All of Me (Sebastian Vettel)

3. Joel's Story

"I bumped into him in Barcelona. He works for Aston Martin. I recognised him. We spoke and he agreed to come and talk to you," Seb explained.

"So you wouldn't have tried to speak to me if you hadn't seen Seb?" Sienna asked, tears running down her face. 

"Probably not," Joel answered truthfully. "But I'm so glad I did Sisi. I'm so sorry I believed Grandad. I should have contacted you myself but I was grieving, and Alyssa was a mess. I had my hands full looking after her. I missed you Sienna, and I'm so happy to see you. You have to believe me."

"Joel, I do. I'm just struggling to process everything. Where have you been? What have you been doing? And where the fuck is Alyssa? Why isn't she here? Does she not want to see me?"

Joel ran his fingers through his short blonde hair. He felt nauseous. He knew that what he was about to tell Sienna and Seb didn't paint him in a good light, but there was no way around it. They deserved to hear the full story.

"Ok, I think it's best if I just start from the beginning....

When we arrived in the UK we travelled up North. We stayed in a Premier Inn in Northwich, not far from Manchester,  for a couple of weeks. Dad knew someone up there, someone with connections. We got new birth certificates and new passports. From then on we were Ashtons, not Harpers. Once we'd left there we travelled to Chesterfield, and that's when Grandad came to join us.  We lived in a hotel for several days but then Dad found us a house. Grandad paid the deposit and six months rent in advance to keep a roof over our heads while Dad was looking for work. Luckily it didn't take him long. He found a job working in a scrapyard.

Alyssa and I started at the local high school. I settled in well, Alyssa didn't. She cried herself to sleep every single night for the first six months. She wanted you Sisi. Eventually though she accepted things and began to make friends. Life was as normal as it was possible to be in the situation."

Joel paused.  He reached out and picked up his cup of tea, taking a sip to wet his dry mouth.  He looked over at Sienna and Seb, who were both watching him and waiting for him to continue. 

"Alyssa was doing so well at school. Her teachers always said she'd go far. Me, I did well but I had to work hard, whereas it just came naturally to Alyssa.

Then when she was sixteen Dad got diagnosed with cancer. She never left his side from the day he was diagnosed, apart from when she had to sit an exam. She still came away with eight A stars. At the time I was away at uni in Birmingham. I came home every weekend but the pressure was all on her and Grandad. She was amazing Sisi. I was so proud of her. She was so strong, and she made his last days happy."

He paused again. He was reaching the difficult part of the story.  Well, the first of the difficult parts.  It felt like he had a lump in his throat.   Even now,  years later, thinking about what had happened was so difficult.

"When he died part of Alyssa died with him. She was distraught. She lay in her room, not eating, not talking to anyone. She was supposed to be starting college the month after,  but she was in no fit state. Her depression was consuming her.  She wouldn't talk about her feelings to Grandad, or to me. 

That's when I suggested to Grandad that we contacted you. I'd run out of things to try. I was desperate. He told me he'd get in touch with you, and I was happy to let him do that as I was struggling with uni and Alyssa. Then he told me that you didn't want to know, and Alyssa overheard.

It was the straw that broke the camel's back. In a way it was a good thing, she broke down and let me in. Slowly, but surely she began to heal. She'd had to hit rock bottom before building herself up again.