Arcade

    ALEX'S MOTHER
  I miss you so much, Alex.  I want so much
  to be with you...

Tears are running freely down Alex's face now.

    ALEX'S MOTHER
   (continuing)
  I love you, Alex.  I never wanted to leave.
  You know that, don't you?

    ALEX
   (nodding)
  Yes...but...how did you...

Her mother looks ecstatic.  And now there are tears in her eyes.  Joy,
reunion...it's unclear which.

    ALEX'S MOTHER
  Magic.  We'll be together again.
   (beat)
  I know you don't believe in an afterlife,
  but there is one.  Heaven is real.

Alex looks around her.  It's all too much to take in.  Her mother.  Back
in her own home.  Sunlight is streaming in, bathing everything around her
in gold and the moment is crystallized.  A still-life.  Forever.

    ALEX
  Is...is that where we are?  Did I die?

    ALEX'S MOTHER
  Not yet, honey...

Her mother stands and Alex sees that she is holding a gun...no, the gun,
in her hands.  She raises at Alex.

    ALEX'S MOTHER
   (continuing)
  ...but I can fix that.

Alex has no time to respond.  A still-born scream is frozen in her throat.
A split-second of realization.  And then her mother FIRES the gun...

CRACK!  The bullet hits Alex square in the forehead, snapping her head
back as an are of blood and brain matter trail outward.  The world spins
to a stop, like a record player running down.