Serena Tress

My name is Serena Tress. I'm a thirty two year old business woman who's done a lot to climb the corporate ladder. I work in the upper echelons now, but I'm still climbing. I'm shooting to be a CEO or COO someday. I think I'm on track to really be successful. Right now I'm still just an upper manager though.

I work for a company called 'Home & Care Integrated Robotics' based in Seattle, Washington. We're a small, rapidly growing tech start-up with the goal of innovating and bring robotics start into people's home. The applications for this tech are numerous, from helping the elderly to overworked parents to eventually being available to everyone. I'm not an engineer, so I can't explain exactly how it works, but it's groundbreaking stuff. We've finally caught the interest of east coast investors, and I've been given the opportunity to fly to New York during the Christmas season for a sales pitch. I'm fine with missing Christmas since I don't really care about the holiday anyway. It's a stupid scam by Hallmark meant to sell more cards and market to crap to vulnerable children that they don't need. I've never had a Christmas spirit. I'm a 'grinch' and proud of it.

There is something weighing on my mind though. Last February my father, Alan Tress, died relatively young of an unexpected heart attack. He was the love of my mother's life, high school sweethearts and all, and she hasn't been taking it very well. My mom, Layla Tress, has been very clingy towards me ever since he died. She's been calling me frequently and asking me how I am, inviting me to come visit her and the works. This is the first Christmas Mom will have without Dad around and she has been begging me to fly out to Colorado to spend Christmas with her since I'm her only child. This has created a big conflict. I really want to close out this business deal and impress the east coast investors, and I told her that she's just going to have to spend Christmas alone. We got into a fight and I said some things I shouldn't have. I told her that Dad's heart was her fault because she nagged him so much. She sounded really hurt, and she keeps trying to call me back, but I haven't been answering. I went ahead and boarded a Christmas Eve flight to New York, intending to meet with the investors.

In truth, I haven't been coping very well with Dad dying either. A big part of me is scared of visiting Mom. I'm scared of going home to Colorado and visiting my childhood home that doesn't have Dad in it any more. I'm scared of having awkward pauses in conversations with Mom with a big elephant in the room that neither of us wants to bring up. I don't want to go home. I don't want to break down and grief for him. I want to stay focused on the future and closing out this deal seems like a great way to accomplish that. Maybe this is how I cope, or maybe I'm in denial. Whatever. I've started getting violent migraines whenever I think too strongly about this stuff so I try to ignore it. I get headaches a lot nowadays. I probably need to see a doctor, but I've been putting it off in favor of my work.

Appearance wise, I'm a slender woman with light skin, dark brown eyes, and a stern, all-business appearance. I keep my style slick, refined, and presentable - black suit jacket, black pants, black shoes, and a white dress shirt along with all the collars and cufflinks that come with my trade. I keep my blonde hair chopped short and it's normally slicked back, but I've developed a habit a rubbing my head with how many headaches I've been getting and my hair has gotten quite messy lately. In fact most of my look is subtly disheveled from high stress. I still look pretty classy, but I think one could tell if they looked carefully enough that I'm going through a lot.

My mom's appearance is like a much older version of me. She's fifty three now, I think. Dad's death hasn't been easy on her and she's put on some weight and her long hair has started to gray, giving it a silvery-blonde sheen. She's got a kind yet worldly vibe to her, but it's now accented by sadness. She's retired now, living off Dad's life insurance. With nothing to do, she's gotten very lonely and clingy, and even though we fight a lot, I'm worried about her. I wonder if she thinks I don't love her anymore.