holy moly. despite being unfinished, this still managed to capture me SO THOROUGHLY. WOW!!!
morgan and mc are so well-written. it's so obvious to me how much care and thought you put into them. i just came from mmm and had made a similar statement on my comment there, but mc's internal monologue and inner voice really got me going due to how strikingly similar it is to mine. their hope, their sudden catastrophizing, their avoidance --- THEY'RE LITERALLY ME. and being put into such a tough position?? where you are mentally and physically stuck (babe -- why would you go back to your childhood island right after your entire family died knowing that you have a writing block?!) ... a situation where your future in your field and the merit you hold as a professional hinges on you being able to create ... UGH. SO SUCKY FOR THEM. i tried really hard to pick all the moral, "i understand, but ..." options, but the truth of the matter is that i would've defaulted to being nasty VERY easily. i also like that their relationship was not perfect from the get-go. mc always held the slightest bit of resentment for morgan as a creative. and in this time of growing need, that hate has just festered and festered.
and MORGAN. MORGANNNN. MY BABBBYYYYYYY :(((( THIS MIGHT JUST BE BECAUSE I'M WRITING THIS REVIEW AT FOUR AM, BUT OH MY GOD? he is the man of the year. man of all time. literally what. my sugar prince gumdrop baby. to experience something so terrible in your youth and to end up internalizing not the righteous anger, but the misplaced notion that it is you who must change and bend in the face of adversity ... my heart ACHES. literally teary-eyed as i write this. because it's so obvious that he deeply internalized everything those two people said to him during that flashback. a spouse with recognition, with talent? when you already have spent your life abandoned and feeling like an outsider, you'll latch onto that first taste of seemingly unconditional love/attention like a babe to a breast. he became a homemaker because that's what he thought he needed to be in order to keep mc. kept quiet in the face of their vitriol because, well, who knows if he'll ever be lucky enough to get someone better than them. it's so heartbreaking, genuinely.
the mystery of it all is also done so well. why was morgan dumping all those pills? the way mc spoke about the incident implies that either morgan or mc had some sort of substance abuse issue. but for mc to so quickly justify it and instead hyperfixate on the whole breach of trust thing is strange. doesn't it concern them as to why he would do something like that now? if it truly were that serious, wouldn't the meds already be in a more secure location? and what could the significance of the number five be? so intriguing.
AND WHAT'S GOING ON WITH MORGAN??? my working theory right now is that he really DID leave that night, after that fight. and ... as much as it pains me to say it ... i think he died :(( i really hope he DIDN'T die. but i think he did. his body was then either repurposed as a vessel by some sort of sea spirit/god, with him still existing in it like some sort of backseat driver, OR the real morgan is somewhere else, and this is a puppet?? I'M NOT SURE. BUT I AM SO EXCITED TO FIND OUT. GREAT JOB!!!!!