Forsaken Below The Tracks

Chapter Seven: Morgan's Mysterious Death

I woke up in a cold sweat with tears streaming down my face. Where the hell was I? What happened last night? Calm yourself down and think, Jenn. I got into my own mind a lot in order to help me process things on a more clear level. Just breath.

The entire room was dark, the bed was small and there was only a small window above my head that was way too small to climb out of. Erik. I was at Erik's place. But where was he at? It wasn't like him to leave me alone at his "crash pad", his room-mates were pretty sketchy and he just didn't trust them to be alone around me. I didn't either. A note. Maybe he left a note. I scanned the room but it was too dark to clearly see anything. I began feeling around for my bag but couldn't even remember how I ended up at Erik's, let alone remember where my satchel was.

Seriously, what was going on? I began to feel my chest constrict and my breath get short. I was in the early stages of a panic attack and had nothing or no one to help me. Breathe. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Think. You've got this. Breathe. The panic was setting in far too quickly to gain control of. I collapsed at the moment that I heard the door open.

"Jesus, babe!" Erik rushed to my side. Noting that I was hyperventilating he lifted my head into his lap, and began running his fingers through my hair, "you're alright, baby, just breathe. I'm here. It's okay. Breathe, baby, just breathe."

The tears continued rolling down my face but I was feeling my body and breath were both returning to their normal state. Erik was with me. I was in his room, in his arms. I was okay. But, I still had no clue what was going on.

"How messed up did I get last night? I don't remember anything, Erik. Did you put something in my drink," I frantically waved my hands around. "What the fuck happened! Why am I here?"

"Jennifer!" He looked intently at me. He was always light-hearted, albeit super hungover, after a night of hard drinking, that look he gave me then shook me to my core. Something bad, very bad, happened.

"Are you good?" he asked.

"I'm good."

"Alright then. Let's go get some coffee, okay? We can talk."

"Erik, what happened?"

"Why are you asking me that?" He rubbed my head. "Do you remember anything?"

I could only stay silent. I didn't know something was wrong. I felt it. Something just didn't seem right, and me being at his place after getting drunk was strange to me.

"Throw on one of my shirts and we'll talk. Meet you in the kitchen, babe."

I failed to notice I wasn't wearing any clothes. I nodded to him and did as I was told.

I walked down the creaky, reluctant steps to the kitchen. It was dark down there as well but the sun was just starting to peak over the horizon. I am not a morning person. It felt wrong for me to even be watching the sunrise. I also felt too confused and terrified to even care. Erik set the coffee down in front of me as I took a seat on the weathered old bar stool that served as a dining chair.

"Feeling better?" 

"Yeah. I guess." I lied. I felt like shit but definitely did not want to admit it to Erik. He was worried enough, I could see it on his face.

"Baby, what is the last thing you remember from last night?"

"Erik, I told you. I don't remember much of anything. I remember leaving the movie theater, hitting up Seamus', having a few beers and then it's all just a total blur."

"Do you remember Liam and Morgan showing up?"

I furrowed my eyebrows in thought, trying to pull the information from somewhere that it may potentially be stored.

"I guess, kind of. Maybe?"

He shook his head, "babe, you need to think. Hard. You have to remember something."

I nodded and could feel my eyes flooding with tears again.

"Erik, I don't remember anything. What happened? Can you please just tell me something that happened? Maybe it will help to jog my memory. Anything, tell me anything. Please."

He put his head in his hands and muttered something under his breath. He sounded pained. Like a wounded animal. I had never seen him like this before. Something happened and I couldn't fathom what he was struggling to tell me. We had always been open with each other. Always.

"What?" I asked him, "Erik, tell me."

"The tracks and...she's dead, Jenn."

My heart stopped. I couldn't get out the words, but somehow was able to stammer, "No."

"Morgan. Jenn, Morgan's dead."

My coffee cup shattered against the wall next to me though neither of us had touched it and I blacked out.