Deteriorate

×Chapter 25×

JASON POV
The next day, early in the morning before my mother was awake, I quickly put on a pair of old jeans which had a hole in one of the knees and an old black tee. I went to grab my car keys which were sitting on my bedside table and saw my iPhone sitting beside them. I probably shouldn't bring it, I thought. I grabbed my car keys and left my phone where it was.

As I set foot outside, the birds in the trees chirped and sang. It was a beautiful sunny day.

I got in my car and drove to the address Elroy, told me to go to.

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The place that Elroy told me to go to was an old filthy shack in WestSyde. I parked my car in front of the 'house' and stared outside. I really didn't want to leave the safety of my car. I rubbed my hands over my face and took a deep breath. then I slowly opened my car door and stepped onto the gravel.

"Hey!" Someone yelled.

My stomach lurched and I got in a fighting stance.

Elroy came out from the shadows of a tree on the side of the house and saw my stance and started to chuckle. "Idiot." he said.
I held back the urge to snap at him. I was in the scariest part of town and he thought I was an idiot for being worried? What a tool.

"You ready?" He asked.

Not really, I thought. "Yeah, whatever." I tried to sound confident but ended up sounding tense.

He handed me a wrinkled piece of paper that he pulled out of his back pocket.

"Follow this map and you'll get to the destination." He said.

Duh.

"Do you have a cellphone. You could put the coordinates into your map on your phone."

"No I don't have it on me. I left it at home." I said.

He stared at me for a minute and then said, "well that was real smart." he rolled his eyes.

"I didn't want to break it or something." I said, lying.

"You sure about that. You don't have a girlfriend who doesn't want you to go?"

"Okay maybe that too. she doesn't want me to go." I said and felt a pang in my chest, thinking of Natalia.

"Sorry, man" he patted my shoulder.

"Whatever." I said. He didn't care. "Can I go now? I want to get this over and done with."

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Natalia POV

The day before Alyssa and I got on the plane and headed back. We took Alyssa's car to Jasons house and sat parked a few houses down waiting for him to leave. I managed to stay up the entire night, worried that we would miss him and finally at about 6 am his car pulled out of his driveway.

I quickly turned to Alyssa who was sleeping soundly with her head on the steering wheel. drool was practically pouring out of her mouth.

"Ew.' i muttered and poked her shoulder. she didnt budge.

"Alyssa." i said. "wake up." i shoved her a little harder.

By now, Jason was halfway down the street.

I pushed Alyssa hard and yelled, "wake up!"

She shot up in her seat and stared at me. there was an imprint of the steering wheel on her cheek.

"Jason left. hurry up!" i exclaimed.

He was almost out of sight.

She quickly turned the car on, the keys already in the ignition and the car rumbled to life.

She sped onto the street and we quickly caught up to him.

Soon we were in an unfamiliar part of town and i could tell that Alyssa was getting uncomfortable because her hands were gripping the wheel so tightly that her knuckles were white.

There were shacks everywhere you looked and dumpsters overflowing with garbage. a homeless person even dived into one.

I shddered. so this was the life Jason's dad had.

Jason suddenly pulled into a gravel driveway. i could see a fat guy leaning against a big tree on the side of the house with a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

"This is the place i guess." Alyssa said.

She parked a few houses down and we sat and stared. i ducked a little so Jason wouldn't see me.

They talked for a few minutes and then the fattie handed Jason a piece of paper.

"Is that the drugs?" Alyssa asked squinting her eyes."

"Yeah. people inject paper.' i said sarcastically.

"Well you never know" she said.

I rolled my eyes.

Jason got into his car.

"You ready?" she asked me.

"Not really." i said. "but lets go."

She started her car.