Ryan Diaz

"Me?!"

"You're the only identical twin here, Ian."

"I know that and that's why it's just crazy." I chuckled dryly. "Are you serious right now? You want me to replace Ian? Of all people."

Myra gave me a deadpan look. "Ian is the only person you can successfully replace, Ryan."

"Ian is the one person I CANNOT replace. We just look alike but that's where it ends, we are nothing alike!"

"That's a lie. You both twitch the same way when nervous. You have the same sarcastic humor, you both pull your hair and your smiles and voice are the same. I've known you for three years now and I've known Ian almost all my life and sometimes I confuse who is saying what in a voice call."

"Voice! Not physical, you've not seen me in real life Myra."

"You're like Ian and even if they are some differences I can help you. I can groom you to be Ian."

"Would you teach me how to fight and how to ride bikes and how to interact in a bloody gang!"

Myra shrugged sheepishly, "Easy peasy Ryan."

"Ha. Ha. Ha," I sarcastically retorted.

Myra facepalmed and sighed. "I wouldn't choose this either and this is not my first option but there's no other way around it. Ian has to show up and maybe appeal to the group. You don't have to know how to race or participate in the bet. If Ian doesn't show up, it'll be worst. And then your father might notice his absence if Ian disappears for too long and things would just get out of hand. We don't want that Ryan."

"Myra..."

"Please Ryan, you can do it. This can be your chance to do something out your comfort zone, see what your brother's life is like and actually save him from deep shit."

"I-I—" I pulled my hair. "Myra, no!"

I didn't talk to Myra from some days but I tried to think of a solution and help Ian out but there was no way around it and I had to be checking up on Ian from time to time. At long last I gave in. I've been separated from Ian for such a long time and I felt bad when I heard about his life. I wanted to know what it would be like to be in his shoes and I kinda blamed myself for the shitty life he got to live. If there was a way I could help my brother when he needed me then I would.

Myra and I started plotting and we had to make the switch without anybody finding out, not my dad and definitely not my mom. After a lot of planning and debating, we got Wayne into the deal and at first he disagreed...

"What? Are you listening to yourself Ryan?" Wayne asked in surprise. "What if something happens to you over there? What on earth would I tell your mom?"

"Nothing would happen to me."

"From what you and Myra just explained, the gang is bloody risky, innit?"

"It's not really a gang," Myra tried to lie through the video call and we both snapped our eyes to her, raising a brow. "It's just a team of riders and Ryan isn't going to go fight for Ian's honor or anything. He just needs to be present. And he has to show up at home for his dad too. Weak heart and all, Mr Lucas  can't lose his only son right now." Then her eyes flicked to me. "Oh, one of his only sons."

"Wayne, please, I'd be back in no time, I promise," I pleaded. Somehow, Myra has gotten into my head and I actually believed I could do it. In fact it felt like all my life I've been waiting for an opportunity like this and Ian and I were separated for this sole purpose. "I won't get hurt and I'd actually be saving my brother."

"Then tell your mom."

"Argh," Myra and I groan at the same time and I proceed to speak. "Mom? You know she isn't going to listen to me. In fact the moment I suggest it, she would get me locked away in my room forever or send me to some military school."

"Ryan this is insane!"

"Oh please," I grabbed his hands. "Either ways if I don't go, my birth dad can't take care of the bills Ian would need, coupled with his heart problems..." I sighed. "But you can... dad."

Wayne snapped his eyes at me and shook his head. "Oh that's a low blow even for you Ryan."

I grinned. It wasn't the first time I was calling Wayne dad but I didn't do it all the time and it always got to him. Someone just that title was a big award to him. It even got him to get me a sports car one time, of course Mom asked him to return it. "Please dad. Dad? Dad? Please?"

Wayne glared at me but his lips looked like he wanted to smile. "So you want you both to switch places?"

I nodded and Myra pumped her fist in the air. "Ian comes here and I go there."

"You want your mom to believe you were in some kind of accident," he shook his head. "That would devastate her. Can you imagine the kind of pain she'd be in? Her son might die."

I shrugged. "It's not a lie, is it? Her son was in some kind of accident!" I rolled my eyes. "Maybe this would humanize her more. Make her a caring mother, make her let us be together."

"Oi, Ryan, don't speak about your mom like that."

"Sorry."

"What hospital is he in?"

It took a lot of convincing and plotting but Wayne was finally on board and I promised to call him everyday that I was there. He said if he day went by that I didn't call or text, he'd come down to Virginia and get me himself. He wasn't going to lose my mom because of me. Honestly, I got to love Wayne more because of this. Not that I didn't already love him but my mom really hit a goldmine with him.

Wayne pulled some string and when my mom traveled to Poland for some conference she had to give, he had Ian brought over to Liverpool all the way from Virginia in a medical plane, it cost a lot of money and I knew I couldn't thank Wayne enough. I got to see Ian and the resemblance in real life still managed to shock me. Wayne was completely frozen when he saw Ian, especially in the state he was and he managed to cry which in turn made me cry. He didn't know Ian but looking at him, it felt like it was me. Ian had his hair shaved really low because there was a scar in his head that had to be attended to by the doctors without his hair interrupting. His cheeks were bruised, he had an arm in a cast and his leg too and his entire torso was bandaged.

He got registered in the hospital as Ryan Diaz and seeing him lying down with my name written on the bed felt like some deja vu or like I was having a nightmare. The doctor said he had multiple fractures, suffered from internal bleeding and stood as a risk of having either of his senses being messed up but they couldn't know yet because he was in a coma. He wasn't out of risk yet and could have a seizure that would lead to his death. It was terrible. I got angry just looking at him and got more determined to go to Virginia. If someone did this to him then I wanted to know and I wanted to make them pay. It wasn't right what they did to my brother, he doesn't deserve it.

Wayne and I inspected Ian's body for any difference and he had a lot of scars in his body and injuries that looked like knife wounds.

"Don't worry, Wayne. I'd be fine," I said reassuring him when he looked scared about our plan.

Of course I couldn't give myself those scars, what I could give myself however was the tattoo on his shoulder. But I didn't tell Wayne that, Myra and I would handle it when I get to Virginia. I took the three bracelets I saw in his arm. They looked handmade like charms or something.

After all was said and done, I hugged my Liverpool family goodbye, wished Wayne luck with my mom, got his blessings and flew all the way back to America, back to Virginia. I left at six years old and I was returning at seventeen. Myra was supposed to pick me at the airport and she saw me first and called me over but as I walked to her, she froze and looked like she was going to cry.

"Myra?" It was strange but not as strange as I thought it would be. It's like I was meeting a penpal that I had know for three years now.

"Fuck," her hands flew over her mouth and the tears dropped.

"Oi, don't be like that."

"Ok," she looked up the roof, blinking her eyes multiple times in a bid to push back the tears. "First off, we don't say Oi in America and second off it's My Ra, not My RUH." We shared a look and then we burst out laughing as she jumped on me in a hug. She was quite short, maybe 5"3 compared to my 5"11. "I'm so sorry. I've been taking care of Ian in the hospital so when I saw you it was like he was back, healthy and strong and I lost it for a second."

I nodded, my arms around her. "I understand. It's so nice seeing you in real life, minion."

She blinked at me, then smacked me. "Ian use to call me that. Oh my gosh, this is going to be so hard."

I rolled my eyes. "That was not a twin thing. I heard him call you that once."

"Oh," she laughed. "This is still going to be hard and I'd need you to dump that British accent, here in the airport."

I nodded, clearly my throat and trying to rewire my brain. My accent wasn't anywhere near thick but listening to Wayne and Imogen talk for four years have done a number on me. "Yes, ma'am."

"That's good."

"¿llegar de nuevo?"

She smacked me. "Ian wasn't that fluent in Spanish, so drop it."

"What?" I shook my head, although it was no surprise. "That's a lot of wrong right there."

Myra kept telling me the thing Ian could and couldn't do and the first place we went to was a barbershop, where I got my hair cut the same way as Ian and then we went to the tattoo shop and I got Ian's back shoulder tattoo. Thankfully I liked it and it was something I planned on getting sometime in my life after I saw Ian, this was just happening faster. The process hurt like hell, the only thing that stopped me from crying was Myra's pressure there. Virginia was not so different from the little I remembered but there was a lot I didn't remember and Myra did me the pleasure of showing me around town, taking me to Ian's favorite spots and making sure I talked like him.

I stayed with her for two days in her house during this experiment. She lived alone with her elder sister who always sleeping in the day time and out in the night.

"Ok, that's Don Ernesto," Myra said as we stood in front of a small restaurant called Burger Me. "Ian can give out one of his kidneys and lungs for his large barbecue sandwich with fries and Don always gives him some tiny chicken wings to go. Don loves Ian and Ian delivers cigarettes to him every Thursday." Myra handed me a pack of cigarettes and my eyes widen. "You have to hide it though, nobody can know you are giving him cigarettes."

"Why?"

"Because his wife threatened that if she ever saw him with cigarettes she is going to set this place on fire and leave him forever."

I blinked. "It must be bad for him then, right? Why is Ian still giving him cigarettes?"

"I don't know, ask yourself, you're Ian now," she chuckled. "Well, go. Act well with Don and we might know we're on the right track and actually go to the layer."

"The layer?"

She nodded, "your second house? Where you live with the gang? We need to go there as soon as because Anissa already called asking about you and you need to get your bag from in there. I don't have any more cigarettes with me."

I glanced at the cigarettes before stuffing it into my hoodie pouch. "These aren't normal cigarettes are they?"

"Don't ask questions Ryan, just do. Now go," she dragged us both into the restaurant, whispering at me before she went to sit down. "God's speed."

I swallowed up some courage, crossing my fingers and trying to look confident as I walked to the counter. Don Ernesto was a plump big man, if he fell down in this restaurant I was sure the foundation would shake. He had beards and his hair was covered in a bandanna.

"Hey Don," I called, relaxing on the counter and trying to look as casual as possible. The big man turned to me and as soon as his eyes met mine, he grinned, coming to shake me.

"Ian!" We shook hands and tried to do the bro hug over the counter. Obviously it didn't work and I was trying too hard because he knew it wouldn't yet he did it anyway. "Where have you been, it's been a minute."

"Yeah, I had to leave town had some errands to run," I shrugged. "You know, the usual."

"Oh," he laughed. He was a loud man too. "I almost got worried about you there, you know," he leaned in to whisper but I was sure everybody heard. "We've been hearing about the fights and threats. Are you going to be okay?"

I don't know why but I reached out to tap his shoulder. "Worry not Don, I've got it all covered."

He looked at my hand over his shoulder and when I tried to remove it, his own hand went over it, causing my eyes to widen and my heart started beating. Then he looked at me and his eyes softened. "Good luck my boy. May nature be with you."

I mentally sighed in relief. "Thanks."

"The usual?"

I chuckled, "you know I can't leave here without it."

He laughed, "one minute." He turned to the stoves and I looked around for Myra, winking at her. She chuckled and gave me a thumbs up.

Don arrived a minute later a large sandwich, a small plate of fries and two chicken wings dumped in the same small plate. I was confused but didn't dare question it and I wrapped the cigarettes with money and slid it to him from on top the counter. Don collected it, laughed and gave me back thrice of my money as change. I thanked him and walked out of the restaurant with Myra following behind me.

I was excited when I turned to her. "How did I do?"

"Good, I would give you a C." Myra said, folding her hands like a professor as she walked ahead.

"A 'C'? I did well."

"Yeah, you did maybe I'm part to blame. I should have told you that Ian doesn't get touchy with people. Honestly the version of him you knew online, the smiling, blushing, laughing version. It was a version reserved for just you." Myra explained. "And me sometimes. He isn't a happy go lucky on normal day. Although he's usually happy with Don so thank God for you. He almost always has his eyes narrowed, would rather be found dead under his mattress than socializing and having an actual conversation with people and hates being touched."

"Wow," I tried to remember the Ian I knew from small and the one I got to know through the screen. "Really?"

"Yes, really."