The concept of guilt is an interesting thing to ponder.

Sometimes it’s justified and rational to feel guilty. If a young child breaks a rule but doesn’t want to admit it and get in trouble, the look of guilt might be all over their face and easy for a parent to read. They did something wrong, and they know it.

Adults are often the same way. If you do something to offend someone, or you knowingly break the law, you feel guilty. Because you are guilty.

But sometimes we feel that way, even if we HAVEN’T done anything wrong.

This is often the case with veterans who have been in war. They’re fighting shoulder to shoulder, on the front lines, and one day their buddy right next to them gets shot. One person dies, and the one who gets to go home feels intense guilt about that.

Or it might be a case where a person is drowning, and a stranger jumps in the water and saves their life, but the stranger ends up drowning. The person who was saved is left to wonder how to deal with the fact that they’re alive because someone else died.

My guest today is Hayley. When she was a teenager, she found herself in a dangerous situation. In the end, she was the only witness to two people getting murdered, right in front of her. And those two people were killed while they were trying to help keep her safe.

If you’d like to contact Hayley, you can send her an email:

[email protected]

Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/126

This episode is sponsored by The Compulsive Storyteller podcast – short stories told by host Gregg LeFevre. Listen on any podcast app, or at TheCompulsiveStoryteller.com. 

This episode is also sponsored by the Obscura podcast – the darker side of true crime. If you like the gritty details, listen on any podcast app, or at itsobscura.com.

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