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Janet was the roommate I had found, and people most times thought of us as twins because we bore the same name. I was Jane and she was Janet, and to top it all, we solidified our friendship by always sticking together. We made the same hairstyle and always wore matching outfits. It was fun until she made some friends and without warning, she changed overnight.
It all began when her friend, Juliet took her to a party outside the campus, and Janet spent a week without returning home. I was scared and worried so I kept calling her line, but I got no response. I went as far as visiting Juliet's Lodge (the name for student apartments in Nigerian universities), and we yelled at each other.
"Janet is not your child, she's not even your sister, so why are you bothering her so much as you care?" Juliet screamed.
"She's my roommate and I have the right to know where she is. I've been lying to her parents for the past week about her whereabouts when I'm not even sure if she's safe. Where did you take her to?" I asked her.
We yelled at each other and I left the room. Some days later, Janet returned home, and I asked where she had been. To my greatest surprise and uttermost shock, she flared up and rained abuses on me.
"Why do you care? You've been calling and disturbing my friends as if you're my mother." She yelled at me.
"What are you even saying? I've been lying to your mom for the past week. Why are you acting this way? Should I have kept quiet when I'm not sure of your safety?" I asked her.
"Yes, keep quiet and stop acting like a saint that you're not. You better stay away from me because we ain't on the same level anymore." She snapped and left the room, shutting the door with a loud bang.
I went back to the bed and wondered what had come over her. I hoped she'd be better and maybe we could clear our misunderstandings, but Janet got worse as the days went by. She started keeping late nights and as if that wasn't enough, she began to bring different men home causing me inconveniences, as I had to sleep at my friend's lodge whenever her friends came around.
I complained and reminded her of our agreement before we started living together, but each time I did that, she would yell and throw insults at me.
"Madam Jane, you won't be the one to tell me when I'll have a friend over." She would always say.
"Janet, this isn't funny anymore. I can't keep sleeping out because of your friends. I paid a higher rent for this room, but I can't remember the last time I slept here. I've been tolerating this act of yours, but I can't do that anymore." I said to her.
"Kill yourself if you want, or you can move out, but I'll do whatever I want and you won't do anything about it." She replied and went away.
It felt like an arrow had pierced my chest when she said that. I sat down for a long time and wondered how we got to this stage. I went to my friend's lodge and poured out my heart to her. She consoled me and still scolded me.
"You gave room for all this nonsense that's going on. If you had made your stand known from the beginning, all of this would've been avoided. She should know her place because you can actually send her out of the house. If I were you, that's exactly what I'd do since she doesn't want to turn a new leaf." Promise said to me.
Two days later, I came back from class to see my clothes box in disarray. I was aware that my roommate wore my clothes sometimes but I noticed that multiple dresses were gone. I decided to be cool and wait till she got back, but she didn't return that night. I was still asleep when she screamed and pounded on the door with her fist the next morning. I opened the door, and a wave of anger washed over me when I saw her friends in my clothes, and they stunk from all the alcohol that they had been drinking. I helped them out of the clothes, and they slept off.
Later that night, when her friends had gone home, I confronted her but instead of apologizing, she began to yell again, and I lost my cool.
"Janet, have you gone mad? There's a limit to what I can tolerate. I can endure the rubbish you've been doing, but giving your friends my clothes without my approval is something I can't endure, and I mean it. You better wash them clean, and return them intact." I warned and turned to leave, but she said something and I couldn't ignore it, even though I knew I should've ignored her.
"You'll have to beat me before I wash these rags that you call clothes, and that's what you can't do. You should be careful with me too, because you won't stand my rot when it falls. You're asking me to wash rags, you must be insane." She said.
Where it came from, I do not know, but before I could stop myself, I had already slapped her twice across the face, and I had her pinned to the wall before our neighbors came in and pulled me off her.
Though my friends cheered me for standing up to her, I still felt bad because I never meant for things to go awry between us. I called my parents and narrated everything to them. My dad felt sorry for making me have a roommate in the first place.
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I got another lodge and moved out of the room. My friends advised me to ask her for a refund, but my dad disagreed so I left the room and moved to another place.
Every time I saw her, I always wondered what made her change so much, but still, I was glad that I had gotten rid of the thorns on my side.
