February 2023
“So, we all booked our tickets to San Francisco for May,” Levi Cranston said to his former neighbor and good friend, Matthew Rhodes (Rhody) Bacaluso-Leyman, over the phone. “Very nice. Wish I could join, but my friends and I are going to Orlando that same week,” Rhody replied. “Who all is coming with you?” “Zach, Brett, your sister Olivia, Audrey, Graham, Ayaan, Allen, Jerome, David, and my girlfriend Ally. Who’s coming with you to San Francisco?” “Jack, Asad, Savino, Kevin, Jing, and Wong. Mackenzie, Shanti, and everyone else are having a girls’ weekend,” Levi replied. “You’re visiting a few friends there, right?” Rhody asked. “Yes, two of Brett’s brothers live out there. And a couple other friends as well. Savino lives in San Jose, and he is going to meet us there.” “Very nice. I love San Francisco.” “I do as well. How are you feeling after last week?” “Much better, I tested like five times to see if I had Covid, because my throat was on fire. It was just a bad cold. But now Zach has a bad cold, and we were going to see Brett’s band perform at a pizza place nearby.”
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December 2019
Matthew Rhodes (Rhody) Bacaluso-Leyman happened to be back home in Valparaiso, Indiana for the holidays. He was staying at his parents’ house, and his sister and her girlfriend stayed with them as well. His friends from high school, Levi Cranston, Jack Andrews, David Savino, Asad Prejesh, and Benny Wickford happened to be in the area as well. The second day that they were all at home, they decided to go out for dinner and drinks. They initially were going to stay out until about 10 pm. They ended staying out until almost 4 am. “Good morning, sleepyhead,” his sister, Jayne, said to him when she walked into his bedroom. “Shut up. It’s too early,” Rhody replied sleepily in his pillow. “It’s 11:30 in the morning.” “Too early.” “Sounds like you all had a great time last night,” Jayne said. “Yes,” Rhody replied. “You want us to save you some pizza bake?” “Yes.” “You’re not getting out of bed yet, are you?” “Absolutely f*cking not.” October 20, 2018
Levi Cranston (The Magic Video Game), Jack Andrews, Asad Prejesh, and Jing Hao were at their apartment in Allston, playing card games. It was around 7 pm, and they were expecting their other friend, Kevin Maggliardi, to get to the apartment around 5:30 pm. They knew that he had some errands that he needed to run, but they had not heard from him until about 30 minutes later. At 7:15, they heard a knock on the door, and they knew it was Kevin. Jack walked over to the door because he knew that he was going to be really shaken up. “Hey Kevin,” Jack greeted their friend at the door. “Hey,” Kevin responded quietly. “You alright?” “No.” “We’re all here in the common area,” Jack said. “That’s good,” Kevin replied. “You wanna talk about it?” “Maybe in a bit. I need to catch my breath.” “You ran all the way here?” “Yup.” Jack and Kevin walked together into the common area, where everyone else was. They noticed that Kevin was absolutely not himself. He seemed really tired and out of breath, and he was really sweaty, after sprinting two miles from the scary incident. He appeared to be very shaken up, and Jack let him lie on their couch. Levi and Asad put away the games, so that they could focus on helping get Kevin stable. No one has ever seen him like this before. Asad got a pillow from his room and put it on the couch for Kevin to lay his head on. Kevin lay sideways on the couch, trying really hard to catch his breath. His hands were on his chest, most likely feeling for his heartbeat. “My heart’s pounding,” Kevin remarked quietly. “It’s okay, buddy. You’re safe here,” Jack replied. “Thanks.” “So what happened?” “I was being followed and then held at gunpoint,” Kevin said. “Oh shit. You didn’t lose anything, did you?” Jack questioned. “I lost like $12 in cash, but that was about it. I didn’t have my wallet on me, so I lucked out. When I gave him what I had, I distracted him, and then I bolted. I think I ran like two or three miles. And then my asthma acted up a bit, so that was great.” “Why did he follow you in the first place?” “I have no idea why I was a target. Maybe it was because I had my backpack on me.” “Yeah, who knows? But, at least you’re safe.” “I don’t think I’ve ever feared for my life.” Jing and Asad walked over to Jing and Kevin’s apartment in Cambridge, only a 30 minute walk on foot. Their two other roommates, David Vittorio and John Harold, wanted to hit up downtown Boston in the evening, so all four boys were going to head out that way shortly. Levi and Jack decided to stay back with Kevin. They would probably watch TV for the rest of the night and let Kevin stay over. “Hey Kevin,” Levi got his friend’s attention after he accidentally fell asleep for a few minutes. “Yeah?” Kevin asked softly. “Something similar happened to me when I was a kid.” “Oh really?” “I used to walk home from school, and I was approached twice in eighth grade,” Levi remarked. “Oh wow,” Kevin replied. “Yeah. It was pretty scary. When I was walking home from school, some old guy asked me if I was cold, since I didn’t have a coat on. That terrified me, so I bolted back to my house. That was the first time, and we thought we had everything settled. Then, a month later, someone screamed random crap out of their car, and I thought it was directed at me, so I ran back to my house. That was when I was walking to school. I couldn’t go to school that day, because I was too terrified.” “That’s scary.” “You alright?” “I will be.” December 2019
Matthew Rhodes (Rhody) Bacaluso-Leyman happened to be back home in Valparaiso, Indiana for the holidays. He was staying at his parents’ house, and his sister and her girlfriend stayed with them as well. His friends from high school, Levi Cranston, Jack Andrews, David Savino, Asad Prejesh, and Benny Wickford happened to be in the area as well. The second day that they were all at home, they decided to go out for dinner and drinks. They initially were going to stay out until about 10 pm. They ended staying out until almost 4 am. “Good morning, sleepyhead,” his sister, Jayne, said to him when she walked into his bedroom. “Shut up. It’s too early,” Rhody replied sleepily in his pillow. “It’s 11:30 in the morning.” “Too early.” “Sounds like you all had a great time last night,” Jayne said. “Yes,” Rhody replied. “You want us to save you some pizza bake?” “Yes.” “You’re not getting out of bed yet, are you?” “Absolutely f*cking not.” January 2024
“Kevin, how are you feeling today?” Levi Cranston asked his friend, Kevin Maggliardi, over the phone. “A little better than yesterday, but not great. I think I am going to call off from work tomorrow,” Kevin replied. “Good to hear. Last week, I was feeling horrible to the point that I did not want to leave my bed. I’m sorry I passed this cold along to you.” “It’s okay. It was bound to happen. Yesterday, I didn’t leave my bed at all. That’s how horrible I felt.” “I had no idea that you could feel this bad from a cold,” Levi said. “This cold kicked my ass,” Kevin replied. “I actually talked to Rhody over the phone earlier today, and he said the same thing. A few days ago, he was feeling so bad from this cold that he also didn’t leave his bed.” “It’s going around. Perfect time for it. So, what are you all doing today?” “I think we are all going to stay in and order pizza. What about you guys?” Levi asked. “Believe it or not, we are all doing the same thing.” September 23, 2012
Levi Cranston (The Magic Video Game) and one of his friends from college were talking about their relationships at lunch. During this time, they were both college students at a university in northeastern Indiana. "How long have you been with Mackenzie?" Levi's friend asked. "Going on seven years," Levi replied with a smile. "That is the longest relationship I have ever heard of." "Oh really? I know of a few that have lasted pretty long, including my sister's relationship." "I wish all of us were as lousy as you," Levi's friend remarked somewhat sarcastically. "What is that supposed to mean?" Levi asked, pretty confused. "Wouldn't it be fun to hang out with other girls so you can see who else is out there?" "Um, no. I'm pretty happy with where I am." "Can I hang out with Mackenzie? She's really cute." "No." Christmas 2015
Jayne and Rhody Leyman were back home in Valparaiso, Indiana for the holidays. They were celebrating with their dad and their stepmom, Estrella. Rhody was living in Wicker Park, Chicago at the time with a couple friends. Jayne, his older sister by two years, was living in Grayslake, Illinois with her girlfriend, who was currently in LA area visiting her parents. Rhody fell asleep on the couch in the living room while watching TV. He was so sound asleep, that when Jayne tried to wake him up, he wouldn’t budge. His head was turned to the right, into his pillow, and his breathing was very steady. Jayne lay on the couch next to him, and, out of curiosity, placed her ear against her younger brother’s chest so that she could listen to his heart beating. September 2008
Matthew Rhodes Bacaluso-Leyman (Rhody) spent the weekend in Evansville, Indiana with his dad, since he went on a college visit. They decided to make a foodie trip out of this, and had planned to spend time in southern Indiana, northern Kentucky, and they had even planned a day in St. Louis to try out some barbecue places there. It was Saturday morning, and they had planned to go to St. Louis for the day. Around 8 am, Rhody woke up to his heart pounding really hard in his chest, and he could hear it in his ears He also had some slight nausea, and his breathing was relatively shaky. He had realized that he had a panic attack in his sleep and did what he could to calm himself down in order to enjoy the rest of the weekend. January 2020
Rhody Leyman just came home to his apartment in Brooklyn, New York after having minor surgery to put tubes in his ears after a few ear infections over the past eight months. He could have worked today, but he thought it would be best to rest up for the day. His friends, Graham Maggliardi and Allen Harris, stopped by to check on him. Rhody spent the day on the couch wrapped in his fleece throw blanket with his orange tabby cat, Topaz. He had a cotton ball stuffed in each ear. “Hey Rhody, how you feeling?” Graham asked. “Not as bad as I thought I would. I was pretty nervous about this one since I knew I’d be awake during it,” Rhody replied. “My ears are pretty sore, and I’m exhausted, but otherwise I’m doing alright.” “That’s good. How many times have you had tubes put in?” “This will be my fourth time. I’ve always had issues with my ears and fluid buildup. And we all thought that was resolved when I had my tonsils removed.” “When did you get your tonsils removed?” Allen asked. “I was like sixteen, I think. And this is the first time since then. They checked my throat and my nose, and my tonsils and adenoids haven’t grown back. And everything else came back clear,” Rhody replied. “No other problems?” “No. And the ear infections I’ve had recently weren’t awful, like I could still work and live a normal life. My ears were just sore.” “In case you were wondering, we got you a smoothie while we were out. Wanna hang out here, and we could get pizza for dinner?” “I’m totally cool with that.” December 2019
Matthew Rhodes (Rhody) Bacaluso-Leyman happened to be back home in Valparaiso, Indiana for the holidays. He was staying at his parents’ house, and his sister and her girlfriend stayed with them as well. His friends from high school, Levi Cranston, Jack Andrews, David Savino, Asad Prejesh, and Benny Wickford happened to be in the area as well. The second day that they were all at home, they decided to go out for dinner and drinks. They initially were going to stay out until about 10 pm. They ended staying out until almost 4 am. “Good morning, sleepyhead,” his sister, Jayne, said to him when she walked into his bedroom. “Shut up. It’s too early,” Rhody replied sleepily in his pillow. “It’s 11:30 in the morning.” “Too early.” “Sounds like you all had a great time last night,” Jayne said. “Yes,” Rhody replied. “You want us to save you some pizza bake?” “Yes.” “You’re not getting out of bed yet, are you?” “Absolutely f*cking not.” |
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