Scissors and a Funeral

[Maggie and Charlie reunite after years without seeing each other, brought together by the death of their mother. Both are successful but have a very tense and strained relationship after their father left them as teenagers. Charlie soon went off to college and Maggie felt left behind]

The two are sitting in their childhood home that's eerily empty, packing up some of their mother's stuff.’

Charlie: Can you pass the scissors?

Maggie: There's a pair right next to you.

Charlie: I want those ones.

Maggie: [stops taping up the box and stares at Charlie, then grabs the pair of scissors and holds it up]. You mean these ones?

Charlie: Yes, those scissors.

Maggie: These scissors?

Charlie: Maggie, yes, I want those fucking scissors. Now are you going to give them to me or are you going to keep acting like a little brat?

[The two pause and stare at each other with underlying hostility, until Maggie gives in]

Maggie: No, I'm not going to give you the scissors.

Charlie: [Exasperatedly sighs] Do you need to tell me something? Is there anything you want to get off your chest? Because I have a feeling that there's another layer to this scissor bullshit.

Maggie: No, I don't have anything to say to you.

Charlie: Then why won't you give me the stupid scissors?

Maggie: Because why aren't you sad?!

[Charlie pauses and sighs]

Charlie: What is that supposed to mean?

Maggie: You know what I mean. You know exactly what I mean. Why the hell aren't you sad, Charlie? Why aren't you the least bit upset, that our own *mother* was just lowered into the ground in a coffin? It's like I have an Easter Island Head for a brother.

Charlie: Jesus Christ, Maggs, all I wanted was for you to do one simple thing, for you pick up a pair of scissors and hand them to me in a civil fashion, and now I'm being interrogated by my little sister about why she thinks I'm not *sad* enough.

Maggie: Because you aren't! You barely say a word to me all day and now you're ready to fight to the death over a pair of scissors!

Charlie: Just because I'm not rolling around on the floor, sobbing in my own tears doesn't mean that I'm not grieving mom.

Maggie: Oh would you just stop it for once? Can you please just retire the Mr. Tree Trunk facade and actually be there for me for the first time in your life? Is it really that hard, Charlie?

Charlie: I *am* here for you.

Maggie: [sighs] Since when?

[Charlie pauses and takes a deep breath before grabbing the scissors]

Maggie: Answer me.

[There's a short silence before Charlie puts the scissors down calmly and rests his head in his hands]

Charlie: I'm sad, Maggs, okay? I'm really fucking sad. I'm super duper fucking sad. Is that what you want to hear? Does that make you feel better? To know how much it hurts to see mom *dead*?

Maggie: No, I want to see it too.

Charlie: She wants to hear my pain, then she wants to see my pain, next she's going to want to take my pain and shove it up her own ass. Do you ever stop, Maggie? No seriously, do you ever stop yelling demands at everybody and just pause for a second- just pause and see that not everybody is a wailing mess like you? Yeah, I'm in pain. I'm in so much stupid pain and I haven't stopped being in pain ever since Dad left and now it hurts even more because mom is gone and we're boxing up all her fancy China that I never got a chance to tell her I really liked. And I hate myself for missing all her calls and just overall being a terrible son. There you go, here's your verbal expression of suffering, Maggie. I should've never asked for those stupid fucking scissors.

Maggie: You've been hurting since Dad left?

Charlie: You haven't?

Maggie: I mean, duh, it hurt like crazy. Of course it fucking hurt. But then one day, it didn't hurt anymore.

Charlie: Do you have a specific timeline I can gain insight on? For my own benefit?

Maggie: Charlie, that's not how this works! You don't just get to deflect how you feel with a billion sarcastic comments, hoping that if you push the pain to the side, it'll go away. It doesn't work like that. When someone you love leaves you, when someone who you blindingly and unconditionally loved is gone, you can't just shove it in the back of your head and forget about it. You have to really feel it, you have to cry and cry, you have to dive into it and process it and heal. It doesn't go away because you want it to, it stays and weighs you down until it's too much and you drown. Who even are you anymore? Where did you go?

Charlie: God, it really sucks having to do this with you.

Maggie: Oh please, I could wack you with a baseball bat and you'd still pretend to be unfazed.

Charlie: Like in 5th grade? And I wasn't pretending. I wasn't going to give you the angry reaction you wanted.

Maggie: What about the time I smashed an egg on your forehead?

Charlie: That was completely uncalled for and very unexpected. Also, it was my birthday! You used to be such a bitch!

[They both laugh]

Maggie: I didn't know you were hurting so much all by yourself. You could've talked to me.

Charlie: I didn't want to say anything. I didn't want to say anything out-loud.

Maggie: Why?

Charlie: You keep asking me questions and now it's making me nauseous.

Maggie: [Sighs] I'm not going to be a smart-ass because today is obviously different. If you don't want to answer my questions then I'll do it for you. You didn't want to admit to yourself that Dad is gone and Mom is gone because you didn't want to feel it. You didn't want to face the fact that people you love, die. But that's life, okay? People leave before you expect it, and it really sucks, but then good things happen after that, and then bad things happen, and then good things...everyone always wants the happy feelings but they run from the bad feelings, but that's cheating the system because there's no bad without good, and no happy without the sad, and no love without loss. And that's the risk you take when you pop out of the womb- all of it is inevitable.

Charlie: That philosophy major really went to good use huh?

Maggie: [chuckles] Well, I'm working 40 hours at a burger joint, which is honestly more than I expected.

Charlie: [laughs] I remember that's what my wrestling coach in sophomore year said. I mean, he didn't have all the theatrics and stuff, but you were on the same track. That surviving is for animals, living is for man.

Maggie: Womankind too!

Charlie: Almost forgot about the Gender Studies Minor. You know what also hurts? Having to tell my friends that my sister went to a Liberal Arts College.

[Both of them laugh]

Charlie: We're really alone now, huh? Just us two? It's actually pretty fucking terrifying.

Maggie: We're not alone, Charlie. There's nothing to be afraid of. Right now, shit just sucks.

Charlie: Well since you're the expert on all of this depressing shit, is it ever going to get less scary?

Maggie: I don't think it ever was scary to begin with. I think we just have to unlearn the fear. You know? Like with a kid or whatever- they're not scared at all. It's only when like, someone's parent is like, "don't do that, you'll hurt yourself!" Then the kid gets scared. AKA being old sucks.

Charlie: I like that answer, Maggie.

Maggie: I mean duh.

Charlie: [Chuckles] Now get me some scissors.