The weeks leading up to moving back into the city consisted of arguments at home about me moving away and how I was going to fund it and how I was going to survive even though I had been accepted into the course, been for an interview and found accomodation. I had not found a job yet but I was getting a payment for doing the course.
The flat i found was in a nice part of town and it was with two men and a woman. They were all older than me and had professional jobs but they seemed nice enough. I had also went from about 15 and a half stone to 13 and a half stone, losing two stones before I left, which I felt really good about as I had struggled with overeating all through my teens, which I blame on school and the problems I had learning. I was still trying to get more off so was eating Tesco light ready meals every night and had switched to brown bread. I started my classes and everything was going fairly well. I had some problems with some other classmates who were straight out of school and with group work and meeting up with people I didn’t really like that much, but I made some friends and started socializing. My weight continued to drop throughout the year. I was walking a lot and went swimming sometimes and was limiting my diet to about 1500 cals a day. By the end of first year I was down to just over 11 stone and I was passing my assignments. Although the flat was nice I only stayed there 6 months as I was a bit out of my depth with the people who lived there and felt a bit young next to them. A family member suggested a guy she knew from work who was a charge nurse and had a spare room. She lived 10 minutes down the road, so we could meet up and things. He was quite a bit older than me at 37 he was 15 years older, which I was a bit concerned about but some of my family knew him and said he was quite a nice guy. I moved in there, it was the other side of town and next to a football stadium but I got the rent quite cheap. It was all fine at first, he was friendly and didn’t mind me bringing friends back for drinks but he started getting over familiar, standing too close and making comments as if we were together, he even asked me to pass him a beer from the fridge and i got the impression he was lying to people about us being together when we certainly weren’t. I sat my exams at the end of term and they went well. After one particular one I had been worrying about I went back but no one was there, then I got a phone call to come to a party with him, my cousin and some other people. I just wanted to chill out, get some food and go to bed but they persisted and said they would get me a taxi and that I had to celebrate so I agreed. My cousin had made us Mac and cheese because I had hardly eaten. We were just having drinks but there was a few people there I didn’t really know and a lot of people coming and going, I couldn’t really get out of it. At some point I went to the kitchen to get my drink that was supposed to be coming, I seen it pushed back against the counter
I thought something was off but I just took it and drank it. Half an hour later I was falling asleep over the chair. My cousin took me to her flatmates room and suggested I lie down. I did. Next thing I remember was waking and seeing spiders climbing the walls which at first I found quite amusing but then I got freaked out. I got up to get some water but my hands were like jelly and I dropped the cup and then I remember collapsing to the ground, although I was still semi conscious. They all came running through including my flatmate who I was feeling increasingly agitated with at this point, he was trying to get me up but I just wanted to lie with my head against the cold ground. Eventually I got sick of his nagging and forced myself up and ran to the bathroom and fell over the step and smacked my face against the bath. When I came to I had two of them standing over me telling me I had cut my eye. I started freaking out but realized it was under my eye but I had to go to hospital. My cousin was taking someone home so it had to be my flatmate. I spent the next 5 or 6 hours in a and e where I was all over the place and needed several staff near me. They tried finding someone to do toxicology tests but unfortunately they weren’t there that night. I am sure my drink was spiked but cant be sure which one of them did it. I got home about 6 in the morning after getting stitches, where i just went to bed and my flatmate called my mum and she came and got me later on and I spent a few nights there. After 8 months in that house I decided I didn’t want to live with him, I got my cousin to help me tell him and get my things out as I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be but he was making comments and standing too close and although i dont normally snoop around I looked in one of his drawers and found some things that concerned me. I moved into my cousins spare room which she made up for me. I found out in may I had passed all my exams so that made it all worth it.
Living with Neurodivergence 