No Place Like Home
“I suffer from schizophrenia. The other night, I had an extreme episode of psychosis. I don’t remember much about what happened. I was wearing sweatpants and high heels and was wandering around my apartment complex. I decided to go home. The main door in my apartment complex requires a key card like a hotel, but my roommates always leave the back door open.
So I walked into what I thought was my apartment and made myself comfy on the couch. I tried to go into my room, but it was locked, which confused me because I never lock my door. It took me a while to realize that I had walked into the wrong apartment. The people who lived there thought I was a friend of one of the other roommates, so it took them a minute to register what had happened.
When they did, they freaked out, understandably, and called the authorities on me. The officer thought I was drinking or on substances, but I showed him my medical emergency card that explains that I have schizophrenia. After he read the card, I was totally out of trouble and he just wanted to make sure I got home safely.
I don’t even remember the specific interactions that I had with the people who lived there when they saw me, as I wasn’t super lucid until the officer came. So yeah. Now these people just have a story about how a random schizophrenic woman in sweats and high heels walked into their house one night and made herself at home.”