Percy

Levi

Levi has OCD. Levi has a propensity for intrusive thoughts. He dealt with it with the help of his family and his therapist, all the way into college. While there, he met the first individual to apparently understand and accept his odd behavior. Felicity Rosenberg was this individual.

Felicity is a psychology major, minoring in art, hoping to eventually get into art therapy. She is neurotypical. She has asthma, which seldom affects her abilities to do normal tasks.

Levi was immediately drawn to Felicity-- and vice versa. They became fast friends and spent a lot of time with each other. One of Levi's favorite things about Felicity is that even when he's having bad days, having to do small daily tasks multiple times and tidying everything, she didn't mind. She let him do his thing and she never got in his way.

The first time Levi tried to kiss Felicity, it wasn't right. Too quick. So he did it again. Not centred. And he did it again. He'd kissed her an odd number of times. And so he did it again. That fourth time, it was perfect.

A few weeks after their first kiss, Levi began to fall in love with Felicity. He felt happier around her; less stressed. He felt like she shared some of the fear and the worry with him. So he stopped seeing his family as often. He stopped seeing his therapist at all. He stopped taking his medication. In Levi's mind, he was sure that none of that would cure him. Felicity was his cure.

As Levi steadily rolled downhill, getting worse and worse, Felicity noticed his mannerisms change completely. Instead of erratic symptoms, everything he did was far too structured. He muttered to himself as he used rulers to straighten pens and papers on his desk. He only drank water from a glass until it was half empty, and then he refilled it. He would shower for an hour for small reasons, like getting a bit of jam on his hands.

The first time Felicity confronted Levi about his declining mental health, he told her nothing was wrong; that he felt back to normal, that everything had routine. He wanted to believe she was fixing him, and he wanted her to believe it, too.

Felicity knew better. She argued with him. Told him she knew where he kept his meds and that the number of pills in the bottle hadn't changed in weeks. And so Levi, in a fit of anger, listened to his mind. His mind told him to hit her. And so he did.

Felicity wanted to leave.

But Levi still knew Felicity was the only girl for him; the only one who listened, who knew, who understood. He knew he had to keep her, or everything would go wrong.

And so he did.