"I wrote 'p*ssy' in their paper" – What started as a joke ended in drama

I pulled the chair out from under my cousin at their wedding. I was tipsy and thought it would look funny on video when they fell. Unfortunately, they broke their tailbone and injured their spine. Since then, one leg hasn’t moved well and feels numb.

My brother and I thought it would be funny to prank our mom by sprinkling gelatin powder in the sink. The drain got clogged, and fixing it cost a fortune. Mom raised us alone and told us our summer vacation was canceled because the saved money went to plumbing repairs. We spent the whole summer stuck at home in our small apartment.

We scared my girlfriend at a party so badly that she had a seizure and hit her head on the kitchen counter. She broke her two upper front teeth, and fixing them cost a lot. We, the pranksters, chipped in for the dental bills, but her smile was never quite the same.

We let my grandma’s cows out and gave them a good pat. They ran wild, trampling the vegetable garden and flower beds, then scattered through the village causing chaos. Police and firefighters had to get involved, and it took until evening to round them up. After that, we didn’t get any allowance, toys, or new clothes for five years.

I smeared fake blood on my hand and screamed, pretending I’d cut my finger. My aunt fainted and hit her head on the tile so hard that I had to call an ambulance and she needed surgery. She missed a long-awaited trip to Greece, and half the family cut ties with us over it.

While drinking at a friend’s place, I noticed an essay open on their computer. I jokingly typed “pussy” into a random paragraph and forgot about it. I thought they’d catch it before submitting. They didn’t. The teacher found out and failed them because of the word, which they didn’t even know was there.

I tied my little brother to the garage door while searching his room because I suspected he’d stolen one of my toys. When I came back, he’d accidentally hit the opener and got hung up on the rolling door. His face turned blue before I got him down, and he nearly suffocated. For years after, he blackmailed me, threatening to tell mom I almost killed him.

I swapped my mechanic friend’s morning espresso with oil. As usual, he came in, drank it, and we laughed thinking he was joking. But he got so sick we had to call an ambulance and flush his stomach. He was in critical condition and spent days in the hospital.

I told a coworker I heard they were getting fired that day just to prank them. They went to their computer and sent a mass email exposing everyone’s secrets: who slacks off, cheats schedules, fiddles with invoices, and abuses sick leave. No one was spared. In the end, everyone got fired except them.

My friends and I stole the stop sign from the edge of town. It was just a harmless prank, and we returned it a few hours later. But by then, a crowd had gathered at the intersection because we caused a major accident.

Photos: istockphoto.com