We all do dumb things as teenagers. The notion of consequences can completely go out the window because, realistically speaking, when you’re underage, there’s a lot you can get away with. But you’re also much more prone to putting yourself in dangerous situations.
But once you’re an adult and start looking back, some memories will actually make you think, “Wait, did I really do this?” And that’s when it dawns on you just how irresponsible you were. And so, users on TikTok shared the moments that made them realize how lucky they are to still be alive. Here’s what they said.
#1
I used to go to anime conventions alone, and one time my phone died. So I started charging it at an empty outlet, and this guy came over and started charging his phone there too.
We started talking, and it turned out he was from the same city I was heading to. He offered me a ride, which I turned down, but I did accept when he offered to drive me to the train station. Y
ou have to be 18 to drive here, and he looked like he was in his twenties, so 16-year-old me thought nothing of it and accepted. It was only once I was in his car that I realized… I didn’t actually know this guy. And I was already sitting in his car. I joked that I hoped he wasn’t going to kidnap me. He started laughing and said something along the lines of, “Well, that would be interesting…” and started reaching into his pocket. I panicked, but thankfully he pulled out his state police badge. Phew.
Image source: Hvezduše, Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)
#2
I accidentally missed my school bus not knowing the bus was stolen and the bus driver was a kidnapper and 17 kids went missing that day my mom drove me to school tho.
Image source: 🍌✩thing1_rants✩🍌, Alwin Johnson (not the actual photo)
#3
I unknowingly at 17 got a ride from a stranger…
Years later the stranger was Ariel Castro.
Image source: kriszlatanov, Feli Art (not the actual photo)
Life does feel different when you’re young. The lack of responsibilities, the free time, the groups of friends, and the feeling that there are few consequences. Sometimes, all we want is to go back to those days, but at the same time, we probably wouldn’t make the smart choices and decisions we make today. That’s partly because of a small part of our brain called the prefrontal cortex.
Teenagers put themselves in such precarious situations partly because their prefrontal cortex isn’t fully developed. This region evaluates risk, controls impulses, and predicts consequences, and research shows it doesn’t fully mature until around age 25. Basically, they’re all gas and no brakes, and well, that’s how they end up in the backseat of a stranger’s car in the middle of the night.
#4
I was walking home alone at night after a choir concert. I was around 16 at the time and was almost home when I passed through this open-air shopping area where cars could drive around the whole thing.
A car with about four guys inside pulled up next to me and offered me a ride, but I refused. They drove away, only to circle back a few minutes later and ask me again. When they finally drove off, I waited until they were out of sight and then ran as fast as I could.
I hid behind a garden on the next street, and that’s when I heard the same car come back for a third time. The guys got out and started shouting, “Where is she?” I swear, I genuinely think I narrowly escaped being kidnapped.
Image source: Doll_collector🩷, limoo (not the actual photo)
#5
When I was younger me and a few friends went into an abandoned sweet factory that had been burnt down. There was 5 of us and we all went into different rooms.
We were all wearing costumes since it was near Halloween and we thought it would be a good place to chill out. Since everyone was in different rooms I got nervous and it felt off so I went looking for everyone.
About an hour later I saw one of my friends down the hallway with an axe and I thought he had just took it out of a room. He started sprinting at me, me playing along I ran away and hid.
About 15 minutes later I decided to go outside to pee and all of my friends were outside looking scared. I asked what was wrong and they said they couldn’t find me and there was a guy in there with an axe starring at them.
Image source: jackie 💢, Ben Swihart (not the actual photo)
#6
My schools bus stop is right outside my house. That corner has has several accidents. One day I was running extremely late and my cat was walking on my shorts so I had to find the lint roller. That extra 2 mins I spent looking for the lint roller, a car crashed into the bus stop & went through the fence into my backyard. The same stop I would’ve been standing at if it wasn’t for my cat.
Image source: cat, Tuğba (not the actual photo)
Then there are the stories of people who found themselves in situations they never would have gotten into because of their friends. It’s no coincidence that our parents used to ask us, “If they jumped off a bridge, would you follow?” when it came to our friends. That’s because peer pressure can make us do crazy and uncharacteristic things just to please our peers, but that’s not all.
According to a study led by Laurence Steinberg and Mairtin MacLean, when teenagers used driving simulators while surrounded by friends or schoolmates, their brain’s reward circuitry became activated — something that did not happen in adults. This led them to take more risks and change their behavior. And at times, they may not even want to take those risks, but their brains simply don’t cooperate.
#7
Not my story but this happened to a girl my friend knew.
When she was 16 she missed her last bus home and this older woman saw her checking the timetable and offered her a ride. She seemed completely normal and said she had a daughter around her age so she got in halfway there the woman said she needed to stop at her house for literally 2 mins to grab something.
When she went inside the girl got a really weird feeling and just got out and walked away. Years later she randomly saw the womans picture online bc she had been arrested for helping her boyfriend lure girls into their house. She recognized her immediately.
Image source: laluuu, Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)
#8
It was December 26th or 27th. I was craving milk (which we didn’t have) with my Christmas cookies at 4am, so my stupid brain went to the nearby gas station without telling anyone.
I saw a drunk Santa slamming his backpack into the shelves, a glittery adult dancer who was getting gas, and a substance user following me for cigarettes.
My parents still don’t know. I got my milk though!
Image source: neeckiy, Beyza Kaplan (not the actual photo)
#9
I was walking around at a mall with my brother. Some lady pulled up right next to us and said why are you guys out so late at night? We told her we were waiting for our MoM to come pick us up because she was getting off of work and she was almost an hour away.
The lady offered to drive us home and we were about to say yeah because it was pretty late at night and we figured since our house is 10 minutes away why not just get a ride home, but my Mom had called us and said she was a few minutes away. So we told the lady it was fine and that we were gonna go home soon.
We went home with my Mom and the next morning on the way to school that woman was being arrested right outside of our school after dropping her daughter off for trying to kidnap other girls and sell them…
My anxiety when I realized that me and my brother could have gotten human trafficked that easily had me scared to the bone.
Reality hit me right there and then. That’s when I realized women also traffic children. Women can be as dangerous as men. I will genuinely never forget that.
Image source: Kiara 🇯🇲🇻🇪🌺, Mikhail Nilov (not the actual photo)
#10
When I was 14, at a hotel me and my 11 sister went to the reception behind our parents and forgot our room number.
A man approached us and said he knew our room, so we followed him. Halfway there I realized he was taking us to the underground floor instead of the fourth floor. So I asked him, he said he needed to grab something, but my brain finally turned on. How would he know our room while his in a different floor and why didn’t he just tell us to wait instead of bringing us.
So I freaked out but I couldn’t move he was too close and could knock both of us. So when he stepped inside his room and was two steps away I grabbed my sister and ran. I turned midway and he wasn’t even out there. Those two steps was everything for both of us.
But it didn’t end here, when we reached the reception 3 minutes later and I saw the jerk in the hallway entrance staring at me angrily. I froze as he took a seat faraway and just kept staring torturing my soul it was the scariest thing.
Thank god my parents came so he left. I never told my parents because we left next day and I was basically traumatized. I spent that whole night blaming myself for been so stupid and naive imagining what could have happened to me and my sister in that room.
Image source: 🥀, Dominika Poláková (not the actual photo)
#11
I’m still pooping my pants over it. I was home alone on my birthday because it was a summer party and I was bored.
My younger self was in the living room when someone started ringing the doorbell incessantly. My mother had always taught me to be quiet and not let anyone see me.
I didn’t think anything of it, turned off the TV, and went to my sister’s room. The ringing had stopped, and I was about to go out when someone banged really hard and yelled, “Open this door already, or I’m coming in!” I was so scared that I immediately called my sister, and she and a friend ran straight to my house, calling the police on the way.
I could hear him smashing the door open with an axe, and he was yelling, “You didn’t open the door, so I’m coming in!” All I heard was the door being forced open, and then I closed my eyes. He stood at the door and said, “Now I’ve got you.” When the police came in, all I heard was, “Lie down on the floor with your hands behind your back.”
My sister came running in, followed by her friend, my mother. I will never forget this and I never stay home alone again. I have nightmares about it.
Image source: Feli, RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
#12
Yep, I got in a strangers car thinking it was my uber.
Surprisingly, when I approached him, he asked if it was me (he mentioned my name). You know how uber drivers usually check if you’re really the person they’re going with by asking your name? I thought it was one of those situations.
Little did I know that he was my stalker, he knew everything about me. I got in the car and sat behind his seat, he smiled at me and asked “Do you by any chance now how risky what you’ve just done is” and I was so confused but he kept quiet and drove away with me. I got a notification from uber that “Your driver has arrived, free waiting period …” and that’s when I knew that I was fcked.
I pretended as if I didn’t know anything because there was nothing I could do at that point. He then asked me if it’s okay that he stops by the petrol stations for gas and I said okay, he stopped there and I immediately got off the car and ran away…but something fell when I climbed out, a picture of me with a red cross on my face.
Image source: i.am.razor_niquey, Kujtim Shabani (not the actual photo)
#13
I was in college like a fresh 18 years old because I graduated when I was 17. I was at a party and it got shut down so I asked these two guys I just met to drive me to my dorm. When I got in the car I realized how dumb I was and even one of the guys said “hey so we are nice guys but don’t ever do this with anyone you don’t know again” thank you Ricky and his roommate for not doing anything awful to me because i was naive and dumb.
Image source: MagicalM, Selvin Esteban (not the actual photo)
#14
I was 16 in a strangers car and had a car accident right outside my parents house. My parents still have no idea I was in the car. They think I was in my bed sleeping and even mentioned the crash when I woke up. Had to fake a fall down the stairs so they take me to the hospital for a check up.
Image source: myrs, Boost Media-Marketing (not the actual photo)
#15
I met a boy online, our first date he wanted to go hiking. I said yes. We were hours away from home in the middle of nowhere literally hiking a mountain.
When I finally came back home there were cops at my home. My mama was NOT having it. I can see why now.
Image source: 🌺 Tea From the Villa, Getty Images (not the actual photo)
#16
I didn’t know how to swim and I jumped in a pool to save my grandma. Adrenaline kicked in and I almost drowned for her but at least she’s okay.
Image source: jaiyatuhinatheoptimist, Petros Ouzounakis (not the actual photo)
#17
After a night out my phone died and I got no way of getting home. Me & my girls just walked around the city and found a house with the lights still on, knocked on the door and asked if we could come in and charge our phones thankfully it was a nice family having a birthday party and they just gave us soda, food and a charger and we danced with them for an hour until someone picked us up lol.
Image source: Gabriëlle, Galina Yarovaya. (not the actual photo)
#18
So me and my friend went to a concert in the other end of the city. We were 14 and 15 and it was a free concert with a popular singer so like the whole city was there. When the concert ended it must have been 1-2am and we were looking for a taxi home (eastern European country we don’t have uber here) anyways we didn’t see any branded taxis all we saw was a yellow dodgy car with taxi printed into it.
We go ask the guy how much to take us back to our houses and he says €20 which it would usually be €5-10 but we were like whatever they probs just wanna make money. We get in the car and he starts asking us our age, where we go school and personal info and while he was driving we didn’t see a taximeter and he was taking us through some backroads that we had never ever seen before and we’ve lived there our whole lives.
My friend was texting my brother at the time. She tells me oh your brother left me on seen and praise life360 for this I get a notification that my brother has 1% so I show it to her and say his phone probably died. The driver was like how would you know and I say me and my family have each others locations. He was like “Oh but you probably stop it so they don’t know where you are.” istg I sobered up then and I was like “No we trust each other bla bla bla.” and thats when he decided to make the right turn and get us home.
Then when I asked him how much he said €20 exactly which was even weirder cuz usually with taxi meters it’s never exact. It should’ve been like 8.72 or some stuff like that. I fully believe that was a trafficking attempt me and my friend talk about it to this day.
Image source: iva💕, Natasha Filippovskaya (not the actual photo)
#19
This one is more about my dad. When I was 13-14 me, my dad, and my sister got into a huge argument and I left the house and went on a walk across this bridge thing that was near my house. My dad followed me obviously because I was too young to be out around that area especially because it was closer to night.
Anyway my dads like chasing me down and I’m running from him and these 4 guys noticed it, and honestly I think they were just trying to help, but they came up to me and asked me if I knew the man chasing me and I considered saying no but I said yes that’s my dad I’m just mad and I want to be alone and he won’t let me go.
They said okay and they walked away, my dad later told me that 2 of the 4 guys were holding him down and threatening to end him, they had metal bats waiting to beat him with it if I had told them no. To this day I’m so glad I said yes.
Image source: A𖣂, Elías Manuel (not the actual photo)
#20
When I was like 16 I used to love staying up at night and usually around 2 am to 3am.
I used to go to the grocery store that was near my house like at the corner and I used to usually listen to music.
Once when I was going as usual. I saw my neighbor who was really old staring at me from his house that was beside the grocery store. My family knew him so I waved at him but he didn’t wave back so I just left.
The next day my mum told me that the old guy in that house died like yesterday afternoon. Never told my mum about this but I never went out alone at night again.
Image source: Ayesha, cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
#21
I was talking to a 30 year old when I was 13. He said he was in his 20s.
Fast forward I’m 16. We talked on and off for years, he was even my “boyfriend.” He wanted to come visit me (we lived in different states). I’d never be able to sneak out of my house though.
However, I was visiting my dad one summer and it was in the state the guy was in. He wanted to hang out and suggested I sneak out of the house so we could drink (I was 16!) and do who knows what.
My dad and stepmom would leave for work really early in the morning so I thought, sure. My parents left and he asked for the address. Idk what, but something stopped me. I was in the house with three of my little siblings and just knew rando+around them=not a good idea.
I deleted the address I had typed and never responded. Fast forward a few years and he was arrested for trafficking minors and adult women. Now I warn my students about how important it is to be safe on the internet.
Image source: shmennie🐧🌒🌙, cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
#22
Back when I was in middle school, I used to stop at a shop for snacks after school. There was a man who would always ask for my number, but I never responded and would just walk away. Then, news broke about a girl going missing in my town, a few days into the search, her body was found inside a freezer box (she had been r4ped and then stuffed into the freezer) and the perpetrator turned out to be the man who had asked for my number. If I give out my number that time, I might go through the same thing.
Image source: Hisàrhs, Kenneth Surillo (not the actual photo)
#23
When I was little like 7 years old I was obsessed with the chewable grape Tylenol. My Mom would buy the biggest bottle of them at Costco. Every single time I would eat them all. Once my Mom realized she started freaking out and I was just confused now looking back I understand why.
Image source: Ami <3, BOOM 💥 Photography (not the actual photo)
#24
My bff and In high school would always hitch hike everywhere! We would stop random cars and ask for rides, one time we met a guy who was a tattoo artist he gave us a ride and we got his number we called him a week later to get a ride and he said come to my house and get tattoos for free, we went and the house was full of gang members and the guy did give us one free tattoo each and then gave us a ride and we made it safe home and now that I think about it things could have been a lot worst.
Image source: Marilyn, Matt Jerome Connor (not the actual photo)
#25
My “friends” left me in a field at a party with a bunch of random guys I didn’t know.. 40 minutes from home they said they would help me get home. One guy took me to the woods to a mattress on the ground. I called her phone over and over no response. I had this instinct I was in danger. I shoved him and ran through the woods.. it was like midnight and I called my aunt sobbing once I found a road and saw a street sign and told her where to go. My aunt called my friends mother cussing her out. Never spoke to any of them again. I got mocked in highschool for this.. as the girl who couldn’t hang. They left me to men who were blackout and older than me.. god knows what they had planned for me.
Image source: kristy*.❤︎₊ ⊹, Adam Stuart (not the actual photo)
#26
The most terrifying incident happened when my brother, my cousin, and I, as children, went out without our parents’ knowledge and ran away to the mountains to play. The mountains were a residential area, but not very populated. While we were playing, we encountered three men who chased us, and somehow we managed to escape, only to discover later that they were serial k**lers.
Image source: Ashmeow, Andreas Ebner (not the actual photo)
#27
Went on a date with a guy when I was 18, met about a mile into some woodlands and he drove a big white van. There was absolutely no signal I got lost and ended up meeting at like 11pm. He had the whole back of the van filled with d***s but actually we had a lovely time and he was really kind, we didn’t date but we’re still friends now! This could have ended so so so badly.
Image source: ginaa, Murat IŞIK (not the actual photo)
#28
When I was 14 my house caught on fire and I ran inside to save my cat. Didn’t save her and also suffered between second and third burns.
Image source: y, Jani Kantokoski (not the actual photo)
#29
Not my story but my moms when she was younger. Her and a group of friends went to a party all of them got drunk even the driver. She decided to take a taxi instead not wanting to risk it all off her friends in the car (there were 6 people).
All 6 people d*ed that night they flew of a bridge they were d**d on sight never getting to go home.
Image source: Josie. hdh🇰🇪🌻, Julien (not the actual photo)
#30
My 2 friends and I snuck out with a bottle of vodka and went to the park to drink, (12-13 years old) we were walking back and a men in a car/ suv type drove up and told us to get in the car and we said no laughing thinking it was a joke and then 2 from the backseats starting to get out saying some like “you little b*****s better get in the car” one had a knife and 1 friend threw the bottle at the and we straight up ran home. Thankfully the suv drove in the opposite direction and we were fine. But honestly, always run, always scream, fight back.
Image source: coolcatmeowmeow2, Ron Lach (not the actual photo)
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