I'll break it down in a non-emotional summary version, because it was a very difficult time for me:
Sometime prior to December, I gather my roommate had stepped up his recreational marijuana usage to possible distribution. His attitude shifted erratically. I had decided to just try and live life. The weekend before Christmas, I bought a Zelda DS LE bundle. It was my first Christmas alone, without family, and I decided that I was just going to play Phantom Hourglass and hang out with my kitten,
Ripley.
About six days before Christmas, my roommate barged in my room while I was asleep at like 1:45 AM yelling that his mail was soaked and that it was my responsibility to get it. At this point, the lock to my door was not functional and one could enter as they pleased. I was dead asleep, so imagine being disturbed by a madman raving about wet mail. Random people were in the kitchen to boot. I somewhat defused the situation - but he was obviously angry, and this set off an awful chain of events.
I came home the following evening to find my brand spankin' new DS Lite gone. It wasn't just misplaced - the AC adapter, which was left in a completely different location from the system, was also gone. It was stolen. I was distraught and I actually asked a few folks for advice. I confronted my roommate, who had no explaination for the disappearance and "offered to help look for it" (which he never did). The day after, futher inventory revealed missing Xbox 360 games. I had decided to get a key lock doorknob for my room to protect my belongings the next day, but I had a social gathering to attend to that evening and delayed it to the following night. I regret that decision to this day.
I came home on the 21st with CrystalGemini to find my bedroom door wide open (I had shut it firmly that day) and the 6-month-old kitten, Ripley, completely missing. Confronted with this, my roommate said the door had been open since he arrived home and that the kitten was likely gone, as he had left the apartment door open while moving in some stuff. Considering the obvious lack of honesty - I was very suspicious of this excuse and emotionally distraught. CrystalGemini and I spent that night searching frantically, high and low. The following morning, when light hit, I interviewed and spoke to neighbors, regulars and shop owners. I also found something odd in my room - broken glass and more stuff missing. Something, obviously Ripley, had even knocked down my BioShock statue with so much force as to break it. There was signs of a struggle or some kind of incident.
The morning before her disappearance, I even remarked to TVC and family that Ripley had been acting weird (she growled at me that morning). I was blaming it on me possibly being a bad owner, but now I agree with the assesment that she was being harassed when my roommate or possibly his acquaintances were entering my room without consent.
I spent the days and nights searching animal shelters, vet hospitals, posting flyers at said places and searching with the assistance of CrystalGemini. We even created a four-person search party to search the very, very frigid area for hours the following night. I spent every waking moment searching, so much so that my body had worn down and on Christmas Eve, I was very ill. I spent Christmas afraid to sleep in my own apartment, property stolen, without my kitten (who was all I had - since I have no family) and a fever. If it wasn't for CrystalGemini, I thought I would've emotionally broken down (I came close).
When my roommate went out of town for a prolonged period of time without warning, I guess for New Year's, I packed all my stuff and got the hell out of there. I found my own place and have enjoyed living by myself. I was able to do inventory when I packed and found that he stole even more stuff (good portion of my 360 library) - doing asinine things like stealing Ace Combat 6, but leaving the Flight stick. A couple of weeks ago, he tried to extort more money out of me. This, despite the fact that I gave him money for January, he had gouged me on utilities and I did not even ask for my deposit back. He even used a restricted number at one point to harass me and pretend to be local law enforcement. After threatening him with legal action a few weeks ago, all communication had stopped.
I'm a lot happier now, but I really miss Ripley a bunch. 6-month-old kittens should not be abandoned in the streets, or worse. I can replace videogames, but I can't replace her.
