Meet Me

Chapter 12 - Explain

 "The situation can be overwhelming. It’s important for the family to share the responsibility. It’s not just one sibling’s job.” – Ann Douglas

I had fainted. I don’t think I had ever fainted once in my entire life. Maybe once that I didn’t remember, but none that I could recall. My eyes fluttered open, and I was leaning against a tree. The bark was wet and smelt funny. I leaned off of it. I didn’t see Owen in sight, so I got up. “Owen?!” I called. I heard rustling coming from behind me. I spun round and came face to face with Owen. “What happened?”  I asked. I couldn’t remember anything that had happened before I fainted. Well, maybe the few minutes before.         

“You fainted.” Owen simply said. He had a tone in his voice that sounded almost hopeful. Had I forgotten something important? I hoped not. I remembered that Owen and I had had a fight. He said he was going to go and bury Luisa and… I remembered, suddenly. I had fainted because Owen had revealed something I didn’t know – he wasn’t my biological brother. It finally dawned on me to say something about it. Owen saw in my eyes that I was about to ask him a question he didn’t want to answer. “Say it.” He stated.         

“Wh… How? When did you find out you …?” I couldn’t finish my question, otherwise my words would all become jumbled up into one big mess of words. Owen told me to sit down, so I did.  He did too. I was dumbfounded and didn’t know how this had slipped my mind.                                    

“I’ll explain everything. When I was seven, dad sat me down and told me that he had made a complete mess of our family. Naturally, I asked how. I didn’t want to be hit or nothing, so I said it very cautiously. He didn’t hit me, though. He seemed glad that I had asked. I saw human in him when he told me all of this. He looked as if he almost felt… bad. I don’t really know. He told me, obviously thinking I wouldn’t remember, that you weren’t his real daughter. -

You weren’t mums real daughter either.” I felt light headed and I thought I would faint again. Luckily, I didn’t. “He told me that they had adopted you as a baby. They thought they wanted you, but turns out they didn’t. He said you were from England and that it took a long time for papers to come through for them to adopt you.  I was only seven, so I didn’t understand half of what he was saying. I really do think he just wanted to get this off his chest and I was the closest thing to him. Things being the word.” He stopped.                                           

“Don’t mess around Owen. Tell me everything.” I couldn’t believe I was originally English. I had also been adopted. That too. Why would they want me, then abuse me? It didn’t make sense at all. Did they want a sense of power? Were they forced? I sure hope not.

“Tell me more.” I urged him. This was my life, after all.       

“Dad said they took you on, because his brother’s partner died. His brother was only fifteen at the time and his girlfriend was only fifteen when she died. You had a twin. Non identical though. His brother couldn’t cope with two children on his own, so he decided that he would give one away – you. My dad was the only other legal guardian. His other brother was into drugs and all that lot, so he wasn’t deemed acceptable.

The only reason dad speaks so much Italian and so little English is because he was young when he moved to Italy. His brothers were old enough to stay in. He kept your twin. He called the baby Kyle-Leo.” I felt as if the world was spinning. I felt as if I was drifting in and out of consciousness. It wouldn’t be the Kyle I knew. No, surely not. “Dad said that a few years later, Kyle got a half-brother. Called Connor.

I knew straight away that it was that Connor the moment I saw Kyle… Kate! Kate, are you okay?” Owen exclaimed. I couldn’t believe that it was now that I was hearing about this. I didn’t want to know anymore, but I got the impression Owen knew more. This didn’t make me want to know anymore, and Owen sensed that. Owen was my cousin, not brother.

Kyle was my brother, not just someone I knew. Had Kyle known? Had he been told to keep an eye on me? Look after me? If he was told that, he hadn’t done a very good job of it. He had got me involved in so many wrong things. I shouldn’t have been involved in any of them, because I was only fifteen. Looking back, I made so many wrong decisions that I shouldn’t have made. In the last fifteen minutes, I had found out that

My brother wasn’t my brother, he was my cousin

The guy I first had sex with was my real brother

I was originally born in the UK

I was adopted

My mother was dead

My father hadn’t bothered to get in touch with me.

Connor was Kyle's brother

Connor was my half-brother and he had killed my best friend

He couldn’t have known, he was my first. If he knew we were related, there was no way that. I just felt a little weirded out. Is weirded a word? I didn’t care what was what anymore.

At that moment, a group of zombies were fast approaching on us. Owen and I shared a look, then ran for our lives. I only had a penknife, that wasn’t going to stop a whole group of zombies. One zombie, yes, a group, no. “Get up in a tree!?” I suggested. I had had my fair share of trees, but they were safe.

Zombies couldn’t climb, so it would be perfect. They were also blind. After helping each other up the tree, Owen and I sat silently as we waited for them to pass. After what seemed forever, they moved off. While we were safe, Owen took the time to explain more to me. I didn’t want to hear it, but I listened very closely.

“Anyway, when we moved here, I sensed something was wrong when I first met Kyle. He looked too familiar to just be a stranger. Of course, I thought I was going insane. I thought you were my sister and that was the end of that. He was a friend of yours and that was that, too.” I zoned out of listening to him after that. I knew what I needed to know. I curled up in a ball and didn’t know what to do with myself.