euphoria | cazzie

Running With You

      The only job I've ever had before was when I worked at the Starbucks in town with Sharice. It was summer period and I had nothing to do so I impulsively agreed to take the job with Sharice. It was so much fun because of how laid-back it was and I also felt a new purpose in life. But this time things were so different. I had no qualifications to have such a prominent post in this company and I accepted it at a huge cost. Izzie was icing me out and I missed her terribly. Today was my first day at the job and I was a nervous wreck.

"Not much for you to do today. Just admin stuff and I'll introduce you to some people," Mr Stewart said as we both sat down in his office. "What is this job even for?" I asked. "You schedule my meetings, pass me messages, answer work calls, attend to all 500 of our employees," He said and I sighed. "And you want a 16 year old to do all that?" I asked.

"Hey you accepted this job I just offered remember," He said. "I also... have a lot of enemies... to get to the top you can't make friends... you have to deal with them too," He continued and I raised my eyebrows. "What do you mean by that?"

"Don't look so scared. There are just some people who are trying to sabotage my company and steal my clients. Just do what I say to prevent it," He told me and I nodded. "You don't seem very excited about this Ms Gardner," He said. "Well yeah... your daughter is still on my mind," I replied. "Alright look, I can't be having you as my assistant if you're gonna keep being distracted. You either resolve this with Izzie or you quit for her and I'll find someone else," He said, getting up.

"Go home Casey. And go talk to her. Don't delay it any further," He ended, leaving the room. I stayed seated on the seat, staring at the empty seat in front of me. I sighed before getting up and decided to walk around his office. I admired the photographs on his table. There was a picture of him, Izzie as a baby and another woman, who I'm guessing is her mother.

They all look so happy... Why would they leave?

I slouched on his seat and looked at my phone, deciding whether or not to call Izzie. My wallpaper was me and her during one of our slurpee nights and I felt my heart get heavy and my lips started to quiver. Right then, a file on Mr Stewart's table caught my attention. It was a brown paper folder sticking out under a pile of papers. I looked out the door to see if anyone was coming before I carefully removed the file from the stack. The big red word "CONFIDENTIAL" was printed on it. I knew it was best for me to put it back where I found it and get out as soon as possible to go see Izzie. But curiosity got the better of me and before I knew it, I was flipping through the file. There were reports with long words on them but the pictures inside were what really caught my attention. I saw Mr Stewart's headshot when he was in prison, the exact same picture Nate showed me at the park that night. There were also pictures of other men in orange jumpsuits. They all looked fairly innocent and it was weird to see them in prison. One photo however had a red cross on it and it seemed like someone had drawn on it.

What the hell does that mean? Is he dead?

At the back, there was a note that was crumpled and there was a pen attached to it as well.

To-Do List
8pm: Pick Casey and Izzie up
10pm: Drop Casey back home
11pm: Carter

Carter?

I squinted my eyes before flipping back to the first page. I took out the photograph that was labelled "Carter" on it. "What the fuck..." I whispered to myself. Was he going to meet this Carter person? But isn't he in jail? Or used to be in jail?

I heard footsteps from outside and I quickly placed the file back under the pile and stood up right when Mr Stewart came back. He looked at me with suspicion. "What are you doing?" He asked. My heart raced as I thought of an excuse. "Um... I just... dropped my phone under your table when I was looking at your photographs," I said and he raised his eyebrows at me. I stood rooted to the ground, praying that he believed me. "Ok then... get out of here I told you to go talk to Izzie," He said. I nodded quickly and gathered all my things before getting out of there.