Greek God | T. CHALAMET

30 Real Life

TW!: There may be some triggering themes

Morpheus had arrived home and everything was great. He messed with Eros' friends as he usually did, mostly Edward who could physically be there, and he surprised Ingrid and Andromeda, a very dramatic affair as it always was. But Eros knew the real reason his older brother had dropped everything to visit him and the family and he wasn't about to be in an entirely different state when the people he loved were going to be in pain.

Every year on the exact same date it was as though everything would shift and the mood dropped to the bottom of the sea, Eros would stay at his father's home and lock himself in his room, Apollo would sit at his office desk and emotionlessly stare at the wall for hours on end while Ingrid did her best to bring the two out of their depressive states. Every year Andromeda was sent on a sleepover for two days with one of her friends and she had never before seen her brothers or father in such a mess.

The moment the clock struck midnight it was as if a switch had been flicked, Eros couldn't sleep as the occasional tear fell while Morpheus was there to wipe them all away and hold his younger brother in his arms. 

Apollo left his wife in bed, not wanting to disturb her, and stared out the window from his office, quietly talking to the stars like a lover would. "I see you, my love, shining up there. Watch over our sons today, won't you? You know how hard this day is on them. On me."

Their pain ran deep and yet they were so lucky to end up with the life they had.

The Drakos family was what you would call a very successful but humble family. There were no fights, sibling rivalry, rebelliousness against parents or any accusations of unfairness in any of their lives because they knew how lucky they were.

The family had moved from their homeland of Greece to the United States, seeing the endless opportunities lying ahead. The family struggled for many years, working where they could and scrounging for money, they always thought it was a miracle they made it that far. So Apollo and Iris Drakos packed up their things and their two sons and left.

Morpheus, their oldest son, found it difficult to adjust, he was eleven and on the cusp of teenagehood while Eros was only young. Eros was four when they left and was still learning, his parents knew he would be fine. And he was. They both were.

Soon, Morpheus Drakos was a movie actor, working alongside many well-known names and he couldn't be happier. Eros had turned to photography, only showing his family and friends but it was enough for him.

Iris found her passion for teaching children, studying to become a kindergarten teacher and soon found a job at a local school ironically named Rainbow Kindergarten. Apollo, on the other hand, founded his own organization of helping homeless people off the streets and giving them food and a place to stay.

The Drakos' were ecstatic with their newfound lives and they were thriving.

But then sickness came.

Iris Drakos was diagnosed with Gastric cancer on the 19th of May, 2004. It was slow at first, no one knew other than the few stomach aches she complained about. Then, after the cancer was finally found, everything went ten times faster. Iris was throwing up blood, she was fatigued every hour of the day, and she could barely walk. The woman begged, and pleaded, to die and be erased from the pain but these were only silent prayers as she could never do that to her family.

She later died on the 22nd of March, 2005. It was the day before her birthday.

The three left of the family were crushed, devastated, barely functioning human beings. Morpheus had quit on a film he was working on and flew home for the next few months, helping out where he could and trying to be the strong one. Apollo continued to work at the shelter while, unbeknownst to him, the vagrants began pitching in to help with his workload. And Eros, only twelve years old at the time, dropped out of school and locked himself in his room, the boy never left his bed.

So, while the youngest boy was bedridden with grief, lashing out in episodes of both anger and depression, Apollo worked almost every hour of the day as an emotionless puppet and Morpheus put away his emotions for so long that he forgot who he was They had no idea how each other was really feeling.

After five months of nonstop self-torment and grieving, Morpheus snapped. He marched up to his father, in front of every person staying at the shelter and yelled at him.

"Wake the fuck up! You're a fucking shell of a person! You're dead inside, but guess what?! Your sons aren't! Have you even stepped foot inside your youngest son's bedroom?! Of course, you haven't because if you had you would have finally noticed how fucked he is! He doesn't eat, sleeps twenty-three hours a fucking day, and can't even get out of bed! It's been five months, give us something here! A tear, a frown, something! Not this emotionless bullshit I get every time you walk through the door! I haven't heard your voice in two weeks and that was because we ran out of milk! Wake up!"

Morpheus left him standing there, eyes all staring at the man to see if a reaction would show and, at last, something had. A single tear fell before he rushed into the back. The first sign of emotion they had seen in five months.

Eros didn't move and when he did it was because he either needed a shower, go to the bathroom or Morpheus needed to change the bed. There were only two people that visited him, his brother and his best friend, Edward Clarke. Edward had been there from the start, he was younger than Eros but Edward found him one day and never let go. And although Eros found him extremely annoying he slowly grew on him. They were similar in some ways, they both moved to America at a young age and they thought it pretty cool and quite a coincidence. The Clarke boy visited the youngest Drakos any chance he got, and, although Eros was terribly grateful and loved his visits, he did not have the energy to speak those words. Eros felt bad and often tried to push him away but Edward wasn't having any of it.

When Apollo finally came around, he realized the damage his family had taken and how much it had affected his youngest. He knew most of everything Eros and Morpheus had to endure was because of him and the fact that his oldest was taking a, now, half-year break from work because of his behaviour was difficult to digest. They were struggling again, Apollo had found out, as he was the only one that was making money and even then it wasn't very much due to it being a shelter for the homeless.

Things had to change.

Morpheus set out to find a job, anything would do, while Apollo hired a live-in therapist, a woman named Ingrid. The woman was kind, caring, patient and beautiful as her name would suggest. She very quickly became a part of the family

It was slow going but, gradually, Eros came around. He began to leave his room more, going from spending over twenty-three hours in his room a day to twenty than to eighteen to sixteen. Then was the time when he was mentally well enough to go outside and be like any other teenager. Eros made time for Edward and they reconnected. Edward loved having his best friend back, he was so proud of him.

Morpheus was acting again and he was in his element, he felt as if he was going back to his old self. Everyone was supportive and it was good to see his little brother recovering with the many texts and photos he got from his father, Edward and Ingrid, sometimes even from Eros himself.

When Eros admitted he was in the best place he could possibly be, they believed him, but Ingrid did not leave. Apollo and the woman had fallen in love, keeping it lowkey for Eros' sake, even if he secretly knew. It was fun for the new couple, they felt like teenagers again. So, when Eros was better, they became a real family again. And, sure, Apollo did think of his late wife and if she would be angry or disappointed but his two sons assured him she would have been fine with it and loved him either way. Iris did always say that if she died Apollo should move on whenever he wanted. She was a kind-hearted woman like that and they would miss her dearly.