(This is a narrative based on u/Ambitious_Thread's posts to r/TwoHotTakes)
Ann's close friend, Jessie, had a life filled with fabrications that began to unravel when Ann tried to do something nice for Jessie.
Ann was part of a tight-knit group of 8-10 friends who were like family to her. Among them were sisters Bee and Sharon, whose dad became a father figure to Ann.
Ann and Bee were roommates, and Jessie was introduced to Ann through her friendship with Bee's sister's Sharon.
Over time, Jessie became part of their inner circle. The year proved difficult for everyone as Bee and Sharon's father passed away from brain cancer in September 2022. Following this loss, Ann introduced Jessie to the larger friend group, who instantly welcomed her.
When Sharon spent less time with the group due to her new boyfriend, Jessie grew closer to Ann's friends. Ann was happy to have Jessie around. She and Bee generously offered resources to Jessie, like letting her use their cars. They also gave Jessie home-cooked meals, drinks, and other amenities, but Jessie never provided anything.
The group sympathized with Jessie after she disclosed that her mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. They worried with her as she awaited test results, but thankfully it was discovered early enough for successful treatment.
By March 2023, Jessie started developing a casual long-distance relationship with their friend Jack, and landed a high-paying work-from-home engineering job. Jessie said that Jack had even met her horse, which was a big deal for her, and no one else in the group had met the horse. This detail will become important later.
In June, the friend group held a costume birthday party for two members. Just before the event, Jessie informed them that her mother had attempted to end her life and was in the hospital, which meant she couldn't wear a costume. Upon her arrival at the party, she shared details about the situation with a few close friends.Of course, this brought down the mood of the party, but it's understandable in such a dire situation.
After the party, Jessie announced that her mother's cancer had returned. With this avalanche of devastating news, Jessie received more emotional support from the group.
Ann, who went through a painful breakup right after the birthday party, decided to do something nice for Jessie because of everything she was going through with her mother, Ann's an artist, so she decided to make a watercolor painting of Jessie's horse. The only problem was she didn't know what the horse looked like.
Ann reached out to Jack about the horse, but he didn't know what Ann was talking about. He didn't know that Jessie had a horse, and he also revealed that they had never dated. They had hooked up a few times in April, but then ceased communication. He offered up his brief text exchanges with Jessie as proof that they were never an official item.
After this revelation, Ann reverse-image searched a photo of what was supposed to be Jessie at a rodeo with her horse, and found that it was simply a stock image. No one else in the group had seen her horse or seen any other pictures of the horse.
Ann also started to doubt that Jessie really had an engineering job. Not only does Jessie not have a college degree, but she never seems to be working, and conveniently never has a way to pay for things despite supposedly earning a high income.
At some point Jessie claimed to have a $100,000 car that she wrecked, so no one has ever seen it.
As Ann put all of this together, she was flooded with all the other things Jessie had shared about her life that didn't make sense upon further reflection. In fact, a lot of the details mirrored the trauma in Ann's own life, and in the lives of their friends.
Jessie said she'd been robbed at gunpoint, and the police were able to make an arrest and return all of her belonging within 24 hours.
Ann had experience with a few harrowing incidents that made her doubt that this happened. Someone had stolen Ann's car once, and the process was long, arduous and culminated in her testifying in court.
Ann had also had an ex put a gun to her head, and she had to have them arrested.
Ann began to doubt the stories regarding Jessie's mom. The whole group shared their locations, but Jessie was never at the hospital when she claimed her mom was there due to the attempt to take her life. Additionally, Bree had video-chatted with Jessie's mom and noticed no signs of injuries, which Jessie had said existed.
Now, even the cancer story was under scrutiny. One of the most significant red flags was that Jessie's location showed she was at home when she stated she was in the hospital with her mother during a medical emergency the night before. The reason behind Jessie leaving her location on throughout all this remains perplexing.
Another suspicious aspect was that items frequently went missing from Ann, Bee, and Sharon's apartment—small things like clothes, chargers, and grinders. When this happened, Jessie always immediately blamed other visitors.
Ann suspected Jessie of lying about much more, including more stories that mirrored Ann's life:
- Jessie claimed to be a licensed mechanic despite being unable to assist with an oil change.
- After Ann opened up about her father's abuse, Jessie claimed her dad was also abusive.
- Jessie mentioned having an abusive ex following Ann sharing about two instances of domestic violence that she experienced.
- She claimed she had a large "S L U T" tattoo on her stomach that disappeared entirely due to a special cream, despite tattoos being difficult to remove completely without scarring.
- Claimed Jack, her supposed boyfriend, gave her his jacket as a keepsake to always remember him; however, Jack said he accidentally left it in her car once (and also that they had never dated)
- Mentioned having a late-term abortion, at 6-7 months, after Ann divulged her own abortion story from an abusive relationship.
- Lied about vacuuming Bee's floor after staying at their house for a week; Jessie has severe psoriasis and leaves skin flakes everywhere, which were still visible and the vacuum seemed untouched.
Taking all of this into account, Ann reached out to Jessie's siblings on social media for information about her alleged horse.
Ann, along with her roommates, devised a plan. They invited Jessie to dinner at a Mexican restaurant and asked her to bring the key fob for their apartment as they planned to change it. They requested she return all the borrowed clothes since they had to inventory their winter wardrobe.
Unaware of their intentions, Jessie agreed. Little did she know, the group had prepared screenshots and intended to confront her about the perceived lies after they reclaimed their key and other belongings from her.
to be continued . . .