Chapter 4: Coming Undone
She sat there on a freshly made bed. A bed freshly made with her freshly washed bedding from her room in her house. The house she was forced to abandon because a being entirely out of her control decided he wanted her and didn't care if he had to kill her mother in the process. The one person she had, and she was dead. So, Morgan sat on the bed for a moment, wondering what in the world she should do next. She looked around the room at the barren grey walls and wooden furniture. It didn't look much like a teenager's room aside from the turquoise, pale green and white tye dye comforter and pillows and the MacBook laptop covered in various superhero and cartoon stickers. The lack of homeliness wasn't helped by the two large duffels that were still packed and her backpack that had been tipped over when she took out her laptop, the contents now strewn across the floor in front of the desk that was now hers.
She sat there fidgeting. She could feel the dam she put between her consciousness and all the emotions she didn't want to feel the last few days cracking, so she did what she would do any other time she wanted to distract herself from the stress and discomforting memories. Morgan walked over to one of her duffels and unzipped it. Right on top of the folded clothing was a Bose speaker. She set it on the desk and plugged in the power cord. When the little green light came on, she plugged her phone into the speaker, scrolled through her playlists and pressed play. The teenager ran a hand through her thick chestnut hair and bounced slightly to the intro of the song. She could feel the music wash over her as she danced and jumped around as Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra filled the room to the brim with it's upbeat tempo. Morgan continued dancing as she dragged her duffles over to the dresser and closet, which were conveniently right next to each other, and began unpacking.
The teenager found it even more distracting to make herself organize her clothing by article type, and then by color. Hanging in the small closet started with tanktops, then short sleeved shirts, and longsleeves, then sweaters, sweatshirts, jackets, rompers and dresses. She never felt like she had a lot of clothes until she filled the closet. She filled in the bottom of the closet with her shoes, at this point, not organizing them by color, but by how often she wore them. In the front left it started with her black, high tops vans, and ended in the back right corner with the two pairs of heels that her mom made her get for eighth grade graduation and the dance. Though, she wasn't going to get to wear them now. She stared at the variety of the shoes, noticing for a moment that the had nearly all vans in varying colors, apart from her flip flops, the heels, her pair of grey timberlands, and a pair of leather sandals. She barely wore the shoes that weren't various styles of vans.
She felt the song switch to Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede, reminding her of her Saturday mornings with her mother. Morgan took a deep breath, trying to suppress the memories that were fighting to take over her conscious. Instead, the teenager walked over to the desk and slid open a drawer, pulling out one of the four tupperwares full of cookies she made the night before. She just popped open the tupperware and started eating her chocolate chip cookies. There was a thought that crossed her mind as she sat in the corner of the room, hoarding the cookies to herself as she blasted 70s music. She was beginning to realize that she probably looked like she belonged in the nut house. But in that moment, she didn't care. She just sat there, eating cookies and trying not to cry. The room was already set up and she had done her promised part of getting organized in an effort to get used to living with her new family. She was doing pretty well, holding back her sadness until her dog pushed the door open and trotted over to her side. It was in that moment, when Zoey laid her head in Morgan's lap, that Morgan finally began to cry. She put the cookies up onto her bed and slumped over the the side, letting herself cry as her dog snuggled its way under her arm, laying next to her.
She was there for a while, long enough to realize that if she didn't need to take a shower before, she did now. The teenager pulled herself off the floor, gave her dog a piece of a cookie without chocolate as a treat, and walked over the the bathroom door. She felt lucky that they gave her a room with an adjoined bathroom. She didn't even have to bring her clothes with her, she just stripped down and brought her toiletries with her into the shower. She was quick, as not dawdling showers was her specialty. She always had to be fast so she could get a morning shower in before her mother started getting ready for work. She managed to be in and out in fifteen minutes shaving and washing in all. By the time she got out, she decided to check the weather on her phone. It was 76° outside and Morgan thought it would make her feel better to take Zoey on a walk.
The teenager dried off and rung out her hair, even put on some lotion that made her feel a little greasy for a hot second. She slid on a plain t-shirt dress, a white one with thin black stripes. She had a lot of these since she rarely liked to feel constricted in a dress. She pulled on some spandex underneath to hide her underwear and slipped on her black, high topped vans. She grabbed her little leather purse to keep her phone in as she also grabbed the harness, plastic bags, and dog leash to put on Zoey. She even slipped on her black, horn rimmed sunglasses as she slipped out the door, snapping at Zoey to follow her. The dog trotted happily behind her as they made their way to the main room, what her father had liked to call the base of operations in the Batcave. She just saw Sam and Dean chilling at the table with their laptops and a bear by each one's side.
"And where do you think you're going?" Dean asked, giving her a look that made her feel like a prisoner in the bunker, in her new home.
"I'm taking Zoey for a walk," Morgan told them, reaching into her purse to make sure she had the demon knife that her mother left with her, glad she didn't just leave it at the hospital. It made her feel safer to have it on her.
"No, you're not," Dean said hastily. She ignored him and bent down to put the harness on Zoey. Making sure it was tight enough without being too tight. Dean kept giving her that look.
"I'm taking this dog outside whether you like it or not," Morgan told him, starting to walk towards the steps up to the door. Sam got up and grabbed her shoulder to stop her, but quickly let go when Zoey started growling at him.
"How about I drive you into town and we can walk the dog around there. I have some things I need to get anyway," Sam told the two of them. Dean relaxed and Morgan smiled. She would be protected in Dean's opinion, and Morgan would get to explore when she was already a little stir crazy.
The two of them walked to the garage, a place of which Morgan kept wanting to go but was afraid that she wasn't allowed. She just wanted to touch all the old cars and motorcycles, maybe wanting to drive some of them. Though she didn't exactly know how to drive. She was about to be a freshman in highschool, not a certified driver. She had two years until that happened. She and Sam got into the Impala with Zoey in the back seat. He started the engine and peeled out of the parking spot, the two of them driving out of the garage and onto the path that took them up and outside. She watched the landscape roll by her window, going from a thickly wooded area to wheat fields and corn fields. Then, just open grassy plains just before the town. When they got out of the car, it was a small playground surrounded by a couple stores.
"We've got some other stops to make up the street, but I thought we'd start here so you could walk the dog," Sam told her as they got out of the car, opening the backseat door to let the dog out. Morgan grabbed the leash and together, as uncle and niece, they walked the dog together. It wouldn't be the first time, but it definitely won't be the last. After Zoey had done her business, the two of them made one last lap around the park before walking over to the stores. Morgan kept checking the signs outside each store, making sure she could bring Zoey inside. Every time she went into a store, they were typically family owned and there were typically a dog or two hanging out inside the stores. Morgan noticed that her dog had been making new friends with all the shop owners and their pets.
It was a long day of not many stores, a lot of long conversations with the other town citizens, and people stopping her to pet her dog. It was a lot to deal with, but in her mind it was better to deal with than her mother's death. That was still an open wound that she'd rather not pour salt in. So far, she was succeeding in keeping herself together. Even when she saw a mom and her daughter at the park when she was walking Zoey in the first place. She was starting to feel better, and it helped that Sam was with her. As much as she would've rather have been bonding with her father, but it's easier to be with Sam. He's like a buffer. Someone who is family, but not quite her dad. So she had to ask the question.
"Sam?" She got his attention as they were in line for their ice-cream cones.
"Yeah?" He went to answer her, but they were interrupted by the guy taking their orders and scooping their ice cream. Sam got rocky road, but Morgan got excited, finding a flavor that she thought was only at places like United Dairy Farmers. She got Blue Moo Cookie Dough ice cream. As the two of them and the dog walked out of the little shop, Sam picked back up where they left off.
"So what were you asking me?"
"It wasn't so much of a question…" She tried to drop it, licking her ice cream cone, getting out a piece of cookie dough.
"You sure?" Sam asked as they slowly meandered back to the car.
"Well, I wanted to know why Bobby isn't around," Morgan told him and he slowed down, nearly stopping walking.
"He… uh… Bobby died a little while back… hunting accident," Sam tried to explain. Morgan shook her head.
"I found a letter that my mom left for me, and it said something that she wanted me to tell Bobby," She finally told him. She had been thinking about it all day.
"What did it say?" He asked hesitantly. Morgan wasn't quite sure she wanted to tell him. But, if Bobby is dead then she might not have a choice with whom she could tell in his place.
"Well, it was a long letter that was just about how much she loved me and that she was sorry, and at the end there was a little P.S. that I was supposed to tell him."
"And what was that?" he asked. She was the one who stopped walking this time.
"She said that Bobby once asked who my father was, and she had told him, 'over my dead body.' But now that she's dead, she wanted me to tell Bobby my father's name. Which I wasn't even sure of until I read the letter."
"What's your father's name?" Sam asked, but Morgan understood that he already knew what name she was already going to say.
"My mom wrote that my father's name is Dean Winchester. Figures right?"