By the Time the Sun Rises

inspired by the play ¨'night, Mother¨ by Marsha Norman. Serena has given up hope. She cannot have a good life. The only person she has to live for is her mother....but now she may end up giving up on

 ¨Here, Mama, let me help you with those.¨ Serena crosses the room, taking a couple of plates from her mother.

Mama sighs. ¨Serena, I can do this just fine myself. You should rest.¨

¨I'll be fine, Mama. Besides, I want to talk to you.¨

¨About what?¨

¨Just...life. You know.¨

Mama raises an eyebrow. ¨Well, alright, then. Let us discuss life as we take care of the dishes together, dear daughter. ¨

Serena laughs. ¨Oh, Mama, you don't need to be so dramatic about it!¨

Mama smiles. ¨But it's fun to be dramatic! Here,¨ she says, handing Serena a stack of wet plates. ¨You dry.¨

Serena takes the dripping plates. ¨Okay, Mama.¨

¨So, what shall we discuss about life, then?¨

¨Well, Mama, I've made a decision.¨

Mama scrubbed a plate that was streaked with spaghetti sauce. ¨And what is that, Rena?¨

¨I'm going to die tonight.¨

Mama sighs. ¨Oh, Rena don't be ridiculous. What would you die from? The cancer is gone, remember?¨

Rena starts stacking the plates that she's dried. ¨A gunshot wound to the head.¨

¨And who would cause that wound? Who's firing the gun?¨

Rena takes a deep breath. ¨I am.¨

Mama just laughs. ¨Oh, Rena, don't be ridiculous. You don't even have a gun.¨

¨I found Dad's. In the attic. It still works, I shot a squirrel out of the old oak tree.¨

Mama turns, blinking at her daughter. ¨You...what? You have your father's old gun? Dear God, girl, you'l blow your head off!¨

Rena gives her mother a sad smile. ¨That's kind of the point, Mother.¨

Mama shakes her head in denial. ¨No, no, no, Rena! Why? Why would you do such a thing?¨

¨I have nothing to live for, Mama.¨

¨That's ridiculous, Serena! You're eighteen years old, for Christ's sake!¨

¨Seventeen...and a cancer survivor. But how do we know that it won't come back? And even if I do live another thirty years or so, what about my kids? What if they get it? I can't let that happen, Mama.¨

Mama shakes her head again, faster and faster, furious. ¨No, Serena, no!¨

¨Mama...you can't stop me. You don't own my life anymore, I'm an adult.¨

Mama clutches the counter, struggling to remain standing. ¨No...¨

Serena takes a plate from the sink and hands it to Mama. ¨Here, Mother, we still need to finish these.¨

Mama stares at Serena with wide eyes, then slowly reaches out her hand and takes the dish. She turns back to the sink and starts scrubbing. There is less vigor behind her scrub now. ¨Rena...where? You're not doing it here, are you?¨

Serena takes a freshly rinsed plate off the counter. ¨I'm doing it in my bedroom, at exactly eight o'clock tonight.¨

¨No! Not in the house! Please, at least do it in the back yard! Serena!¨

Serena shakes her head. ¨My room.¨

Mama gazes at her daughter, defeated brown eyes meeting determined hazel eyes. Finally, she lets out a sigh and looks back down at the plate that she's been scrubbing, silently handing it to her daughter.

.....Later....

Serena and Mama have finished the dishes. They are in the living room now.

The time is 6:30pm.

Serena and Mama are sitting in the living room, silently watching the news. The reporter is doing a story on a triple homicide that was commited just a few streets away from the street that Serena and Mama live on.

¨I hate the world, Mama.¨ Serena says suddenly. ¨That's why I can't live in it anymore. There's too many people firing guns at each other.¨

Mama glances over at her daughter, watching the light from the TV flicker over her face. ¨Maybe you should try to change that instead of just giving up on it.¨

Serena watches the TV in silence for several seconds before responding. ¨I don't think it can be changed. It's human nature to try to hurt each other in order to get what we want.¨

Mama blinks, startled by this response. She can't help but feel that her daughter has the spoken the absolute truth.

The time is 7:00 now.

Mama has fallen asleep.

Serena is still wide awake, eyes glued to the television.

In her head, she is counting down the minutes.

7:01. 59 minutes remaining.

There is a news reporter covering a story involving a drunk man and his dead daughter. The police have decided that he murdered the girl, only ten years old, in a fit of alcoholic fury.

7:06.

Serena is more than ready to leave this world.

But she promised to wait.

7:30

 

Serena has switched channels from the news to a re-run of the show NCIS.

It doesn't help her, she still hates the world.

Mama is still asleep.

Serena decides that that is a good thing.

Mama wouldn't notice if Serena left earlier than she said she would.

No, no, no, she might hear the gunshot!

She would notice.

She would notice.

Serena decided that she could wait.

7:32.

28 minutes remaining.

7:45

 

It's getting so close.

The end.

The warm, shadowy embrace

of death.

It's creeping closer, closer,

grinning eerily.

Serena can see it, lurking in the shadows behind Mama's chair.

It smiles at her, and she smiles back.

7:47.

13 minutes remaining.

7:55

5 minutes remaining.

Serena stands and slowly meanders down the hall to her bedroom.

She turns the silver doorknob

oh

so

slowly,

and enters the bedroom,

closing the door behind her.

 

In the living room, Mama wakes up with a start.

Mama looks around, and her heart jumps around her chest in fear as she realizes the Serena is gone.

 She looks at the clock.

7:57

There's still time to stop her!

Mama bolts up out of her chair and races down the hallway, stopping short just in front of Serena's door.

7:58

Serena is sitting on the bed with Father's pistol in her hands.

She stands, bringing the pistol to her temple.

Her eyes are fixated on the clock.

 

Mama turns the knob to Serena's room.

She opens the door

s

l

o

w

l

y

.

 

7:59

 

Mama sees the gun, sees Serena's hand, sees Serena's head.

¨No!!¨

 

8:00

 

Something smacks against Serena's hand just as she pulls the trigger.

 

The gunshot shatters the sky, and Mama's scream is abruptly cut short.

 

Serena stares, wide-eyed, at what lays on the floor in front of her.

 

Mama's body.

 

Serena screams, brings the gun back to her temple,

and squeezes the trigger.

 

 

The shot is loud enough the hit the moon, bounce off, and be heard around the entire planet Earth.

It was Mama's sister who found the bodies.

There were no neighbors to hear the shots, the screams, the victory cry of death.

Aunt Penny found them, Mama with a scream on her face, and Serena with a louder scream on hers.

She saw the gun in Serena's hand.

 

The police decided that Serena had killed her mother, then herself.

They never learned the truth.

They never learned of Mama's sacrifice, a death of love.

A pointless waste of life.

They never learned of Serena's sorrow, of her shock at what her mother had done.

 

They could only assume ugliness, because that is all that is left to assume of the world.

Author's Note

This was inspired by the play 'Night Mother, which is basically the same storyline with minor differences.