Lost Cause (Tyler Carter)

Chapter 7

I walked in the front door of my house and my parents were in the kitchen. Mom was cooking and dad was talking to her.

"I'm only going to be gone for a few days." Dad said.

"Where are you going?" I asked him.

"Tyler, you're back!" Mom said, smiling. "How was your date?"

Dad furrowed his eyebrows and looked at me. "Date?"

"Yes. I didn't tell you?" Mom said. "Tyler asked Rachel Reece out."

His eyes widened. "Little Miss Reece, huh?"

I nodded. "Yes, but I'm going to stick with calling her Rachel." I said. "Anyways, where are you going to be gone to?"

"I have a business trip I have to attend."

"You've never been on a business trip before." I said.

"I know, but this trip has a lot in store for me. I could get a raise."

I shrugged. "Sound like a great opportunity."

I walked down the hallway and plugged my phone in to let it charge.

About an hour after my phone charged, my brother called.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Tyler."

"Hey, Josh."

"Gonna' actually talk to me this time?"

I didn't get the chance to say anything before he opened his mouth again.

"How are things?"

"Better than I thought they would be, if that means anything. How are things for you?"

"Good, I guess." He said. "Mom and Kyle haven't been fighting?"

I shrugged even though he couldn't see me. "I don't really know. I try to pay the least attention to them as possible."

I decided to not speak about the business trip because I know that Josh will accuse my dad of cheating.

If you have somehow yet to catch this, Josh and I have different fathers and he hates mine. There's a reason Josh hates him, but I've never been allowed to know. I don't know what the reason is for sure, but I think I might have an idea. I'm not going to mention it, though.

"Well," Josh said over the line. "I'll let you go."

"Okay." I said.

"Bye, Ty."

"Bye."

The line died and I set my phone aside.

I'm happy to know that everything is going good for him, honestly. Josh was never happy here and I understand that. Every single time we have family get-togethers, it just turns into a fight. We also tend to have quite a few family get-togethers, so it happens a lot. The fights are always on mom's side of the family. It really started two years ago when my uncle Jerry died. He was mom's brother and it caused a lot of heartache and anger in my family.

It was a rather normal day, really. I was sitting in my last class in sixth grade and I got a text from mom. "Please hurry out of school today."

I thought it was a little weird, but I didn't think much of it. I thought we just had somewhere to be. That wasn't the case,

though.

I did as she asked and hurried out of school with Josh.

When we got out to the car, mom was crying.

"Why are you crying?" I asked her.

"I need to tell you two something." She said.

Josh and I looked at each other and waited for her to proceed.

"Jerry has been in a car accident."

It hit me like a brick, but I didn't cry. I was too shocked. Of all things, I didn't expect it to be this.

We got to my aunt's house. She was hugging her daughter and they were both crying.

I didn't shed a tear until I learned how bad his condition was and that he wasn't going to survive. It was by far the worst day of my life. I've never felt quite as much pain as I felt when he died.

Of course, I was a happy and oblivious kid before he died. I wish he was here, now because I know that he would understand me. Nobody in my family understands me and the crazy things I've done in my life and I know that he would if he was still here. I miss him.