Hi there! I'm new to playwriting and got rejected from four comps that I submitted too this year (whatever im new to this shit). So I figure ima mess around n post it on new sm. Still a WIP but I thought I'd see what it'd look like on a platform like this. This is a family drama with shades of horror about two sisters reconnecting after the death of their mom.
SCENE 4. CLAYBOURNE
Morning. Over breakfast. Hannah and Jasmine are playing a hand game in the style of lemonade or something. Different lyrics though. Boxes everywhere.
JASMINE & HANNAH
How many shrimps do you have to eat. Before you make your skin turn pink. Eat too much and you’ll get sick.
Shrimps are pretty rich.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Jasmine messes up.
JASMINE
FUCK.
Hannah flicks her on the forehead.
JASMINE
OW.
HANNAH
So what now.
JASMINE
The basement. We’ll need a game plan for that because there’s a lot down there.
HANNAH
Is there?
JASMINE
Like a lot a lot.. I don’t even know where mom got most of that stuff.
HANNAH
The woman loved to collect.
JASMINE
The heavy stuff will definitely require Tommy Boy and I think Scott said he’d come by today.
HANNAH
Ooooo Scotty boy-
JASMINE
-Please don’t.
HANNAH
How is he?
JASMINE
Fine. So i guess for now we can start packing the quilts, silverwares, collectibles and throw em in these two boxes now.
HANNAH
Bet.
JASMINE
Good.
They start taking turns going up and down the stairs into the basement. Jasmine yawns.
HANNAH
You okay?
JASMINE
Yeah. Just trouble sleeping last night.
HANNAH
A lot on your mind?
JASMINE
I don’t know-- its nothing.
HANNAH
What?
JASMINE
I had this weird dream last night.
HANNAH
Oooo I have weird dreams all the time.
JASMINE
I dreamt that someone was breaking in but when I went to go check I didn’t see anyone except mom.
HANNAH
Finally dreaming about her?
JASMINE
And I had this long conversation with her about like wondering if I was like good enough or something. Or maybe it was about something I left at the office. But I thought it was strange that the house was like super cold like if it was the middle of February.
HANNAH
Weird. And no one uh broke in?
JASMINE
No. Everything looked fine when I woke up. You were already here making coffee.
HANNAH
I dreamt about her all the time when she was alive. And you.
JASMINE
Really?
HANNAH
Totally. I’ve had dreams of you guys watching over my funeral. I’ve dreamt of her calling me a failure and a waste. But she did that when she was alive too so.
JASMINE
What about after her death?
Hannah shrugs.
JASMINE
What does that mean?
HANNAH
No. I mean most of my bad dreams happened when she was alive.
JASMINE
I uhm. I’m sorry I never really wrote. You know, during your whole.
HANNAH
You’re good.
JASMINE
Mom said I shouldn’t.
HANNAH
No I understand. I mean my fights with her probably didn’t help that.
JASMINE
What was it like?
HANNAH
Uhhhm. It’s very uh how you say prosaic.
JASMINE
Pro what?
HANNAH
Unromantic.
JASMINE
Wow look at you.
HANNAH
Its quiet. A lot of space. Lot of time to think if thats your thing. If you wanted to sneak stuff in you could usually find someone who knew how. I didn’t want to. I guess I just used that time to observe. I watched people go through detox, I watched people who said they were getting clean lie. I learned how to listen to people who had been through shit you and I will hopefully never experience.
But I guess I came to understand that I wasn’t gonna get better until I let go of shame. The shame that mom put on me, the shame that you put on me. Most importantly my own self loathing.
JASMINE
I haven’t been a good sister have I?
HANNAH
I mean I’m no better. But uhm. I guess until we decide to make peace with that, it can’t get better? Something like that...
JASMINE
Fuck. Maybe we should go to therapy.
HANNAH
Yeah I don’t know how we avoided that for this long.
Jasmine awkwardly goes in for a hug.
HANNAH
Oh. Okay. Sure. Why not.
JASMINE
I love having this time with you.
She still hangs onto her.
HANNAH
I do too.
Beat.
So what happened exactly when you were working with mom?
JASMINE
I mean what’s to say. I got to experience her for who she was. A powerhouse businesswoman. She was incredible to watch.
HANNAH
What does that mean?
JASMINE
She was a real leader. People do what she says. She always had a strategy for every move. Her standards were high though. She liked to yell whenever people would like fumble.
HANNAH
She loved the sound of her own voice, huh?
JASMINE
But I guess I was sad because I felt like this was who she was all along and if that was her then who were growing up around this entire time. You know?
HANNAH
Do you think she was a fraud?
JASMINE
No. Of course not. Her team believed in every decision she made, good or bad.
HANNAH
No as a mom.
JASMINE
That doesn’t mean she didn’t care about us.
HANNAH
An underachieving addict and an overachieving daughter with low self-esteem doesn’t exactly quell those accusations.
Beat. JASMINE
I didn’t like the way she treated people underneath her.
HANNAH
I didn’t like the way she treated the staff at rehab when she dropped me off.
JASMINE
I didn’t like the way she made me follow her like some pet.
HANNAH
I didn’t like the way she made me feel for wanting to be different.
JASMINE
I didn’t like the way she never appreciated all the times I stayed late for her.
HANNAH
I didn’t like the way she pit us against each other.
Hannah grabs a piece of the old china. She hands it to Jazz.
HANNAH
Do it.
JASMINE
What?
HANNAH
Fuck it. It’s not ours.
Jasmine raises it.
Actually. No. It is ours. We can do whatever we want.
Jasmine raises it again and smashes it.
JASMINE
Woahhhh.
HANNAH
How’d that feel.
JASMINE
Good! Really good!