Asylum of Darkness

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- My name is Dwight stroud.

I'm a prisoner here,

and I need to get out.

- Good morning, it's a

beautiful day outside.

- Every day outside is

beautiful.

- Come on now, let's not start

out the day being depressed.

- Thought I'd get a jump start

on it

especially since it's

so beautiful out there.

- Doc tells me that every day

you're here

you're one day closer to being

released.

- Feels that way already.

Eh, look I'm sorry.

I don't mean to give you a hard

time.

It's not your fault.

Cheer up.

I'm ready to be shrunk down to

size.

- How you

feeling this morning?

- Don't you mean do I feel

crazy like I'm supposed to?

- But you

think you are crazy.

- It was my attorney's bright

idea.

- You pleaded not guilty

by reason of insanity.

The jury decided in your favor.

- Some favor.

I'm not guilty by reason of

innocence.

- Innocent of what?

You can't remember.

- I was struck on the

head, I,

I, I don't remember anything

that happened that night.

- So how do you

know

you were struck on the head?

Then how do you know you

don't deserve to be here?

It's important for you to

understand why you are here.

- What's important for me is

to get the hell outta here.

Now, just gimme the shot

and let's get on with it.

- It's only

part of what might get you

out of here some day.

If you know why you're here,

that will help even more.

- So tell me.

- I do.

I tell you every time we meet,

and you always forget

every time you come back.

You forget lots of things,

Dwight.

- No.

Damn it.

- I'm sorry, very

sorry.

I don't mean to upset you.

You have a very good memory.

That's why I'm so concerned

you can't remember,

even though I tell you every

week.

Look at me, Dwight.

I'll believe you went crazy,

I'll believe you're insane,

just look me in the face and

tell me

so I can see it in your eyes.

- I'm not

crazy.

- I wanna help you live again,

Dwight.

- Coming from you,

that's really absurd.

- Why?

What is it you see when you look

at me?

When you look at me?

Then tell me this, is what you

see real?

- No.

Couldn't be.

- Why is that?

- 'Cause if it was real, it'd be

crazy.

- Don't feel

ashamed of your realization.

Be proud.

Knowledge is a powerful thing.

- It's this place.

I see things here that are

insane.

I try to ignore it as much as

possible,

just to go on living,

but every day it gets worse,

not better.

I gotta get out.

- An unbalanced mind is like

water,

takes the shape of its

environment.

Sameness and stability of this

place

is all that's holding you

together.

Holding you together,

holding you together.

That's better.

This hospital has had several

remarkable recoveries.

There's real hope for you here.

There's real hope.

- She always comes

to me after I get done

with my head-shrinking.

Almost like a reward.

I'm glad you're here.

- Glad to be here.

- I gotta get outta here.

- Soon.

- I don't know her name or her

face.

All that matters is that she's

beautiful and intelligent.

I can't really say if she's real

or just more proof of my

insanity.

She's my ideal woman,

and I hope part of my future

rather than my past.

She is my hope.

- It's time.

- Do I thank you?

- For what?

- Well, for treating

me like a real person.

- I will be there for you

when you get out of here.

Always.

- He's a friend of

mine.

Sometimes, I'm the only one

he'll talk to.

But, at times, he's

inapproachable even to me.

Like the time when he

pulled out one of his eyes.

Hey, Da Vinci, lookin' good!

- I told

you to call me Van gogh.

Lookin' good is what

you say to a drunk woman

right before last call.

- Yeah, like I remember what

to say to a drunk woman.

- So lend me your eye.

I'm a bit short.

And tell me somethin' I don't

know

about what I'm doin'.

Yeah.

- Let's see.

Uh, maybe add a bird or two.

- If you, if you insist.

- Jesus.

Why'd you do that?

- I thought that's what you

wanted.

Look, Dwight, you and I are the

same.

Much of what we see is a cause

rather than an effect of our

illness.

That's why I took out my left

eye.

I didn't like what it made me

see

and it was makin' me worse.

But there's danger in what we

see.

This insane reality can

look back and see us.

- I, I don't see them.

- I only paint what I see.

My paintings are like x-rays.

- Yeah, or you're much

f***in' crazier than I am.

Hey, what are those things

stickin' out their heads?

- That's ectoplasm

risin' out of 'em.

- Yeah, ectoplasm, yeah.

Can you explain that to me in,

uh,

non-psychobabble, please?

- Ectoplasm is a physical

manifestation

of spiritual matter.

It can escape from the

body through any orifice.

- Wow.

You're both a lot crazier than i

am.

- That is very interesting.

What do you call it?

- I haven't finished.

- That's a very interesting

title.

- It's a stupid title.

There's no tellin' what it'll be

about

or what it'll be called when

it's done.

- While I despise poor choice in

humor,

your friend here has

been doing much better

and will be soon be ready

for a monitored release.

- What if I'd rather stay?

Can, uh, Dwight go instead?

- Doesn't work that way.

It should motivate him to get

better

so you can both be outta here.

Fall, season of life.

Birds know it.

Oh, how sad.

Orderly.

Remove this, please.

I don't know what happened to

its head,

but I don't want it to disturb

any of the patients.

Thank you.

- I guess Van

gogh's power over it is real.

I see so much stuff that can't

be,

that I guess I assume everything

i see is just a delusion.

Do I have some X-ray type vision

like his?

I pestered Van gogh about all of

this

for weeks after that day.

- No, I, I don't have the

power over life or death.

My paintings show things

as they really are

or will be.

- So if you paint the doctor

dead,

I mean, if you're able to paint

it,

then it's, it's meant to be,

right?

- So you really want me

to help you escape, huh?

- Goddamn right I do.

I tell ya, when I look at him,

I see a dead man.

- Then paint the picture.

I quit the day that bird died.

I don't want my paintings

to be blood on my hands.

I'm through with that!

- Look, I can't, you know that.

Look, they say that

you're leavin' tomorrow.

They say you're cured.

- What do they know?

- Nothin',

but what does that matter if

you're free?

- Exactly!

- Maybe we were both crazy that

day.

Maybe nothing we saw was real.

Look, do it as a farewell

present for me.

- One last crazy thing

for old time's sake, huh?

- And when nothing happens,

then I'll know and accept

that I have to stay here.

My man Van gogh, thank

you.

It's beautiful.

Now in an hour, I have

the session with the doc.

That's when I want you to finish

it.

- What I saw was too horrible.

- Nurse.

Somebody come quick!

I'm sorry.

You should've stopped.

- What I saw,

I saw more clearly than ever

before,

and the more clearly I saw it,

I felt my mind, not

goin', but bein' taken.

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