euphoria | cazzie

The Morning I Woke Up Without You

"Put it in the GPS," I told Izzie as she removed herself from me, putting the blanket in the back. "He's only about 45 minutes away," Izzie said and I sighed in relief. "Ok... let's go," I said, looking at her for comfort.

Mr Stewart had told us to meet him at an address that seemed to be a house. Izzie and I were shocked and angry about his sudden appearance, but we were too eager to go see him to stay mad. 

"What do you think he's been doing this entire time?" Izzie asked me and I thought about it for a while. "I have no idea but the moment I see him I'm gonna beat his ass." 

I was disappointed that our special moment under the moon was cut short by Mr Stewart's message but I knew we had to solve this thing quick before regionals came. 

Right now, we were at a very sketchy neighbourhood. It was about 4am and it was getting cold. The number of street lights seemed to be getting less and less which was really concerning. "Are you sure you're going the right place?" Izzie asked and I stretched my neck further to look outside. "According to the GPS, I am. This place looks shady as fuck though," I said. 

"Alright, here we are... I think," Izzie and I looked out of the window to see a tiny house with dead plants outside. The windows were filthy at the vibe about the place gave me the creeps. "He's living here?" Izzie asked, dumbfounded. I took my jacket and got out of the car before going to the door at Izzie's side. I opened the door and wrapped her in my jacket immediately because of how cold this place was. 

Back at Santa Clarita, it was chilly but not like this and I had no regrets bringing my jacket on the ride. She blushed and smiled a little when I put my arm around her and rubbed her arm, hoping to warm her up as much as I could. 

When we reached the front door, Izzie and I looked at each other, skeptical. "Maybe we should have stayed home. There's only so much adventure I can take," Izzie said and I giggled. "He told us to come here so he should be home," I reassured her before knocking on the door. 

Izzie took the opportunity to look around and pointed at things that looked weird to get my attention. We saw weird strangers shooting us strange looks while walking past and there were stray dogs everywhere. 

No one had come to open the door so I knocked again, frustrated because I wanted to get inside as soon as possible. 

I pushed against the door and was shocked when it opened. I looked at Izzie who looked back at me. "We really are fucking crazy," I thought to myself as I pushed the door completely open. It was dark inside. 

I took Izzie's hand as we stepped into the house. I turned on the flashlight on my phone to look around until I finally found the light switch. I turned it on and was shocked to see the piles of papers on the floor. It looked like a mad man lived here. 

Izzie and I bent down to look at the papers when a large booming voice made us jump and made Izzie scream a little. "SHUT THE DOOR!" 

"Holy fuck you look horrible," I said, eyeing Mr Stewart up and down. Izzie went to close the door before turning her attention to him. His beard was super long and he had lost so much weight and reeked of alcohol. 

"Nice of you to finally show up," Izzie said, pushing past him. "What the fuck have you been doing? What is this place? Do you know how confused everyone at Stewart Constructions is?" I yelled at him and he sighed. 

"I had to leave. I had to get clues to know who J is," He explained and I laughed humourlessly. "And you thought leaving us was the best option?" I asked. 

"J will only get to Izzie if I'm there. That's the point. He wants me to be there when he kills her," He whispered the last part, eyeing Izzie who was in the kitchen, looking at the disgusting mess.