Woman’s ex left her with years of belongings after walking away — when he came back asking for his stuff, she made sure he wouldn’t forget her
Breakups can get messy, but some exes make it especially hard to move on when they leave you with all the responsibilities they once shared. Instagram creator Erika T, who posts as @blackbird_erika, experienced something similar. In a post shared on June 2, 2026, she explained that her ex abandoned their life together, leaving her to deal with years’ worth of belongings in storage. When he eventually came back asking for his things, she decided he could have them, but not without taking one unforgettable piece of their past with him.
Months after her ex walked away from their life together, Erika was still left dealing with the belongings he had abandoned. Then, after telling her to do whatever she wanted with his things, he suddenly started asking for specific items back. Instead of simply mailing them, Erika decided to be petty and make sure he could not take his possessions and forget what he had done. She said she would "embroider and burn and spray paint memories of me all over" his belongings, putting her initials over the heart of a sweatshirt he loved and burning the symbol of their relationship into the sheath of his K-bar knife. She said, "You can have them, baby, but you ain’t going to forget me if you get them."
The revenge came after Erika had spent months dealing with the aftermath of their breakup largely on her own. She said the couple had packed up five years of their life into storage units because they were supposed to move in together, but her ex went ahead to secure their new apartment and then abandoned the plan. Erika shared in the video that he began drinking, using drugs, and cheating on her, while blaming her for what happened. He told her to throw away his belongings, but months later, he came back asking for specific items. That was when Erika decided she was done being the "good person" and wanted his belongings to come with a reminder of the hurt he had caused.
Her approach, however, attracted mixed reactions in the comments. @the_eddie_baby bluntly wrote, "He dodged a bullet," while @nerd_gainz suggested a harsher alternative: "Sell all of his shit. If he wants anything back, he can buy it at twice the price." Another commenter, @sourcedreamer, took a more supportive view, writing, "Oh girl, the trash just took itself out. Count your blessings and move on."
Sometimes the most personal and silent revenge is making an ex see their favorite possessions differently. In another breakup revenge story, a woman learned that her sister's partner had been unfaithful after she had spent years accommodating his intense fear of sharp objects. After discovering the cheating, she went to his knife block, took the knives he regularly used, and dulled the blades against concrete, leaving nicks in them. The revenge was especially personal because she knew using those damaged knives would trigger the very discomfort she had spent years helping him avoid.
To see more of her content, follow @blackbird_erika on Instagram.