Before I say anything in regards to what I went through during the last weeks of summer, I need all your guys’ trust that ya’ll don’t speak of this to anyone else and that it’ll stay in this community only. Please, I’m not allowed to mention any of this to anyone else, but I’ve been here long enough to the point where I can hopefully trust all of you in keeping this in between all of us, and I really want to address this so that people out there can see what mental illnesses can do to you, even in the most random of times.

*Disclaimer: I’m going to give 2 of my sisters each a different name for privacy reasons, both are 18 and 19 in real life*

It was around 4 pm, somewhat around 2 weeks before school started, and I was on the couch
doing usual. Lori notified us that her boyfriend was waiting outside for a reason that we didn’t understand, but she told us and left outside to see what he wanted. Lilly followed her just in case, and it wasn’t until about 5 mins that they both ran back and was panicking. I asked what’s wrong? Lilly said that Lori and her boyfriend were arguing over something, I couldn’t decipher what it was about. 5 mins later and Lori rushed back inside and told the rest of the siblings to close all the blinds and windows and lock the door, that’s when I knew something wasn’t right. This moment has to be one of the most frightening moments of my life, I heard Lori screaming in her room to her boyfriend who was outside her window yelling at her to get her electronics and give it to him, that was when Lilly rushed out of the room and told us to stay calm and stay together in the living room. It was too late for calmness because they all started to get scared and worried about their own safety, one of them was crying. I was stuck in a motionless state, couldn’t do anything but just think about what could happen to all of us. Lilly grabbed a knife for self-protection, but she didn’t use it because she isn’t that crazy, and while doing that called my dad who was with his friend watching a game at his house. After that phone call, I could hear louder yelling, my dog barking, even heard a window break, Lori was in the room crying scaredly, calling the police at the same time. Lilly took the phone from Lori since she didn’t comply with the cops at the other end, and told them what was happening and to come asap. I see my younger siblings crying, myself looking at the living room windows making sure they were locked, as well as a lookout for Loris’ boyfriend, who I saw, but he was heading away from our home. The cops came shortly after and did an investigation looking for Loris’ boyfriend, which resulted in him coming back and confronting the police outside our house. The result was that he would go to some mental hospital for a few months for rehab, which didn’t happen because his mom wanted him to stay with her instead which was the real outcome of it all.

Unfortunately, that’s all I can say from all that, but this is an example of what can happen to someone with a mental illness. He has a past of negative behavior, as well as lots of visits to many mental hospitals, but none of them worked, so, unfortunately, he acted the way he did that frightening day.

Always help others, listen to their story, maybe you can save a life, you’ll never know unless you take action.

We’ll never suffer alone