When I started University, I was studying quite far from my hometown. I was a broke teen so didn’t have any choice of whether I wanted to apply for accommodation or rent an apartment. I applied for the University’s on-campus accommodation which actually seemed pretty modern and fresh! I wasn’t too bothered by this as it was my dream Uni, my dream course, and moving out of my parent’s noisy townhouse seemed pretty tempting… I have 6 siblings and I’m the oldest. I guess I’ve always had pressure to set a good example for my siblings, to graduate high school and get into a decent university, which I did.
It was July and I finally got the email confirming my place for accommodation! I was thrilled but quickly came to the realization that these flats were two bedrooms, therefore I would be placed with some… stranger. Since all my friends were going to other Universities I knew I had to make some new friends at some point, so this seemed an easy opportunity. Around 2 weeks before the semester was beginning I received an email confirming my flat number, location, facilities, and the name of my flatmate, Annie.
I was looking forward to meeting her so I decided to begin moving into the flat a few days later. There are usually activities the week before the semester starts which I thought Annie and I could attend together.
On Saturday morning, my parents and I traveled early to the campus with the car stuffed full of everything I would need, which I definitely overpacked for! We pulled into the small 5 Bay car park which sat in between my building and the facilities building which had the laundry in it. There were no other cars around so my parents and I got to work unpacking everything and carrying it up the flight of stairs to my flat. It was, as I expected, clean and relatively new feeling in there, with a small living room, kitchen, two decently sized bedrooms, and one small bathroom in between the two rooms. Since Annie hadn’t arrived yet, I chose the bedroom closest to the living room, leaving her with the one closer to the front door. After a few hours of unpacking, I waved off my parents and decided to order dinner on UberEats.
The following day, Annie arrived. She was alone and came quite early as I was still in bed on my phone. I quickly got dressed and introduced myself, Annie was small, she had dark hair and seemed a little shy. I got a bit of a weird feeling from her but nonetheless, we traded phone numbers and went about our days without saying much to each other. I was hoping this awkwardness would pass as time went on but for the first week of living together, which was the activities week, Annie spent most of her time alone in her room…
The first semester rolled around quickly and except for a few strange encounters with Annie over the week, I really hadn’t seen her much at all. These strange encounters with Annie consisted of her asking me weird questions such as “Can you stay in your room after midnight please?” and “What’s your favourite meat marinade” Just such random questions I barely knew how to answer. She would also frequently knock on my door in the middle of the night to check if I was sleeping… I texted my parents with my concerns and they said to just wait it out and see what would happen and maybe I would make some friends in my classes. Annie wasn’t on the same course as me, which I was sort of glad about, to be honest. She seemed a little distant, rarely left her room, and was pretty messy when it came to cooking in the kitchen. Multiple times I had to clean up after her. Annie also didn’t store much food in the fridge, only a few things here and there, but she almost always seemed to be eating some type of meat every night as the whole flat would smell after it! It wasn’t a nice smell either… I thought maybe she was buying the meat fresh and cooking it that night, before having to store it in a fridge. But I then realized that she hardly left the flat anyways, I just didn’t know what to think.
A few days went by, and I began becoming friendly with a girl on my course called Melissa. I decided to tell her that Annie seemed a little strange and asked if she could come around to my flat to meet her and to see what she was like in real life. That evening, Melissa came round for dinner, but there was no sign of Annie, we were thinking she was in her room, although she was eerily quiet… Sure enough, at around 11 pm Annie emerged from her room, Melissa and I were sitting in the living room when we heard Annie’s door open and her shuffling out. I peered around the wall to see her wearing a baggy jacket and carrying a backpack. She turned to look at me but said nothing and left the flat, slamming the door behind her. “You see what I mean?” I questioned Melissa, pointing down the hall. She laughed, “Looks like you’ve got a bit of a nightmare roommate!” And a nightmare roommate she was.
The next day I was up late again working on a few assignments when I stopped mid-typing to the sound of the front door opening, Annie was again leaving around midnight. It was a little strange but we were teenagers, maybe she was going out to a bar? The door slammed but then quickly reopened and I heard Annie shuffling back inside. I thought nothing of it at first, but then I jolted upright at a loud knock at my door. I cracked open my door to see Annie standing there, looking a little rough like she hadn’t showered in weeks! Then the smell hit me, like the smell of death, I had to cover my nose with my cardigan. “Are you hungry?” she asked, sort of whispering. I thought for a second, even though I was, I decided it was best to say no. “I’m going out for food” she stated, before quickly making a shuffle back to the front door, slamming it behind her.
I stood for a second, not quite sure how to react. I sat back down at my desk but my flow of writing had stopped, all I could think about was that putrid smell. My curiosity got the better of me and I thought having a peek into Annie’s room wouldn’t do any harm.
The smell intensified as I peeled the door away from the frame, it was pitch black so I felt the wall beside me for a light switch. Before I could find one, something caught my eye in the corner of the room, I turned my head and 5 seconds later a little red dot flashed straight at me. A camera? I thought to myself, stroking the wall for the switch. I found it, quickly turning it on and blinding myself. As my eyes adjusted, I began to feel sick. There, in the corner of Annie’s room was a dog crate containing at least 5 dead animals. I began to retch, the crate was containing skinned and rotting rats and birds. How did I not smell this before? How long had it been there? I didn’t want to know the answer to these. Next to the crate was a smaller cage containing a live mouse with a camera pointing toward it. I couldn’t look any longer, I ran out of the room slamming the door, and returning to my room. Crying, I decided to call Melissa. Thankfully she answered and agreed to come around to be with me for a while. Melissa arrived 20 minutes later, despite my advice she opened Annie’s door herself and went inside. Seconds later she ran out and straight into the bathroom to throw up. Melissa deserved a “told you so” but I wouldn’t be so cruel.
“What are you going to do?” Melissa asked. “I suppose I should report her to the Uni?” I replied… That’s all I could do. Melissa stayed for a while waiting for Annie, but after 3 am, we were both tired and decided to call it a night. I let Melissa out but all I could smell was Annie’s room so I had to have a shower before getting into bed and going to sleep. Not long after I had fallen asleep, I was awoken by the sound of a door opening, Annie’s home. I opened my eyes to see that MY door was open and the light from the hall was now flooding my room. “Annie?” I called out, her shadow filled the doorway. “Did you go into MY room?” she angrily asked. The light in her room! I didn’t shut it off! “Oh, Annie, I’m sorry, I just-” Before I could finish what I was trying to say, Annie launched at me on my bed. We fell off onto the ground when I realized Annie was covered in blood! The smell hit me again, making me weak. Annie took advantage of this, pinning me down. We pushed back and forth but eventually I was able to get on top of her. Annie was smaller and frail compared to me so this was definitely to my advantage. “What are you doing with those…. Animals?” I blurted out. She couldn’t answer, instead, Annie suddenly got weak and I backed off of her. She was shaking, “DON’T TELL ANYONE! Or, or, I’LL KILL YOU TOO!” she shouted, running back into her room and slamming the door. I stood there, confused, angry, and sore from fighting with Annie.
That night I broke the University accommodation rules and stayed at Melissa’s flat, sleeping on her floor. I received threatening text messages from Annie, and 11 missed calls that night. The next morning I called my parents to come and collect me. I didn’t tell them exactly what happened but they headed down that afternoon. I retrieved my belongings from the flat, thankfully not coming into contact with Annie… And after reporting Annie to the University, about a week later I was placed in a new accommodation and received a phone call from the Uni asking me to provide a statement to the Police for the assault. The Police informed me Annie had been taken into a psychiatric ward after being found killing, skinning, dismembering, and consuming animals. Unfortunately, this is all I was able to find out and to this day I haven’t heard anything since.
5 years later, Melissa and I are still close friends and we talk regularly about the experience with Annie. It was the strangest few weeks of my life and the most traumatizing night of my life, but after all this time, I am glad Annie is getting the help she needed before she hurt anyone else or made herself sick from eating the animals.