"Sadie come quick." Ellie shouts at the top of her lungs. I waste no time in sprinting from the kitchen, leaving my poor bowl of coco pops, to get to Ellie.
Has she gone into early labour? Does she need the hospital?
All these thoughts race through my brain before I halt next to her as be both stare at the TV.
"Your- your on TV" she stutters out. It was video footage of me and Leclerc driving to the hospital. And then footage from a couple hours later that night showing Charles, my family and me all leaving the hospital. Jamie was wheeling Mattie in a wheelchair, whilst I was holding his hand.
I tried so hard to keep this a secret from the world. To protect Matt. And now I've let it slip for all the world to see.
I bury my head in my hands and lean on Ellie as she slowly rubs my back. "Fuck." I say with a shaky breath. Me and her listen in for more of their broadcast.
"It has now come to our attention that one of the British F1 racer's brothers is currently enduring a long battle with cancer. Our thoughts go to him and the family." The reporter says before Ellie quickly switches off the TV.
The screen goes black just like my mind.
This is not how I wanted it to come out. I didn't want it to come out at all even. My phone then rings, I don't bother to look at the caller ID I just answer it with a "hi."
"Yeah, hey Sadie it's Richard Wilson here. Head of media relations at Mercedes. I've been told of the news and I just firstly want to say I hope Matt gets better, I really do." He says that last sentence in quite a sincere tone. I let him continue, "I take it your want my advice on how to deal with this?"
"You just read my mind. What was you thinking?"
"We'll I'd say by writing a post on Instagram due to how many followers you have - this will shut any other speculations down. But it's in good interests to tell the world the truth - Mattie's truth."
You know what he's right. I can't just sit here and let the media dictate and manipulate Mattie's illness. I need to put it straight.
"You got it boss! Thanks so much." I say before ending the call.
"What are you going to do Sayd?" Ellie asks as her head leans against mine this time. "Tell the whole world the truth."
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey Matt you okay?" I ask him. I'm about to press send on this post but I need to sort it with Matt first.
He breaths heavily down the phone as he quietly lets out a "yeah." He sounds very deflated and fatigued. I mean he'd been in the hospital for 5 hours last night and didn't get home till 6 this morning.
"Have you heard the news?"
"Ye-yeah I have." He manages to cough out the sentence.
"I'm sorry it's been put into the spotlight. My team have said I need to put out a post on Instagram to tell your story. Would you be okay with that?" I ask him gently.
He hums down the phone which I take as a "yes.", then manages to add "aslong as you come and see me soon, capisce?"
I laugh at the end and then reply with "capisce" before he hangs up.
Right now it's time to upload the post:
Dear World,
As you may know by now, from the news, my brother is currently enduring a 9 month long battle with Cancer.
You may also be asking why I've kept it a secret from you all. No, it's not from me not wanting the spotlight taken away from me. I could not care less over fame.
The true reason I wanted to keep it under the radar is to protect Mattie, protect my whole family. I know what this industry is like by now. They bombard you, chase you, manipulate and create fake stories. I wanted to simply shield my family from all of the media's horrible motives.
And to those who chased me and Charles last night to get a picture that will bring you the big bucks - you should be ashamed of yourselves. If you must know I had got a call from my mother early this morning telling me that Matt had a fall, so I wasted no time in racing to the hospital.
I didn't ask to be followed for a picture of me and my poorly brother and devastated family to be put on the first page of all the magazines. I genuinely didn't ask for such a thing.
To all the media, I hope your happy you got a reaction out of me which you'll probably then twist into a bad story about me.
The moral of the story is I really don't care what you say about me but don't you dare start invading my family and friends personal lives for stories, just to make money.
Kind regards,
Sadie Brando