Recipe For Disaster
I live in a studio apartment that’s underneath a house, and a few years ago the original owners moved out and decided to rent it out to adults with special needs. It’s pretty much a revolving door, some stay for a year, some stay for a few weeks.
For the most part, they’re great, they leave me alone, bring me my packages right away, and are generally quiet and friendly.
Then there’s this one guy we’ll call Larry. He’s lived there the longest, since the beginning. He has severe schizophrenia and a speech impediment.
He has multiple “people” he talks to and some are friendly, and some are hostile to him. One of these is “Mike”. He and I got along for the most part but he’s very, very loud. Unfortunately, he can’t help it.
I’ve had to check on him a few times to make sure he’s okay when he’s having a meltdown and contact his social worker.
He’s a stomper, and the floors above my bedroom are laminate, so it’s amplified. The walls are pretty thin, and above my room is where he likes to hang out the most.
Usually, it’s him just talking to himself loudly but sometimes he’ll dribble a basketball. He’ll also move furniture, or make other odd noises at times like 4 am when I’m sleeping. He’s all by himself in the house this week because his roommates are with their families for Christmas right now.
This is a recipe for disaster. He does not do well alone. Today, he had a full-blown meltdown. Screaming, shouting, banging on the walls. I work from home so obviously this got very distracting.
I went out to check the mail and he was outside aggressively playing basketball in the driveway, shouting, blasting music, and making a scene the whole neighborhood could hear. I asked him if he’s okay and needs help, and that he’s being very loud.
I was as tactful as I could be but stern enough to get the message across that he’s behaving poorly. The look he gave me was deadly, and he nearly threw a basketball at me. He stomped off, went inside, and shouted some more.
Mind you, I can’t understand much of what he’s saying because his speech impediment is so severe. I texted his social worker, who never came by. Then it turned downright terrifying.
I was in the kitchen making dinner when I heard him having a conversation with his other personality, and the conversation I overheard was “I want to kill him, Mike”. “You can’t Larry, he’s nice”. “But I hate him”. “Don’t do it”. “Yes”. “No”. “YES I WANT TO”. “YOU CAN’T”.
It went like this for a few minutes until I heard him stomp off. I always felt safe in my apartment, but this is waaaayyy to much.
I can’t say for sure he was talking about me because he never said my name but just the fact that he’s contemplating this in the middle of a meltdown by himself is making me VERY concerned.
I haven’t heard back from the social workers, and my landlord is a state away. Story credit: Reddit / (Caleon0817)