so when I was 17 I was stealing cash from my mom's purse, not huge amounts but enough that she noticed. I was trying way too hard to fit in with older kids and wasting money on dumb stuff for people who did not care about me anyway. My little brother was 13 and always seemed nervous, like he expected to get blamed for things. One night my mom realized more money was gone and started questioning both of us. I knew I should admit it, but before I said anything she focused on him because he was acting weird. He started crying and saying he did not do it, and I just stood there and let it happen. I barely even had to lie. My mom grounded him, took his console, canceled a school trip, and kept saying she was more upset that he was lying than stealing. After a while he stopped defending himself and just went quiet. I kept telling myself I would confess later, but I never did. Im 29 now and we are civil but not close. A couple years ago he brought it up while we were drinking and said that was the moment he realized nobody in the house was ever going to believe him over me, so after that he stopped trying. He was right. My mom still thinks he did it and I think it permanently changed how she sees him. I did that. Now I keep thinking about confessing, but it feels gross because it seems like I would just be doing it to dump my guilt on everyone else after all these years. I know I earned the guilt.