The Race Car that was Tyler Scott

Chapter Fourteen

The next morning as I sat in the hotel lounge downstairs, I read the headlines of the papers to myself. Jake had bought one of each, so we knew exactly what the people thought.
Only one newspaper had a positive headline, the rest were horrid:
"Tyler Scott's tastes lie with the homeless"
"Orphan in rags steals celebrities heart"
"Tyler Scott picks girl up off the street"
"True love for celebrity; Tyler Scott"
"Multi-millionaire falls for 'Annie the Orphan'"
"The highlight of Orphan's tragic story"
"Celebrity appearance in Orphan's tragic tale"
Jake had tried to be as sensitive as he could in bringing the headlines to me, but nevertheless I wept silently. Reading a story that I had not been told yet, a story to which I had every right to know first. Before millions of people could read it. It was my story. My own life.
It had completely slipped my mind that on turning eighteen, my background information was available, and not just to me. I was no longer a minor, the press had no reason to treat me specially. I'd never wanted to know my own story, I'd avoided every possibility of knowing it and so when the opportunity arose for me to find out who I was, it just didn't occur to me that I should take it.
Each news paper had my story printed in it. I read it, for the first time.
My parents were dead. The one fact, the one truth I'd never wanted to hear; printed right in front of me. I took a sharp breath in and my eyes filled with tears. That painful lump came back to my throat, making it almost impossible to breath. I covered my mouth with my hand and continued to cry.
My mother had died in childbirth and the pain of this caused my father to commit suicide. They'd had another child before me. A boy, Morton. My brother, I had a brother. The flash of good news made me smile. I wasn't all alone. Morton was two years older than me. Where was he, who was he. I needed to find him. Suddenly the newspaper I read became useful, they would have his story in here too. Morton was adopted when he was two, a week after he'd been admitted at St. Juniper's. Adopted by the Wisher family; Morty Wisher. I couldn't believe what I was reading. I inhaled again, gasping this time, tears flooding my eyes. I couldn't even tell whether I was happy or sad. I was too overwhelmed. I'd grown up with my own brother, not knowing he was mine. Amelia and Morty Tompkins.
Jake had been reading a separate article depicting the same story. He looked up to where I was sitting onthe sofa and saw my tears. "Amelia, I'm so, so sorry", his voice was so kind and genuine, I lifted my head up to meet his eyes, "It's okay. It's the truth and I needed to hear it", I smiled behind my tears. "Yes, but not like this. I'm sorry you had to hear it like this", he switched sofas to sit next to me, he put his hand on mine. "How else were we supposed to live like two people in love. I love him, Jake and I don't want that to be a secret. If this is the price for that, then so be it", it was the truth, "I love him", I repeated myself. Now that I had Jake's attention, I pointed to the shred of happiness on the page I had read. He followed my finger. "I have a brother Jake, a brother. And that's not it, I grew up with this boy and his family and he's my brother", he stared down at the page and then smiled at me. He then hugged me so tightly, I laughed quietly. He let go and started to laugh too, he had shed a tear on my behalf and brushed it away quickly. "Woah", he exclaimed and we laughed again. "Are you okay though?This is quite a lot to take in", I nodded. I would be fine, anything that struck me down couldn't beat me, I would get up every time, stronger each time... because of Tyler.
Tyler stepped out of the elevator. I'd gotten up whilst he was still sleeping to meet with Jake. He walked quickly up to me, his face said it all, he knew what had happened, he would've been watching MTV. I stood up and he came straight to me, he took me in. His arms clutched me in a tight hold and his fingers pressing into me. His chin clamped down on my head, he glided his hand up to the back of my head, his fist gripping onto my hair. He pressed his lips against the top of my head and brought me in again, tighter. His hold was so powerful, so strong and so emotionally overwhelming I started to cry again. I felt so weak, so helpless and yet Tyler was in love with me. How could someone so strong and powerful love someone so feeble. "I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry", he spoke quietly above my head, the pain of the loss of the two people who had given me a life was killing me, drowning me, "It hurts Tyler, it hurts make it stop, I can't take this. Please make the pain go away", I tried desperately to speak beneath the heaviness of my pain as I begged him for the impossible. I knew I would have to live with this, on my shoulders everyday and I didn't know if I was capable of that. "The weight of what you have been through is two much for you alone to carry, I am here, I will always be here for you to fall back on", I breathed in and wiped a tear away from below my eye. Tyler held my shoulders as he created a gap between us, releasing me from his embrace. He looked down at my face as I looked up at his, "I love you, I love you so much, please know that I promise I will never stop loving you", and he kissed my forehead, his words made me so happy. As I sank into darker depths of misery, his words provided a beacon through the water, the sun. Guiding me towards the surface the way Bea had done for me many times before, in fact Bea and Tyler weren't all that different, they were both so wise and their voices so comforting.
The three of us sat around a small table in the corner of the hotel cantine. "So you grew up with your brother, not knowing you were related to him", Tyler asked, "I had no idea". Jake joined the conversation, "Does he know...that you two are brother and sister", Tyler looked at him, "That's a good point, do you think he's known this all along? Or at least his parents, Mr and Mrs Wisher, must've known. Right?". It was a good question, Mr and Mrs Wisher would have known that their adopted child was in fact my brother. They'd kept that secret from me and I'd practically grown up as their own daughter, what was to say that they had told Morty. "I don't know", I answered them finally.
My phone buzzed in the table, it was Toni. She'd probably been watching the television, I picked up my phone and excused myself from the table. I walked over to the lounge and sat on a sofa, my back to the window. "Mimi? All four sisters were on the other end of the phone, "Hey guys", I said feebly. "Meem, we just wanted to hear your voice to see if you were okay. We've all just been watching the telly", Toni spoke as the main voice. "Guys. Morty- Morty is my brother, my biological brother. All this time, he's my brother", I could hear them all whispering and talking amongst themselves, "Oh my god. That's, Jeeze that's crazy. Have you spoken to him yet?", Bea spoke this time. "Guys he's in Nevada and I'm not sure if I should be the one telling him he's adopted and that I'm his sister", it was true, Morty shouldn't hear about this over the phone. "Meem, don't you think that he would have been watching TV too, or he would have read the newspaper maybe?", I hadn't thought about that. "Yeah, that's a fair point". There was some background noise on the other end of the line, Toni came back as the main voice on the line, "Mimi, Morty just texted me-", "What?!", I wanted to know, I needed to know, "He asked for your number, you guys need to have a really long conversation. And by the way, he's not in Nevada anymore. He's in London. He's been there for a few days already". This was so utterly convenient. Morty was here in London, I could speak to him. I wasn't sure how would approach him though, how do you have that conversation with someone, like "Hey Morty, so you know how we're actually brother and sister...", it was going to be hard. Morty had been brought up in a completely different situation to mine, he had had a family life, not having to think every step of the way whether his parents were dead or alive, and if they were alive, why they would give him up?
After my phone call with the girls, I received a message from an unrecognised number... Morty. "Sloane Square station midday", I read his message. Morty has always been very blunt with his messaging, I didn't find his method rude or insensitive - it was efficient, I understood that.
Tyler asked if I wanted him there as he was sure that I would want this time to myself, we kissed at the doors and I left to catch the underground to Sloane Square.
The broadcast of Morty being my brother had caused me to forget about how much I missed him as a friend, I was so excited to see him; I couldn't stop fidgeting in my seat. The station clock read 12:03, I hurried up the steps to the entrance. There he was, he had grown... a lot, his hair was so short; I could almost see his scalp. He'd lost both weight and muscle, his cheekbones stuck out and his eyes were deep and shadowed. It was raining outside and hence the world had gone grey, Morty stood out though, his pale skin and he only wore a t-shirt, drenched from the rain - it stuck to him, revealing just how skinny he was. I was slightly scared.
I stood staring at him for a little while before he noticed me. His skinny frame jerked into movement as he walked briskly towards me. He took me into a tight embrace and I heard him sniff on the other side of my shoulder, he was crying. I was also crying, but silently. He didn't let go for a long time. We stood at the top of the Underground steps just hugging each other whilst crying.
I'd known Morty for ages and he'd always felt like my older brother, so why now did I feel like I bearly knew him? I felt as though I was hugging a stranger. It was as though Morty had died and now there was this guy who claimed Morty's identity and also the man who was my biological brother. I had no words to say, no sentence to open with. I stood in front of him now, completely and utterly speechless.
"I'm an orphan", he said finally to break the silence. His face showed no emotion, he didn't seem surprised or happy but his voice didn't carry tones of sadness either. He felt nothing. It was slightly intimidating. I'd known I was an orphan all my life, he'd found out only a few hours ago and yet he scared me to the point where he came across more powerful and slightly threatening.
We walked together, down the street as we talked. I thought it might be wise to sit down somewhere. As we sat I asked him how he was feeling about all of this, he told me how he hadn't spoken to his family yet because he didn't know what to say, I understood this. "So you and that guy Tyler Scott?", he said smiling, he continued before I could say anything, "You know as your brother I will be very protective and, well, I don't know if I like the look of this Scott man", I nudged his shoulder, pushing him over slightly as he laughed. "Is it serious?", he asked, he looked me in the eye, "I love him Morty", it was serious and I did love him.
I couldn't believe how much my guard was down, I was so in love with Tyler I'd hardly noticed. I was starting to trust him. Starting to break my vow of 'never trusting anyone', I felt so great about it too. I didn't feel like an entirely new person, I just felt like the best version of myself. I untucked my phone from the back pocket of my jeans and texted Toni quickly, "I trust him", I wrote, I needed to tell her. She was the one person who'd understand that. Toni would understand what it want to me and how hard it was for me to put faith in anyone, putting my faith in him meant that I really did love him.
I put my phone away and looked back to Morty, he was smiling. Not smiling with sarcasm or mock but his eyes smiled. He put his arm around me and pulled me against him. I leant on his bony shoulder. "You're my sister...you're my sister...", he whispered, repeating himself several times. "I thought I had no one, I thought I was all alone. I'm not alone anymore...I'm not alone now", I whispered to myself, staring vacantly into nothingness. I knew what my dream was now, what that nightmare was. I'd always been alone, no one had ever been with me, apart from the man. I wasn't alone now and I never would be again. "You're not alone now", Morty whispered, his cheek resting on the side of my head.