Asylum of Darkness Page #4

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your cover?

- You looked like you were

freakin' out,

havin' a breakdown or somethin'.

Like you were bein' chased by

someone.

- So you didn't

see anyone chasin' me?

You didn't see me talkin' to

anybody?

- Nah, we spoke in the

graveyard.

Since then, no one.

Look, your wife's filed for

divorce,

hired me to collect any

damning information.

That's the only reason I'm here.

- I doubt she'll want a divorce

now.

- Well that's up to her, isn't

it?

- Why don't you come to my

house?

Hear for yourself.

- Okay, it's true, all right?

I did, I was thinking

about it for a while.

You know, our lawyer told

me that I should hire

somebody and get information.

- Okay, I believe you,

and I believe our lawyer's

a spineless cocksucker,

and that she had nothin' to do

with it,

but I'm askin' you to tell him

that.

- That?

- That it's off.

That you don't wanna divorce me.

That he should just get

hired by somebody else

and f*** up their marriage!

- Are you ordering me to trust

you again?

- No.

Yeah, I,

no, that's not what I mean, I'm

sorry.

- Look, I'm part of the problem

here.

And I'm not bein' hired to do

that.

Mrs. Finch, call me, and you

tell me

either to pack it in or keep it

up.

I'll do whatever you say.

I'm outta here.

Bye, y'all.

- Look, I'm sorry to have put

you

in the middle of all that.

- That approach isn't

gonna work out, Mr. Finch.

I know that much about women.

- I know, I don't know what came

over me.

Of course, I knew what was

coming over me.

It was Finch.

His personality reaching

out from the hospital,

jealously trying to wreck things

and somehow switch

identities with me again.

Please, I insist on it.

Now look.

There's some people I want you

to check on

at the psych ward.

- Checkin' in on old friends?

- More like old enemies.

But that's what I want you to

find out.

- What's the name of this

patient?

- First off, check up on a Dr.

shaker.

See if he's still there.

And the patient's name is Finch,

he's.

No.

Oh, I'm sorry, that's my name.

Stroud, Dwight stroud.

He was in the car

accident the other night.

Dwight stroud.

- Who, this one?

- Yeah.

There's another patient i

want you to check up on, too.

- Yeah, what's his name?

- Never mind.

I just found him.

- I didn't think you liked art.

- I don't.

I thought this would be

different.

- It's different all

right.

I love this one actually.

It's beautiful.

- I'm gonna see if I can work

out a deal

with the artist.

- You don't have to do that.

- No, no, no, no.

Lemme do this for you.

Wait here.

Well, well, Mr. Van gogh.

- Van gogh?

- Actually, I used to call you

Da Vinci

just to irritate ya.

- Yeah, now I remember.

Um, Dwight, right?

- You recognize me?

- Yes, now I do.

- People out here think I'm

somebody else.

- Crazy, we're cured, not them,

remember?

- Oh, hey, I have a piece of a

painting

I found that looks like one of

yours.

I don't know, it's crazy

out here sometimes.

- You know what?

I'll take that over what

we had on the inside.

Listen, come here, I need to

talk to you for a second, okay?

- Uh huh.

- Listen, I realize

now that I've recovered

that my wild ideas in the

hospital

were just products of insanity.

- People out here think

I'm this other guy Finch.

- Be careful with that kinda

talk, friend.

The rewards that the

real world has to offer

are far more lasting and

satisfying

than any fantasies.

- That's true, but the

fantasies I have left

are pretty frightening.

- Just think of 'em as bad

dreams.

The more awake you are to

reality,

the more they'll fade.

- I don't know.

- Don't feel guilty about bein'

out here.

Guilt's what put us in

there in the first place.

Now, if your delusions persist,

get some therapy or new meds.

- You believe in therapy now?

- What else got us out here?

Listen, I gotta get back

to my adorin' public

and open their wallets

as well as their minds.

- Uh, can I see ya

again?

- No, I don't think that's a

good idea.

As a matter of fact, you

have better friends here now.

- Well, I found Dr. shaker

and I didn't find Dr. shaker.

- What do you mean?

- Well, one of the staff

here explained that, uh,

Dr. shaker isn't a person,

it's a, it's a room where

they leave these patients

after they've been medicated.

It's sort of a holding area

where they,

they keep 'em to make sure

they don't have a negative

reaction to the medication.

You know, like the shakes.

- Dr. shaker.

- They tell me

patients call medication

a trip to see Dr. shaker.

- What's the room look like?

- Well, I guess there

used to be a desk in here.

Stroud found a set of keys in

the drawer

and that sped his escape.

Well that's gone, so that

won't happen anymore.

- Keys from a desk?

What else?

- Well, let's see.

On the far wall, they've

got some pictures of, uh,

hospital staff, from what I can

see.

Old pictures.

- Pictures of dead people?

- No, they look

alive in the photos.

- Oh no, I mean, from a long

time ago.

They're probably dead now.

- Probably.

- No wonder shaker

always looked dead to me.

- What?

- Never mind.

Um,

what about my painter friend?

- Oh, he got out, not like the

stroud guy,

he was cured.

Hey, look, uh, I'll call ya

later.

- Everything okay?

- It wasn't what I thought.

I mean, yeah,

we're, we're okay.

- He recovered enough

to bring him back here

from intensive care.

His mental wounds are now

considered to be

his most important.

- Stroud was trying to escape?

- He's still trying.

As soon as he regained

consciousness,

he tried again, so we had to

restrain him.

- Can I talk to him?

- Talk at him's more like it.

I'd prefer you not get him

started.

- What do you mean?

- He'll just start ranting again

about how he's not Dwight

stroud,

and it's a mistake, and

how somebody on the outside

stole his life and he

shouldn't be in here, it's.

- What is that called?

Uh, disassociation.

What, what causes somethin' like

that?

- Well lots of things can,

though the theory in stroud's

case

is that he's trying to escape

the guilt

over what he did to end up in

here.

- What'd he do?

- Uh, I'm sorry, there's an

emergency.

I've gotta go.

- Hey,

can I stay here?

- I'll just be a few minutes,

but don't get him excited.

- I'll be as dull as possible.

- Why was I committed?

- Let's not talk about

that.

- No, really, help me remember

so it won't happen again.

- Well, your business collapsed

and then you lost faith in

yourself,

and you got really depressed,

and.

- And?

- You got violent.

- Did I hurt you?

- Not permanently.

You were more a danger to

yourself.

- And eventually I got better?

- No.

I think you were getting worse.

You were in a coma, and your

kidneys started to fail.

Then it was almost like a

miracle.

- Almost.

Do me a favor.

If I ever mistreat you

again, show me this.

It'll remind me of who

i need to be for you.

- I crawled out of the

grave to be with you.

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