To ask: have you ever had someone just stop speaking to you for no reason?

[GutsyBrickMoose]

Not a big argument, not a clear falling out - just silence.

Someone you were close with suddenly withdrawing, ignoring calls or messages, and acting like you no longer exist.

If so, how did you deal with it and did they ever come back?

I haven’t had it happen to me and I wouldn’t do this to someone else. I think it’s terrible behaviour.

There will be a reason though, you just aren't aware of it.

Yes - my whole family ! Narcissistic mother made up a huge amount of really really unpleasant lies. They all believe her !

Yes and it was directly after I had given her a lot of support through something. I asked her about it, she denied it but then continued to blank me. I then ignored her back. She started sending me sporadic texts but being icy to my face.
I then told her I was cutting her out completely as I was sick of wondering if she was talking to me or not, then she went round and told everyone she was so upset because I had suddenly cut her off for no reason ( basically what she'd done to me). I never found out why she'd cut me off but she's very tight with another friend and I think she felt she couldn't keep up two friendships. I still have to see her regularly but I ignore her. She runs and hides away from me when she sees me like it's a big deal but I'm not arsed, I'm done and I won't ever talk to her again.

Happened to me with a work colleague after I had been off work with sickness.
Made me quite sad at the time but now feel they can't have been my friend in the first place. Awkward at work though sometimes

Yes aged 15. A friend completely cut me off. I am 55 and still wonder why. It was awful at the time.

Yes school mum friend. Started not including me on days out etc then stopped speaking all together. She has since done it to other mutual friends so think it's her issue not mine

Good friends, chatted by Whatsapp a few times a week, met up for a drink a couple of times a month. Last time we spoke was nothing out of the ordinary. No arguments and nothing bad was said.

Next time I went to message them, they'd gone from Whatsapp and I noticed they'd blocked me on Facebook too.

Asked a mutual friend to find out what happened but the ex-friend refused to speak about it. Mutual friend then had an argument with them saying their behaviour was out of order, so that friendship broke down as well.

Still have no idea why I was cut off like that.

Yes. Gave her a job at a company where I held a senior role, trained her, became friends. Company was taken over, I was made redundant, she wasn't. She stopped speaking to me as soon as I left. Never heard from her since (nearly 3 years) even though I've messaged a few times to see if she fancies a coffee or to ask how she is.

No idea why.

Yes - a girl at my school who was the kind of girl who everybody wanted to be friends with but at the same time everyone was scared of. She used to decide each week who would be ignored, ie: "Sent to Coventry" and you would arrive at school and discover it was you when nobody was talking to you. It was horrible.

Not a hugely close friend, but someone I knew when our children were little (decades ago). We used to see each other at toddler groups and similar and sometimes at each other's houses. We always got on well, I thought. When the eldest children started nursery school we stopped bumping into each other naturally. I rang up in the hope of arranging a time to meet. Left a message with her partner. She never rang back. Fair enough, I thought she might just have forgotten. I waited a few weeks and tried again. Same result. Took the hint. She's moved on, that's that. Wasn't particularly bothered.

Then months later out of the blue she rang up. Very friendly and chatty, how were we, this is how we are, etc etc. Asked if I'd heard about a proposed local event near in the local park which she thought would be very disruptive. I hadn't and was concerned. We discussed what we could do and my husband and I then produced some leaflets and distributed them locally, lobbied some councillors, event was re-located. Result!

A few months later I saw her in the local park and went over to say hello. She was with a friend and the chill coming off her would have flash frozen a bag of peas. She never contacted or spoke to me again. Absolute user. I have no idea what I did to offend her in the first place but it's very clear she only contacted me again because she knew I was (back then) somebody who she could rely on to swing into action. I'd been involved in various community groups as an organiser and committee member. Pah.

Yes. Had lunch with a ‘friend’, sent a text to say it was good to catch up, didn’t have a reply, texted again to say I hoped things were OK, no reply again. Gave up. Three years ago. Absolutely no idea why.

There will be a reason, OP they just don't want to discuss it. Some people don't like confrontation.

Yeah: a friend did this. We had been close (each others bridesmaids). Then I had my child and a few years later she had one. We met up one day and she’s not spoken to me since. And I don’t know what’s happened .

There’s always a reason

I befriended a new woman in the neighbourhood. She and her DH and mine were all from the same country . We babysat, holidayed together spoke every day. Then she started meeting up with other neighbours and her sons friends parents . No problem to me , I too had other friends . But it seems I wasn't enough of a party girl , mean talker or liked to spend silly money to keep up with each other. Totally dumped , no explanation or discussion. Shame as I really missed her for awhile .

Yes. Best friend. Something happened, but no idea what. Happened about a year after she met her now husband. She blocked me out of her life and when I tried to meet up a few times to talk about it, she always cancelled last minute. I eventually gave up... It sucked. No feelings on it now, as it's been years, but I do feel sad that our lovely friendship just ended.

It hasn’t happened to me but I know alot of people who are moving in silence and making their circles small and private since we hit our mid 30s.

Yes. My stepmum abruptly blocked me after my dad died last year. We had even got quite close during the initial funeral and acute grieving period but now, nothing.
We don't live in the same country so contact was always either by phone or email but still. I worry sometimes that her mental or physical health has taken a turn for the worse but she has her own adult son who lives nearby so I'm a fifth wheel really. She could ring or message me right now and I would carry on as if nothing had happened. Bereavement is tough. I'm grieving too of course but y'know.

I'm basically my dad in every way so maybe talking to me triggers her.

Yep 15 year friendship ended when I bought a house in an area she wanted to live in. I got married around the same time. She actually goes into my hairdressers to slag me off. I think she was secretly happy when I was a single mum with no money.

Yes my 2 best friends. They slowly edged me out when they were both pregnant at the same time. There's 9 years age difference between me and them and my dc are 17/20 so i just didn't fit their life style anymore unfortunately. It hurt for a long time but I've made my peace with it to some extent.

Happened to me as a kid when I was about ten, both best friends just suddenly started blanking me.

It haunted me for years. I went on to make other friends but I never found out why. I've never spoken about it to anyone IRL.

Years later one of them tried to reach out on Facebook, instant block. Fuck you 😂

I've moved on from a friend. Whenever we met she always got a sly racist comment in, which I would pull her up on. I used to come home feeling pretty low after meeting up She was better off than me but always managed to never pay her full way when we met for coffee and cake. .
I made excuses to why I couldn't meet but she never took the hint. I don't know if it would have been kinder to outright tell her that I didn't want to have a friendship with her anymore.

I did this to someone who was once my best friend. We had drifted apart over the years and she changed a lot. We only saw each other about once a year, but the last few times we met I starred to feel that she was definitely more of a frenemy than a friend. The final time we met she told me some lies about another mutual friend (I was much closer this mutual friend than she realised so I was 100% sure she was lying) and also she went on about her supposedly amazing life so much that I couldn't get a word in edgeways to tell her some important news of my own.
I didn't want a confrontation with her, couldn't face it, so i ghosted her. That was about 5 years ago now and I don't regret doing it.

This falls into the, "No good turn goes unpunished" category.