Tyler Moss

"I haven't seen Levi lately," grandma said. "He used to come visit even without you, did you guys break up-"

"No! We didn't break up! Everyone keeps saying that for some reason! He's on vacation or something! I guess he'll just stop by when he feels like it. Wait, he comes to see you sometimes?"

"You didn't know that? Don't you two speak all the time?" Dammit grandma, now's not the time to point of My biggest flaws.

I don't know why. Actually, I don't know anything about Levi. I don't know where he's gone and why things have ended up like this. I had to find him.

But how? There isn't much I can do on my own. I need some type of lead.

"Grandma, can I-"

"Sorry I'm late! Traffic...accident....I'm sorry!" A woman barged in out of breath. A young woman barged into the room like we weren't at a hospital at the moment.

"No worries dear, you're right on time. Tyler this is my new nurse, the hospital recommended her to me. What were you going to say?" Grandma asked.

I was beyond annoyed at this point. I could have asked her more about Levi's dad.

"Don't worry about it grandma," I sighed picking up my school bag. "It's not that important."

"Study hard," grandma waved me off as I shot the nurse a not so subtle death stare.

"Nice to meet you," she smiled like I wasn't glaring daggers at her.

"You wig is crooked," I pointed out before leaving Grandma's room. Didn't that bitch know to knock first before entering a sick persons room? How could a hospital recommend a boisterous person like that? She better be a miracle worker.

I tried to call Levi again, and again it went to voicemail. You fucking jerk! I've called you over 300 times! Don't make me look insane on the flip side. Why can you see Liam but not me?!

You have enough missed calls to file a restraining order by now!

I'm anxious as hell, what if that guy did something to Levi? What if Levi is dead?! What if....

I was distracted by my phone ringing. "Levi! You asshole!! How can you ignore my calls?!"

"Geez! You scare me! You picked up so fast!"

"Oh, it's just you, Liam."

"Don't sound so fucking disappointed, you jerk. Come meet me, I'm at the arcade."

"Why?"

"Just come and stop being so mopey!" Liam hung up quickly. I guess a few games would help me relax a bit. I am completely on edge after all.

After a good amount of walking, I finally found Liam at his usual shooting game. He looked nervous so his accuracy was way off. He was suddenly missing every single shot.

"Yo-"

"AH! Don't sneak up on me! I fucking lost!" Liam yelled before turning around. You were losing anyway. "Oh, it's just you."

"Just me?"

"Doesn't feel so good, does it?" Liam stuck out his tongue. I flipped him off quickly. "Ok, so, Don't get mad at me...So, as you know, I saw Levi three days ago-"

"Three days ago! I already fucking know that?! It's been five days now!!" I was about to lose my shit. Levi saw Liam first?!

"Yeah, don't look at me like that, I just bumped into him at the Game Center upstairs, it's not like he sought me out. He was there for three days straight. So I spoke to him." Liam told me.

"Is he doing ok....after he apologized?" I asked.

"Not really, I guess. He's not hurt or anything but I never realized how fucked up he really was until we actually spoke," Liam sighed. "He told me some things I think you need you to know. I shouldn't have kept it all to myself, but I swear it's because he said he'd tell you himself. But he's never going to at this rate."

"What did he say?" I stared intensely at Liam.

"I was really hoping he would tell you himself, not me. But seeing as you don't know yet, maybe Levi isn't in a situation where he could tell you....or he's just got no fucking backbone."

"Don't insult him, Liam!"

"Why not?! I'm just pissed at him for getting you like this, Tyler! The relationship between you two is something I doubted to the core, but it's real, I can't deny that he loves you, but keeping you in the dark is just causing more problems!"

"I know."

"I'm just trying to be a good friend and help you out since you won't give up on him." Liam pleaded his case.

"I'm sorry for getting mad at you, Liam."

"Whatever, just keep that in your mind that I only want to help. Anyway, Levi regained all his memories that night in the garage. He also took you home that night."

"So I didn't get dumped?" I stupidly asked.

"What? Is that important?! No, stop interrupting me. Levi, his name is Nikolaos Barros and his brother is Jay, or Kanstantinos Barros. They're Greek I think. I looked it up. They grew up together with their dad and their moms in the same house. It was a melting pot of problems and toxicity." Liam explained. "And it escalated so quickly. Their dad beat and shamed Levi and his mother for having feelings and wanting love, and shamed Jay for being jealous of his perfect brother. And he basically influenced their already mentally unstable mothers into a competition.

"It was a constant competition between them too, one would get punished if the other did better, so naturally they were made to compete with each other too, all because of their dad. He played with all of them mentally just for some fucked up social experiment.

"Then the dad left for an overseas trip at the right moment when the tension was at its highest. That night, Levi's mom snapped and shot Jay's mom in front of Jay who was hiding in the closet. When she put Levi back to bed, she went into the roof and shot herself dead. Both of them saw their mothers die in front of them.

"After the funeral they moved out here, and their father started them on pills and therapy. But slowly those two forgot everything. After a while they just woke up day after day in a room that was more of a cage than a room. They were both given your picture and many many books. Not sure on what, but it was something. It's always been Levi's job to protect you and Jays job to kill you. But you also have to keep in mind that both of them have a manufactured life in their dads game.

"So the night you got knocked out, Levi was given an ultimatum, he has a month to decide to let you live and let his brother die, or have you die for his brother to live. He's having an identity crisis and he has to choose between the person he's always loved or his brother he's always loved. You would think he'd just choose you but I was shocked to see he's not that kind of person.

"It seems like he doesn't have much hope in the police either. He said his father would have already made it impossible to call them for any help, so he's doing all this alone."

"I see," I said almost dumbfounded. No wonder Levi stayed away, how would a truly rational person react to this? They would've backed off a while ago if they didn't want to deal with it.

"He's also a bit scared that you're so in love with Levi, that you won't like Nikolaos." Liam addded. "Just so you're not doubting him."

"Doubting him?"

"Yeah, aren't you thinking that he's only around because he was trained to be?"

"But he chose-"

"He didn't choose you, his father chose you. Levi had no choice in the matter. He was manipulated into loving you no matter how you look at it." Liam pointed out.

"Usually I would probably freak out about the possibility, but that's not possible," I stated. "If...even if he was manipulated into loving me...he's taking responsibility for it. If he didn't love me back then he would've left me behind that day to save himself and his brother."

"What are you saying, dude! This is serious!"

"I'm being serious, Liam. He would've killed me right away if he didn't truly love me, Liam. And right now, he's probably much more unstable mentally. I know that's why he's letting his insecurities take over. He's in full defense mode."

"Then the Levi-Nikolaos thing-"

"He such a....such an idiot. How would a name change anything?" I felt my eyes sting a bit. "He seriously needs a confidence boost. It's a distraction for you to not focus on the main issue at hand."

"I think that he thinks he's a different person now, remember? Identity crisis." Liam said. "It's a rational thought."

"It is. It's probably the first time he's felt shame."

"That makes....a lot of sense." Liam grunted as he realized that I wasn't going to let up on my efforts. "How awful, I think you've lost your mind as well. How can you feel even a little bit secure about that sketchy guy?"

"Because I know him better than anyone else."

"You won't even entertain the possibility of him being absolutely no good, will you? What if it's all manipulation on his fathers part and you end up dying?!"

"That won't happen," I assured Liam.

"How can you know that for sure, Tyler?"

"I can't, but that's just how much I trust him. If I could stop, I would. But I just love him too much."

"A normal person wouldn't be able to handle as much as you have with him."

"Even more of a reason to keep my faith in him. He's never let me down."

"He's dangerous."

"I see that, but I think I've heard all I needed to know at the moment. Thanks for being a good friend and clueing me in. If you're done, do you mind if I leave? I have some things to do." I stared at my feet.

"You just want to leave after hearing all that?" Liam grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. "What are you thinking?"

"Is there more you want to tell me?"

"No."

"Have a good weekend, I'll see you on Monday. That's all I'm thinking."

"What are you up to, Tyler? I know that look! We always got in trouble when you have that look! You look as if you're planning something drastic-"

"Liam, there's nothing I can do even if I wanted to do something. I can't even believe something like this is happening to me or Levi, but it just makes me sad and angry! I don't know where to go from here. I have no idea what to do." I admitted. "Even if could do anything, where would I start?"

"The Levi I met was also in shambles. And it's expected. Anyone dealing with this would be in an awful place, but right now we need to calm down and figure somethings out."

"Right, it's my turn to figure things out."

"Your turn? Have I just made it worse?"

"Levi always made all my problems disappear..." I said. "No matter how small or stupid the problem was. I need to figure out how-"

"Tyler!" I turned to see Uncle Rhys rushing towards us. "Hey! I was in the area and I saw you here. You ok?"

"You're an overseas Private Detective, right?" I asked.

"Yes."

The Luck of the Irish is strong today.