’s had that held in for so long.

Let’s see how this girlfriend felt about being spoken to in that way.

I’ve never once spoken to this woman in my life. I don’t even know her name. She really made me cry and hurt my feelings.

I have lived next door to them for over three years now and they’ve never liked me, but I’ve never had a fight or problems with them at all until last night.

Also last night while we were sitting out there halfway into our movie, we saw a green light come on on his back porch. I don’t know if they have a backyard Ring camera and were like recording us or watching us through the camera, but it was really weird.

I felt really uncomfortable the entire movie and guilty for keeping the fire burning using the wood but I didn’t have bad intentions and I didn’t know.

All of this has them feeling really conflicted now.

What should I do going forward? I feel like she owes me an apology for coming out and screaming at me and also for the hurtful comment that was completely unrelated to the wood logs. She didn’t have to take it there and she completely ruined my night.

Like I said, we never speak to them anyway, and they keep to themselves and don’t talk to us, but I’m worried they’re going to like do something to get us in trouble or that it’s going to be weird and awkward now every time I go outside and they’re out there.

My dog and their dog also bark at each other and like run back and forth at each other in the yard by the fence.

It sucks that this couple are in this position with their neighbours.

Sure, they might have been upset about the logs – and probably fed up with putting up with the couple’s fighting – but there was no need for the woman to lash out like that.

No one really acted like an adult in this situation.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.

This person tried to give the woman some important guidance.

While others thought that they would be best taking the high road.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a disabled woman who confronts her neighbors about using her spot, only to have them tell her they can park where they want.

Meanwhile, this Redditor explained how to deal with similar situations in the future.

Look, it’s totally understandable that the neighbours aren’t enjoying hearing the couple fight frequently. That’s not pleasant for anyone to have to hear, nor is it likely comfortable for the couple to be going through such turbulence. Perhaps they need to look into some kind of couples’ therapy, or simply try to avoid becoming so heated that they blow up at one another in a way that can be heard through the walls. It’s difficult in the heat of the moment, but that would be the more thoughtful approach to try to grow into.

And it’s reasonable that they might be annoyed that their logs have been taken, though the location they left them in is slightly weird. If you’re bothered about something, it’s normal to at least keep it on your property. Either way, the couple apologised and offered to pay for the logs – so there was no need to blow up at them like this, particularly in such an insulting and hurtful way.

It seems like there’s no way these neighbours are going to get along. Instead, it’s probably better to maintain a respectful distance, and avoid such interactions by being more cordial toward one another in the future.