into the night [cazzie]

thirteen

IZZIE WOKE UP ALONE. When she got up, she felt a stinging in her eyes, so she rushed to a mirror to check it out. Unsurprisingly, she saw red eyes, a consequence of the night before. No matter how quiet she cried, her tears still caused a whole mess. After rubbing her eyes a few more times, Izzie got a better look at herself in the mirror. She began to see how rough her hair looked, how dark her eye circles had gotten. She was in terrible shape. With a deep sigh, Izzie made her way to the kitchen.

"Good morning soldier," Lydia greeted, a plate of food in front of her. "Yours is on the counter."

"Thanks," Izzie deadpanned.

She grabbed the plate off the kitchen island, walking to sit next to Lydia at the dining table. Lydia took a look at her older sister, immediately sensing her distraught tone and disheveled appearance. She had heard Izzie crying last night, but she didn't do anything about it. She just couldn't. The cries that she had heard -- they were like nothing she had heard before. Izzie was in a new type of pain, and Lydia didn't know how to fix it just yet.

"Something wrong?"

"Nothing."

Lydia looked over at her sister yet again. It wasn't hard to tell that Izzie was lying, but the younger wasn't sure if she wanted to pry or not. Izzie was a little volatile in these situations, and any wrong step would be disastrous. She wanted Izzie to having someone to open up to, but she wasn't sure she could be that person for this.

"Okay... Well, what are your plans for today?"

"Stay home."

"Will... Sawyer be here?"

Izzie finally looked up from her food, which she had been picking at for the past couple of minutes. "No. At least, I don't think so."

"Um... Casey?"

Izzie grimaced, "No. Hard no. She's in the hospital anyway."

Lydia nodded, knowing that she was getting to the root of the issue. She continued to ask questions, trying not to push it. Of course, that didn't work out.

"Okay... so something definitely happened between you and Casey."

Izzie groaned, propping her elbows on the table and burying her face in her hands. "Yes," she mumbled, her voice muffled by her hands.

"Is it... bad?"

"Really bad."

"Well, let's see... Casey was in that car cr-"

Izzie groaned yet again. "Please, Lyd. Don't talk about it now."

"Well, you're gonna need to talk to someone about it," Lydia stood, grabbing her now-empty plate. She took a look at Izzie's plate, which was still completely full. All Izzie had done was rip up her food into small pieces. "And if you're not talking to me, you're gonna have to find someone who's just as willing to listen."

With that, Lydia left to God knows where, and Izzie was alone yet again. Marco and Luca had been sent to daycare early on, so there was nobody left in the house. Lydia's words still echoed in her head. Maybe she needed someone to listen to her.

Or maybe I need to get out of this damn town, she thought to herself before she was interrupted from her thoughts by a knock on the door. Looking out the window warily, Izzie saw a chipper Sawyer waiting outside. Though all she wanted to do was ignore her, Izzie knew she couldn't do that. So she opened the door, trying to appear as happy and normal as possible.

"Good morning," Sawyer smiled, stepping to meet Izzie in the doorway. She placed a gentle kiss on Izzie's lips.

"How are you?" Izzie managed, trying to swallow the guilt she felt.