A woman who text her brother six months after his death to say she missed him ended up bonding with the stranger who replied.
The grieving sister had been texting the number frequently ever since her brother’s passing, but as it had not yet been reassigned to another person, her texts went unanswered.
Yesterday was the first time she received a response to her text, something the woman says she had been ‘dreading’ because it meant she had to stop texting her brother.
What ensued though was instead a heartwarming interaction between two grieving people, which all started when the woman sent a text to her brother’s number saying: ‘I just MISS YOU so much. God. What the hell’.
The woman shared screenshots of the text messages to Reddit, which showed the unknown recipient responding, simply informing the woman she had the wrong number before adding: ‘I’m sorry to here [sic] you’re missing someone’.
It’s at this point the woman informed the stranger of her brother’s passing in March, saying she sometimes ‘liked to text his number like he could hear [her]’. She then apologised, leading the other woman to write: ‘Don’t be sorry!!’
She then said she was going through a similar thing right now, confiding in the woman that her ‘cousin who’s like a sister to [her]’ was expected to pass away ‘any day now’ so she ‘completely understands’. She told the woman she could text any time she needed to.
Her next text read:
Also feel free to share anything about your brother. Sometimes it helps just remembering the good times. I know we don’t know each other, but don’t mind being a sounding board.
The grieving sister, who had her brother’s name saved as ‘brothaboo,’ thanked her and called her new friend a ‘good human’, telling her not to hesitate reaching out to her in the coming weeks and months.
Writing in the comments section of the post, the woman confirmed her older brother by two years had died on March 4 as a result of heroin, and said the exchange made her ‘love humans even more’.
She said that, despite initially being ‘scared’ to open the text message, she’s glad she did because ‘look how wonderful it turned out’.
What a lovely moment, and our thoughts are with both women at this difficult time.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence contact Cruse Bereavement Care via their national helpline on 0808 808 1677.
A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).