All of Me (Sebastian Vettel)

3. Joel's Story

"Joel, why are you looking at me like that?  Where are they?   Do they not want to see me?  How are you here? Seb, how did you find him?" Sienna said without taking a breath.

"Sienna, I think you need to sit down," Seb said. 

"I don't want to sit down.  I want to know where my Dad and my sister are. I've not seen them for nearly seventeen years and I don't want to wait any longer!"

"Sisi, please.  Sit," Joel said.  Sienna looked like she was about to argue, but she sat down on the sofa next to Seb. 

"Ok, so I guess there's no easy way of saying this. Dad passed away in August 2010."

"What?" Sienna cried, burying her face in her hands.  "No!   That can't be true! You were supposed to be living a better life with him! You were supposed to be a family!"

"I'm sorry Sienna, it's true," Joel mumbled.

Tears began to spill out of Sienna's eyes.  Seb placed his hand reassuringly on her shoulder.  

"How?" she asked. "How did he die?"

"Glioblastoma. Brain cancer.  It was quick.  He died three months after diagnosis.  I was nineteen, Alyssa was sixteen."

Sienna sobbed quietly. Joel didn't know what to do. He felt the tears pooling in his own eyes. It had been over eleven years but it still hurt as if it had been yesterday.

"Why didn't you come to me? We've spent years looking for you but you were nowhere to be found. You should have come to me. I'd have looked after you. I'd have looked after Alyssa. Where is she Joel?" Sienna demanded.

"He told us he contacted you. He told us you didn't want to know. That's why we stayed away," Joel continued, ignoring Sienna's question about Alyssa.

"Who?" Sienna asked, a look of fury on her face.

"Grandad," he Joel told her. He began to cry, all of his emotions pouring out of him .

No one spoke for a few minutes.  Joel took some deep breaths, trying to compose himself.

"Why would he do that?" Sienna finally asked. "I don't understand."

"I don't know, but I'm going to be asking him," Joel told her.

"He's still alive? And he's never tried to see me?" A look of anguish appeared on Sienna's face. "Not once have I heard from him. I tried to call him, the number had been cut off. I went to visit but the house was empty. I thought... Sixteen years Joel!"

"He went on the run with us when we arrived back here from Germany. We changed our surname from Harper to Ashton, Nan's maiden name. Dad had a few contacts and we disappeared. He wasn't risking Monica and Karl getting us back."

"I get that. I just don't get why neither you or Alyssa have been in touch since reaching adulthood. You're nearly thirty one Joel. Alyssa is twenty eight! You've both been adults for ten fucking years, and now you just turn up out of the blue!"

"We thought you didn't want us Sisi. Grandad told us that you'd said you wanted nothing to do with us."

"Yet here you are. What do you want Joel? Money?" she said accusingly. 

"It's not like that Sienna," Seb said quietly. He didn't blame her for thinking that, but she didn't know the struggle he'd had persuading Joel to even talk to her.  

"Then what's it like Sebastian?" she spat.  "Sixteen years and not a damn word, then all of a sudden up he pops! I just don't get it.   How did he even get in touch with you?  Were you still looking for him?"