Thanks for choosing Adventure Car Hop.
Drive safe.
Carla, can you watch my cars?
Oh, go. I'll cover you.
Charlie, I thought that you were
driving your clients in Kennebunkport all week.
A driver in their lives and a passenger in my own.
That's no way to spend a week, Jo.
Or a life.
I want to drive you.
Our children.
Down the coast on vacation,
across country for the summer,
spend the holidays at the cabin in Colorado.
Every day will feel like Christmas morning
waking up next to you.
I see you, Jo.
All of you.
I see our future.
I see us hitting the road right now
and never looking back.
All you have to do...
is say yes.
Charlie...
Get in my car.
I thought you wanted this.
I did.
Well, what changed?
I won't give you my hand, not until I've seen it.
You will. I told you that.
You say that you want me to be their mother,
but I've never met them.
You say that you're... you're saving them,
you're giving them a home,
but I've never seen it.
Y-You will see Christmasland the minute you say yes.
You didn't up and decide to quit driving today.
You haven't been driving clients for months,
not in Kennebunkport this week.
- I was buying you a ring... - Not in Providence last week.
Or New York last month.
Or Virginia the month before that.
Don't.
I was there.
And you weren't.
You promised you'd never spy on me...
And you promised me that you would never lie.
So tell me the truth.
What are you doing with those poor children?
I'm never gonna see Christmasland
because then I would know.
What you're doing.
- What you really are. - I'm their father.
I provide them with joy people only dream about.
And I'm offering you the same thing
because I love you.
You love this car. You drive it away,
and you only ever come back to refill its tank,
or is it the other way around?
Open the doors.
You wanna know what changed, Charlie?
You.
You did.
Come on.
Damn it!
Jolene.
Synced & corrected by kinglouisxx www.addic7ed.com
How would you describe your overall pain level
since you arrived at the hospital,
- on a scale of one to ten? - Two.
Any blurred vision or migraines?
Just the occasional headache.
Have you experienced any hallucinations,
- auditory or visual? - No.
Have you suffered from panic attacks
or feelings of depression in the past 30 days?
None of those, no.
Have you had any suicidal thoughts or desires
in the past year?
No.
Can you blink for me, Ms. McQueen?
There's fluid that's built up behind your retina.
And we see that a lot
in cases of central serous retinopathy.
But I'd expect that you'd be experiencing
quite a bit more pain than you're feeling.
McQueens are tough.
Victoria, I was hoping to start
by having you answer a question for me.
Who is Charlie Manx?
Like I told the other doctors,
I'm seeing things much more clearly now...
I believe the ophthalmologist
came to a different conclusion.
But, um...
Well, I feel a lot better thanks to her
and everyone else who checked me out.
And, you know, school started up,
and I have a portfolio I have to finish.
There's really no need to waste anyone's time.
Why don't you want to tell me who he is?
Well, I already told the police
everything I know about him.
You know, sometimes when the pain gets to be too much,
people create a fictional reality
to escape it.
So, who is Charlie Manx?
He's the man who put Maggie in a hospital bed.
I should be holding her hand as she goes into surgery.
She has a team of doctors to help her.
And so do you.
Why is it so hard for you to accept help?
I don't...
Are you more accustomed to caring for yourself?
You know, I'm not the one hurting here.
Maggie is. And she needs me...
I'm authorized under Massachusetts State Law
to extend your stay by up to 90 days.
Now, those are the terms
of your conditional voluntary commitment.
That's what...
- That's what you signed up for... - No, no.
No, I didn't sign up for this.
Well, did someone force you to commit yourself?
Um, oh, my God, no.
That's not what I meant. Jesus.
But you did feel pressured into it?
Is that right?
By who?
Your father?
I'm 18.
- I signed it. - Okay.
I think that's enough for now.
Why don't you go on ahead, and...
Yeah.
I'm sorry, should I come back?
There.
Only be a few more seconds.
Uh...
Um...
Reception's crap in here,
but you hit the roommate jackpot, kid.
Lady hasn't said boo in ages.
Charlie. Manx.
H-H-How do you know his name?
Did... Did my friend Maggie come to see you?
Maggie... girl with purple hair
a-and Scrabble Tile earrings.
Did Charlie Manx put you in here?
Are you a Strong Creative?
Do you know about Christmasland?
Can you get me there?
It's that time, ladies.
Name and date of birth?
Oh, um, Vic McQueen. Victoria.
Uh, May 21st, 1994.
Mm-hmm. Got you right here.
Uh, no, the doctor didn't mention
any medication to me.
He gave you 2 milligrams lorazepam
and 25 milligrams of Imitrex.
Bottom's up.
Failure to comply can extend your stay here.
Jolene knows the drill.
She never gives me any problems.
Hello, Ms. July.
It's Thursday. I've got your evening cocktail.
C'mon now, Ms. July.
You're usually up for a nightcap.
Is she a bad influence on you?
Come on, come on.
We can do this the other way.
Oh, no, she...
Did she take her pills?
Yeah, right after you left, she took 'em.
Interfering with another patient's medication schedule
can extend your stay, too.
Yeah, well, they think I'm nuts, not an addict, so...
I-I'm telling you she took them.
You're gonna double-dose her.
She's a paranoid schizophrenic.
If she missed a dose, it won't stay a secret long.
And you'll be the one sleeping next to her all night.
Okay, then.
Lights out.
How'd you sleep?
The meds you prescribed knocked me right out.
Your anxiety and pain have gone untreated up until now.
I-I think it should provide some welcome relief.
So, I spoke to Ms. Leigh's surgeon this morning.
They repaired her fractured kneecap and torn ACL
along with her other injuries.
She's got a long road ahead,
but they expect a full recovery.
So you have no one to worry about,
nowhere else you need to be.
Tell me about art school.
I don't know much about art.
I wish I did.
However, even I can see you are talented.
Oh, my God.
Who's the man in the painting?
I just... I want to understand
why art school is so important to you.
Why? Because I'm good at it.
And, uh, it's my way out of Haverhill.
Why do you need a way out of Haverhill?
Beats getting knocked-up and married
living my whole life in the same town
working some... some crap job
and then drinking myself to death.
Did your parents grow up in Haverhill?
They had you young. That can be hard.
On the parents and the child.
No harder than anyone else has it.
But art would make things easier?
It always made the world go quiet.
When things got noisy at home?
They fought, yeah.
Did it ever get physical?
Nothing we talk about in here
will ever be said outside this room, okay?
Did it ever get physical?
Did your father hit your mother?
Oh, she was no saint either, trust me.
Was there something she could do
to make her responsible for your father's violence?
She was responsible for hers.
She slapped me around plenty as a kid.
Did your father ever hit you?
No. God, no. Never.
Never.
It's not uncommon
for a woman who's been victimized by her husband
to then victimize her children.
We're not victims.
We're not.
It hardly ever happened. Only after a bender.
Do you think alcohol excuses abuse?
It's the psych ward, Ma. You can't catch anything here.
Well, people check into hospitals feeling great
every day, Vicki, and then they check out with psuedamonas.
Okay.
This should get you through.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
Honestly, I don't know how you sleep in that room.
All that crap gave me the heeby-jeebies.
Did Dad say anything?
No. It was just Tiffany there.
If he's not with her, where is he?
A bar, probably.
That's his excuse.
Yeah, yeah.
You know you never need one to come back home, right?
Thanks for bringing this by, Ma.
Mm-hmm, yeah.
I can't be late.
The boss hates it when his girls are late.
You need something in there?
I need my skates, or I can't get to work.
Okay.
Get my skates and we can leave.
Ready?
- Okay. - Okay, okay.
- One. Two. - Two.
- Three. - Oh.
Can this get us into Christmasland?
Hurry up or we'll be late.
How fast do you need to go?
Fast.
Appreciate the jailbreak, kid.
Where are we?
The Dark Tunnels.
Stop here.
This is your Knife?
Wasn't always.
Is now.
I didn't know you could have more than one.
I thought my dirt bike was it.
I thought the same
after Charlie stole my skates,
left me bedridden, hopeless.
That chair found me and got me moving again,
till I was too weak to get it up to speed.
You travel along the Shorter Way?
My Bridge, yeah.
Wait, did Maggie tell you that?
We're all magicians with different tricks.
What's yours?
It helps me find lost things.
Lost children?
It couldn't find my friend
after Manx took her to Christmasland.
I was hoping maybe with your help,
you could get me inside?
There's something you should see.
Every one of them is in Christmasland.
I've been tracking Charlie since the '50s.
Not one of these kids has been seen since.
Well, there's gotta be a way in.
Sure.
In the trunk of his Wraith.
You don't want to take that ride.
There isn't a Strong Creative
in the entire World of Thought
who has seen Christmasland besides Manx.
Not even me.
Your friend is gone.
I'm sorry.
I know how hard that is to hear.
Is one of them yours?
Come with me.
You never told me what yours is.
Your magic trick.
Up for a ride?
Jolene.
I know you're there, Jolene.
I can smell you, you dirty little whore.
Oh, my God.
Give it a minute.
That was... God... I've never felt so...
Free?
I bet you feel the same on your Bridge, don't you?
Yeah.
I tell you, kid, oh, it never gets old.
But Manx did.
Right in front of me.
I... after you destroyed his car.
Just the engine.
Best I could do.
Should slow him down for a bit.
If you want to stop Charlie,
you have to destroy the Wraith.
Okay.
Well, when we get back,
we can fight him together...
me, you, Maggie...
My fight's long over.
He won.
Every time, he won.
- No. - And I'm tired.
But I couldn't rest
until I knew someone could pick up the fight.
- Now I do. - No, no, I couldn't even save Haley.
Then you'll save the next one.
You're powerful enough, Vic.
No, you just met me yesterday.
You haven't even seen what I can do.
He visited me.
I haven't seen him in years,
and there he was.
Standing in my room
asking me if I knew "The Shorter Way."
I don't need to see what you can do.
I saw it in Charlie's eyes.
He fears you.
When you get back,
tell the doctors what they need to hear.
They'll let you go with some pills,
tell you they'll help.
They won't.
They'll dull your mind and your Knife.
You need to keep it full strength
to take on Charlie.
You're not coming back?
I never had kids.
I-I always thought I would.
There was a time
when I thought Charlie would be their father.
I knew him. Before.
He was handsome, charming, sweet even.
But every Strong Creative pays a price.
Charlie paid the steepest price of all...
his soul.
Deep down, I knew it.
What he was.
I didn't want to see it.
Because...
I loved him.
That was my excuse.
Kill him.
For me.
For them.
For Haley.
For the next one.
Or this cycle will go on forever.
I've thought about your question, Doctor,
and why I didn't answer it.
My question about your father?
Your first question.
"Who is Charlie Manx?"
I knew the answer when you asked it, but I wasn't...
I wasn't ready to say it out loud.
To face the reality.
But I am now, I think.
The truth is, Charlie Manx isn't a real man.
He doesn't drive a real car or live in the real world.
He lives in Christmasland.
A figment of imagination.
Just like my Bridge.
When I felt lost,
I'd imagine it and it would appear,
and when I went over that Bridge,
I felt different than I'd ever felt in my life,
like I'd, you know, left reality behind
and been transported to a world
where anything you can imagine is possible.
A World of Thought.
Right. Like, um, when you paint?
That was his face, in my print.
Not the face of the man I saw at the bus station,
but the face of the real Charlie Manx.
A soulless monster.
I believed I was the only one with the power to stop him.
I believed I needed to find a way into Christmasland,
so I could kill Charlie Manx and save them all.
I wasn't going to stop until I did,
no matter the cost.
That was my reality.
But the truth is
all I've been trying to do is escape my reality.
Where Haley is gone and isn't coming back.
Where Maggie was run over and nearly died.
Where I don't have the power to save anyone.
You know, watch...
watching the people I love in pain,
it got to be too much, so I just... I...
I created a fictional reality to escape it.
Just like you said.
But if you knew what you said was fiction,
why didn't you tell the police the truth three days ago?
I didn't know it was the truth three days ago.
But I do now. Thanks to you.
So if it's all right with you, I'd...
I'd like to go back to school and finish my portfolio.
You know, um...
I'll sign your release under two conditions...
you fill a prescription for lorazepam
and you remove yourself from your current living situation.
I need to be certain
I'm releasing you into a safe environment.
You are.
I told you. He never hit me. It's safe.
I know, but it's my job
to look out for your emotional health
as well as physical, Ms. McQueen.
I know where I can stay.
Can I go?
Victoria.
Listen to me.
There's nothing you can do to save your father either.
Am I free to go?
Okay, here we go. Slow.
Nice and take it easy. Here you go.
I got her.
You'll need to sign your discharge papers
before you go, okay?
All right.
- C-Careful, careful. - I'm sorry.
I wanted to be here every second,
but they wouldn't let me out.
I told you they were gonna think you were crazy.
You didn't listen.
Well, neither did you.
I ditched you for a reason. He said come alone.
You should've listened.
Yeah, and l-let you have all the fun?
By the time I got to you, you were...
And I didn't... I didn't know if...
I'm still here.
Mostly.
We're gonna kill him for what he did to you.
To Daniel. To Haley. And I know how.
I was roomed with Jolene, the old woman you met.
Her Inscape took us to him some place in the woods.
All we have to do is destroy the Wraith.
I saw it, Maggie.
- He got old... - Destroy the Wraith?
Look at me, Vic.
Six pins are holding my knee together.
It hurts just to breathe.
And that car ran me down on its own.
If you think you can destroy that thing,
you need to walk down the hall and check yourself back in.
Okay, ask your Bag, then.
If you don't believe me, ask it.
Whether the Wraith can be destroyed, whether we can kill Manx.
I'm not asking the Bag another thing.
The last answer nearly killed me.
Maggie.
I never should've even came here
and dragged you into this mess.
No, no, no. I came to you, remember?
And you came here for Daniel. You cannot...
You can't just give up on him now.
I saw him.
While I was lying on the ground bleeding,
Daniel was looking down at me, smiling.
His teeth were like razors
and blood was pouring out of his mouth.
The next thing I knew, I was waking up in recovery.
And it wasn't the anesthesia.
It was the Wraith.
When that car hit me, it showed him to me.
And it wasn't a nightmare.
It was real.
And you've seen it, too.
With Haley.
We can save them.
They are gone.
They're not coming back.
Manx is gonna keep taking children
unless someone tries to stop him.
Jolene tried.
Take your meds.
Finish your portfolio and go to college.
That's all you need to do.
But I need to go home.
See you around, Brat.
Synced & corrected by kinglouisxx www.addic7ed.com