Outrage as Woman Fakes Her Own Death To End Sister's Vacation: 'Speechless'

A teenager has turned to the internet for support after the "worst seven hours" of her life. In a viral Reddit post, u/Stock_Health_1033 explained her sister, 23, ruined her trip by faking her own death to see if the teen Redditor, 17, still cared about her. The stunt has outraged the internet and many people, including trauma expert Dr. Lisa Turner, who has called the sister "manipulative." Explaining her story, the user states she fell out with her sister in September and hasn't spoken to her since. The issue also involved their mother, whom the poster hasn't spoken to either.

More recently she went on a trip to see her long-distance boyfriend, and she tells other users how "ecstatic" she was to be with him on his birthday. "On the 3rd day of my trip, I get a call from my sister that I declined, I didn't want any drama that always came along with answering her calls and left it alone. I then get a call from her boyfriend who's freaking out and sobbing, he tells me that my sister had gotten into a head-on crash with a truck and died," she wrote. She describes herself as "hysterical" and unable to walk due to "so much anguish". "I frantically packed my bags and called my dad to tell him what just happened and if he could get me a ticket. He did, my boyfriend came with me on the courtesy of my dad not wanting me to be alone," she wrote. The teen's dad picked her up from the airport and they drove an hour to the sister's house during the early hours of the morning.

But to her surprise, her sister answered the door with a huge grin on her face. It turns out, it was a test to see if the Redditor cared about her sister. "I'm still speechless at that point, I gathered enough of myself to tell her that the reason I stopped talking to mom was because of years of mental and emotional abuse and manipulation, that I couldn't take being used as a middleman or the family failure scapegoat. I told her I just had the worst seven hours of my life and that this just showed that SHE didn't care enough about me to think how this would affect me mentally. "Never in my life have I ever felt such grief, sadness, and anguish. I was a mess," she states. She concludes the post by revealing her mother has since called her "rude" and referred to the incident as a "little test."

Expert Advice

Speaking about the Reddit post, the author of CET Yourself Free told Newsweek: "I usually find a way to come at family disputes from a place of understanding and compassion but, (if true) the behavior of the sister pretending to be DEAD is pretty hard to find any good reason why anyone would treat another in this way. "It's gaslighting. It's manipulative. And frankly cruel. Most situations where one party hurts or offends another can be put down to a misunderstanding or values clash. But this situation is where the sister deliberately and maliciously set out to cause significant emotional distress. "All the sister has done is demonstrate that the woman made the right decision to cut off contact with her and her mother in the first place." Dr. Turner has advised the Redditor to stay away from her sister.

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What Do the Comments Say?

The popular post has received 1,200 comments, at the time of this writing. One user said: "The only way to deter manipulative lies and games is to not play. React as if the person meant what they said/did and they weren't lying. Game over." "NTA [not the a******] Sue them. Not only for the cost of the plane tickets and the hotel rooms but for whatever other damages for emotional distress, et al, the relevant jurisdictions will allow. You may also wish to consult a lawyer about whether their collective actions are illegal and look into filing a criminal conspiracy complaint against them," suggested another. "NTA. Don't answer her, or her BF's, or your mother's phone calls. You went no contact and the one time you rescinded it, they burned you. Time to never again rescind it, no. Matter. What," said another person. Newsweek reached out to u/Stock_Health_1033 for comment. Newsweek could not verify the details of the case. If you have a family dilemma, let us know via life@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.