Diaries of Elle Rose

8

09.16.18

    So it's been four days since I've last written anything besides a few poems. God, so much has happened. I'll start by saying that I got a new roommate named Lauren. She's 32 though she looks like she’s 20, and she has an undiagnosed mental illness at this time. She's incredibly kind and the two of us have gotten really close.
   
Now you remember that guy who tried to get me into his room? Well this time it worked, with Lauren. The staff walked into his room and the prick had his pants down. This happened because he took advantage of her mental illness and somehow was able to convince her that he was her husband. Because of this whole situation they moved Lauren to Unit A which I was unaware of at the time this happened. They just violently dragged her out while she was crying.
 
   With her gone I only got more depressed and the violence in Unit B just got worse and I was close to snapping. So I started to beg the nurses. Beg and beg and even cry. I wasn't sure if the crying was real though or if it was just knowing what to do, because it worked.
 
   Thanks to one of the nurses I got back into Unit A. He did everything in his power and more to get me back there and for that I am forever grateful. Though, truthfully, a part of me feels like he only did this because he was tired of me.
 
   Upon moving back, my roommate was this old woman who just slept and snored all day but I did hear that she was a writer, but then again, what do I know?
 
   I also noticed after several minutes that Lauren was here and not in one of the other units. When she saw me she cried and that almost made me want to cry. She told me that I was the only person that she trusted in this place.
 
   You see, she has this problem where she gets extremely obsessive thoughts about things, it could be people, books, movies, or theories and she sees them as warnings or as if they're telling her what she needs to do. She got sent to Herrick because she watched some movie about artificial intelligence that convinced her that she had to hurt her neighbors because she believed that they weren't her real neighbors but rather A.I.
 
   I remember on her second morning here she was trying to make a phone call to her mom but she was just so confused. I asked her what she was doing and she said “calling my mom” and I asked if she wanted help. The phone was already picked up and the operator was waiting for someone to give her a number. Lauren was holding a piece of paper with a list of names and number that she had but instead of reading the numbers she just said “I’d like to call my mom please” so I reply “No, what's the number?” And she just said emotionless into the phone “What's the number?” At this I told her to give me the paper with her mom's number so I could call it. The operator was very clearly annoyed and although it took some time eventually we got through it, and this is now how we do it most mornings and nights. I found myself taking care of her almost all of the time. I didn't mind this though because it at least gave me something to do.
 
   Anyway, back to the point, I was rather upset, well we both were because we weren't roommates in this unit and she was terrified of everything without me. Apparently she hasn't slept since she left Unit B. So I found myself going up to my nurse and asking him about the room problem and how Lauren has no roommate so there's even a free bed and that would both feel more comfortable if we were together. She also told him that she feels better and safer if we were together.
 
   He then told us that he would do all he could to get us into the same room and I truly felt like I could trust that. After a day of trying and failing and trying and failing we finally got a yes answer.