nightmares

Absolute Nightmares

"'Look at all those snakes on the ceiling!'"

"It was the middle of the night. He was actually fast asleep. There were no snakes."

- morganafiolett

"My ex was an arachnophobe, and my son had a fever dream/nightmare and was very distressed, screaming that he had woken up and seen 'tarantulas' scuttling into the corners of the underside of the upper bunk of his bunk bed."

"I was doing that, 'Honey, you're very sick, and you've been asleep, and I know it feels very real, but I promise you that there are no spiders...' speech when my ex just ran in, scooped up the boy, and hollered, 'F**k that noise, woman! Call me when you've flipped the mattresses!!' and legit ran out of the apartment with kiddo, lol (laughing out loud)."

"This annoyed me to no end at the time, but my son later told me that my ex made him feel very heard."

- kifferella

Their Reason for Living

"'There are times when I only wake up because I know you're here.'"

- Foreveridosyncratic

"Very sweet, but it would break my heart to hear, which is exactly why I don't say it to my husband, even when it feels true."

- Silhouette_Edge

That Familiar Heart Stitch

"'I think I'm having a heart attack.'"

"It was her first panic attack. I broke every law driving her to the hospital. Thankfully she's doing better now."

- HyliaSerket

"I said this to my fiancé last winter after (being in the process of) getting diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia. I woke him up SOBBING in the middle of the night when he was dead asleep and said, 'I think I’m having a heart attack.'"

"Poor guy. It’s insane how a panic attack can mimic a heart attack. My arm even went numb/tingly!"

- SummerSunset8

Truth Mid-Session

"During our first marriage counseling session, we were asked about our goals for this session. She said, 'I don’t want this to work.'"

"And it did not work. That was the end of our marriage. At the time, it was the scariest moment of my life. Today, three years later, I can honestly say neither of us was happy and needed some help."

"Therapy works. Sometimes honesty hurts and revelations are hard."

- ATENFOOTTURD

Always, Always Ask For Help

"'I thought about hanging myself in the garage last night.' That was my husband when he finally told me how bad he was struggling with his mental health."

"I had no idea he was in such a dark place. Hearing that come out of his mouth both scared the s**t out of me and ripped my heart out."

- heyypeach

The Ultimatum

"'If this is what being with you for the rest of my life is going to be like, I want out right now.'"

"This was said six months into my second marriage."

"I finally heard it: that I was damaged and that I needed help."

"I immediately found a therapist and went steadily for 10 years. It was hard as f**k. Lots of uncomfortable times."

"But it changed me. We are together now pretty f**king happily, 23 years with now two amazing kids. S**t doesn’t have to last forever."

- um8medoit

What's with the Lights?

"'All the lights downstairs just went on. There is someone in our house...'"

"I was on a business trip and my wife called me at 3:00 AM. Never felt so helpless in my life."

"She called the police and they searched our home from top to bottom but we never found out who switched on every single light on the ground floor!"

- GnOeLLLmPF

"Our basement was like this. My husband kept blaming me for leaving the light on, but I had stopped going down there because I was pregnant and didn't want to do unnecessary stairs."

"When he, quite upset at me for continuing to do what irked him so much, told me, 'Can you stop leaving lights on, I'm the one who has to pay the power bill,' and I was like, 'Actually, I haven't been down there in weeks.'"

"I assumed the basement was haunted or we had someone secretly living down there (unlikely because we have security set up... And dogs). But it turns out one of the light switches (the type with a dimmer) was just broken. You'd turn it off and leave the room... But then a few minutes later it would short and turn back on."

- evange

Undervaluing Themselves

"At her lowest point of depression, whilst out shopping, with no apparent trigger, she deadpanned, 'You'd be better off if I didn't come home.'

"Fortunately, she got out of that rut, but doesn't remember saying it and how much it terrified me."

- takesbribes

A Secret Life

"I discovered he was addicted to cocaine. It was completely out of the blue. I would have never found out if I hadn’t stained my shirt and had to go home to change and walked in on him snorting a fat rail at 1:39 PM on a random Tuesday."

"I gave him an ultimatum: my support during rehab unconditionally, or we completely part ways if you want to continue snorting coke all day."

"He said, 'The coke, I don’t want to talk to you.'"

"He chose coke and we divorced, and I have no idea whether he is alive or dead. Frankly, the man I married never actually existed. I have such a bad picker I’ve decided to just give up."

- Glldinkiering

"Honestly, bless him for being straightforward and allowing you to get out quickly. He could have taken you through multiple years of hell of trying to get clean and relapsing over and over. Staying home to do lines alone on a random Tuesday is pretty deep in it, so it's a blessing you caught him that day and got out."

- anoidciv

"He also did me a solid by insisting we have a prenuptial agreement which protected me when his @ss was sued into oblivion by his business partners for embezzling money for coke."

- Glldinkiering

Terrible News

"'I've been in an accident...'"

- Ok-Detective-1721

"I’ve been that guy, she happened to call me as I was being lifted into the ambulance with my head smashed after being hit by a car. I had regained consciousness only seconds earlier."

"Somehow I had the presence of mind to phrase it, 'I’m okay, but I have to go to hospital because I’ve had an accident.'"

- lilgreenrosetta

Bad Dreams Love Company

"'Who’s that standing in the corner?' she said at 2:00 AM while sitting up in bed and pointing towards the corner."

"I was still half asleep but freaking out and then she just laid back down and continued sleeping like nothing happened. No one was in the corner."

- futbo2

"One time I got out of bed to use the bathroom, and as I crossed in front of the bed my wife sat up and started screaming like nothing I’ve ever heard."

"I had an injury that has had me sleeping with extra pillows to position my body comfortably since I was early twenties. The pillows made it look in the dark like I was still asleep next to her. So when she saw me crossing in front of the bed, she thought someone had broken in and was in our room."

- PerfectionPending

Unwelcome Houseguests

"She was filling our water bottles before coming to bed and I was just on my phone in bed. I heard her come up the stairs almost like she tripped on the last step because she usually misses that last one."

"Just as I’m getting up to go see if she’s alright, she comes flying through the bedroom door closing it behind her. I never saw her scared like this and I was confused until she said, 'Something just followed me up the stairs.'"

"I nearly s**t myself, that type of fear where tears spring to your eyes and your stomach knots."

"I’m not sure what I would have done if it was just the two of us alone in the house. (There were others, but they were in their room and asleep.)"

"At first, I thought it was the dog, but she confirmed it was very much not. There was nothing there. She claims it was a large black mass behind her that she could hear. We both had a bit of trouble going to sleep that night."

- MonsterMontvalo

"My best friend was at a friend's house and had a dark mass behind him, over his shoulder, and looking down on him."

"In the middle of the night on the way to the restroom, he felt it. He paused for he didn’t know how long, 10 seconds or 10 minutes, he couldn’t say. Then he looked up and saw it in a mirror at the end of the hall. He sprinted to the restroom and stayed there until the sun came up."

"His friend said he looked terrible in the morning and he responded by saying he saw something last night."

"His friend said, 'Oh man, talk to Mom about it.'"

"He told the Mom about the experience, and she asked, 'Was it the light one or the dark one?'

"Dark one. 'Ok good, the light one is mean.' And that’s all that was said."

- M_n_Ms

F**k Cancer

"'I’m tired and want to go home.'"

"He died six hours later, after only fighting cancer for six weeks."

- Bulky-Tomatillo-1705

"She told me, 'I want to die at home.'"

"She had been battling cancer for five weeks and wanted to be home. She had a few weeks with me and died eight weeks after the inital diagnosis. F**k cancer."

- kazz-wizz

Talk... About What?!

"We need to talk when you get home."

"Folks, I spent the next six hours going over every possible thing I could have done wrong to warrant that response. We were in the middle of buying a house and planning our wedding and I thought everything could possibly be crumbling."

"Turns out my darling wife, the love of my life, and my best friend missed the f**king memo of what 'we need to talk' means in a relationship and wanted to talk to me about CARPETING FOR THE HOUSE."

"That conversation happened over a dozen years ago at this point and I still remind her from time to time about how she almost gave me a heart attack."

"To this day, she thinks it's hilarious."

- Trendsa

Brutal, To Be Honest

"Good god, I have to stop reading these. So much heartbreak here."

"It’s good to be reminded to not take things for granted in good times."

- slaphappypap

This conversation was a great example of how little we might know of what's going on in someone's head, even if it's the person we love the most in the world.

But at least in these Redditors' cases, their partners were willing to share this information with them, which gave them an opportunity to make the situation better.

If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.

To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/