No one ever tells you that friendships can sometimes come to a shuddering halt. Especially the ones you thought would last a lifetime. For me and Sheryl*, it happened just before we reached a milestone. We’d been in each other’s lives for nearly 10 years, going from fresh-faced college students to friends to, later, flatmates. I never foresaw it crashing and burning as hard as it did.
Sheryl’s bipolar disorder became bigger than our years of friendship. It got to a point where I, as well as our close mutual friends, could not keep her safe from herself. There were manic highs and extreme lows. We always managed to talk her back from the edge, but there was one major depressive episode that she just couldn’t shake. One day, I woke up and she had disappeared. We set out to search for her, worrying ourselves sick for hours. When we eventually found her, we realised we could no longer look after her. We did the only thing we could think of: call a hospital and try to get her admitted.
