A Scanner Darkly (2006) – at Donna’s POV
(Original) ... As part of the rehabilitation program at New Path, Arctor is renamed Bruce and put through psychological reconditioning treatments. Arctor has serious brain damage from his withdrawal from Substance D. To continue his rehabilitation, New Path sends Arctor to work at an isolated New Path corn farming prison.
On the other hand, Donna, using the name Audrey, has a conversation with some agent revealing the fact that Arctor’s well-being was sacrificed to enter a rehabilitation center, New Path, unnoticed as a real addict in order to find conclusive proof of their crimes. (A new story begins.)
‘Bastards!’ Donna mumbled.
- At New Path Corn Farming Prison – 
“Bruce! It’s time to spray corns. Go to section 4,” a guard shouted.
“I’m Bruce. Spray on section 4. Ok.”
“He’s a new psychologist. Take him to his Drug Treatment Unit.”
“Yes, Sir. Follow me, Doctor,” the guard replied.
A group of prisoners passed him.
“Thank you. So are there all my patients?”
He watched prisoners in white clothes, sprayers at their back; waked in a row heading to corn farm.
“Yes, Doc. You can meet them after they finish the spray. Here you are. It’s all yours then.”
He sat down her desk; checked prisoners’ files; and re-arranged their medicine bottles.
“Is everything alright, Doc?”
“Yes, thank you.”
After he checked the guard left, he dumped all pills in Bruce’s medicine bottle into a rubbish bin and filled with the ones that he took out from his bag.
‘You’ll be just fine, Bruce,’ he tapped his fingers on a lid of the bottle.
“Rubbish! She should be there, waiting for me …” someone shouted furiously from the outside of his clinic.
“Take him to the room and give him some sweets!”
“Yes, Sir!”
Few guards took that shouting prisoner and locked him in a room with electric wires. Few seconds later, guards dragged him out: he was wriggled like a worm.
A prisoner who sat in front of the psychologist looked at his enlarged eyes and said,
“Christine left me as well… She left me because of me being an evil… she abandoned me.”
He held his right hand and said, ”You will be here for me, won’t you? I know you will. You will be right here every time I come here.” He smiled and took pills from his hand.
After he left, he walked to the cabinet to get a medicine for a next patient.
‘It’s definitely BPD –borderline personality disorder. So most of them had serious brain damages from their withdrawal from Substance D, huh? Bloody bastard! So you think there is no better man to grow blue flowers than them.”
“Hi, I’m Bruce. It’s nice to meeting you. So you’re a new doc, huh?”
He turned and looked at him: his face, ear, shoulder, chest, hand, and knee. He was just standing like a statue but it seemed he did not care at all. He kept talking and talking.
After the work, he came into his room;
“Bruce! It’s time to spray corns. Go to section 4,” a guard shouted.
“I’m Bruce. Spray on section 4. Ok.”
“He’s a new psychologist. Take him to his Drug Treatment Unit.”
“Yes, Sir. Follow me, Doctor,” the guard replied.
A group of prisoners passed him.
“Thank you. So are there all my patients?”
He watched prisoners in white clothes, sprayers at their back; waked in a row heading to corn farm.
“Yes, Doc. You can meet them after they finish the spray. Here you are. It’s all yours then.”
He sat down her desk; checked prisoners’ files; and re-arranged their medicine bottles.“Is everything alright, Doc?”
“Yes, thank you.”
After he checked the guard left, he dumped all pills in Bruce’s medicine bottle into a rubbish bin and filled with the ones that he took out from his bag.
‘You’ll be just fine, Bruce,’ he tapped his fingers on a lid of the bottle.
“Rubbish! She should be there, waiting for me …” someone shouted furiously from the outside of his clinic.
“Take him to the room and give him some sweets!”
“Yes, Sir!”
Few guards took that shouting prisoner and locked him in a room with electric wires. Few seconds later, guards dragged him out: he was wriggled like a worm.
A prisoner who sat in front of the psychologist looked at his enlarged eyes and said,
“Christine left me as well… She left me because of me being an evil… she abandoned me.”
He held his right hand and said, ”You will be here for me, won’t you? I know you will. You will be right here every time I come here.” He smiled and took pills from his hand.
After he left, he walked to the cabinet to get a medicine for a next patient.
‘It’s definitely BPD –borderline personality disorder. So most of them had serious brain damages from their withdrawal from Substance D, huh? Bloody bastard! So you think there is no better man to grow blue flowers than them.”
“Hi, I’m Bruce. It’s nice to meeting you. So you’re a new doc, huh?”He turned and looked at him: his face, ear, shoulder, chest, hand, and knee. He was just standing like a statue but it seemed he did not care at all. He kept talking and talking.
After the work, he came into his room;
took off a high-tech scramble suit; lied down on a bed.
The he looked at the moon in the sky thru the window and recalled the time when Arctor was together; hugging a white-silver cushion on a big sofa.
Then his last moment was reminded as well: a face in such horrible pain.
‘I can’t forget his face suffering terribly from Substance D addiction in my car. I shouldn’t drop him off at New Path. Ha~ Arctor… Arctor. You can’t be Arctor again, can you?’
Few days later, Bruce went to corn farm to spray again.
“Hmm… what’s this smell? It’s different from yesterday’s.” He was curious about some sweet smell coming from left row of corm plants.
He followed the smell and found thousand and thousand of small blue flowers between corn plants.
“A death rising from the earth, from the ground itself, in one blue field. Why I’ve never seen them before.” He took a big breath in and slowly closed the eyes.
He suddenly felt something on his hair.
“What the… An aphid???” he hardly rubbed his head.
Few seconds later, “what the hell was that?”
He realized there was no aphid on his head, so do flowers.
“It’s gone. But it was here.”
In the afternoon on the same day, Bruce went to see a psychologist for medicine.
It always took longer than other every time Bruce went in the clinic.
“Ok then I’ve gonna go now.”
“Bruce!”
He grabbed his hand; put it on his chest and said,
”Remember our secret. I’m Donna. And you’re Arctor. We’re friend and I do care about you; that’s why I’m here.”
“I’m Arctor and you are… Donna. Donna.”
He gave a strange look to him. He never understood the reason for his sadly-looking smile.
The he looked at the moon in the sky thru the window and recalled the time when Arctor was together; hugging a white-silver cushion on a big sofa.
Then his last moment was reminded as well: a face in such horrible pain.
‘I can’t forget his face suffering terribly from Substance D addiction in my car. I shouldn’t drop him off at New Path. Ha~ Arctor… Arctor. You can’t be Arctor again, can you?’
Few days later, Bruce went to corn farm to spray again.“Hmm… what’s this smell? It’s different from yesterday’s.” He was curious about some sweet smell coming from left row of corm plants.
He followed the smell and found thousand and thousand of small blue flowers between corn plants.
“A death rising from the earth, from the ground itself, in one blue field. Why I’ve never seen them before.” He took a big breath in and slowly closed the eyes.
He suddenly felt something on his hair.
“What the… An aphid???” he hardly rubbed his head.
Few seconds later, “what the hell was that?”
He realized there was no aphid on his head, so do flowers.
“It’s gone. But it was here.”
In the afternoon on the same day, Bruce went to see a psychologist for medicine.
It always took longer than other every time Bruce went in the clinic.
“Ok then I’ve gonna go now.”
“Bruce!”He grabbed his hand; put it on his chest and said,
”Remember our secret. I’m Donna. And you’re Arctor. We’re friend and I do care about you; that’s why I’m here.”
“I’m Arctor and you are… Donna. Donna.”
He gave a strange look to him. He never understood the reason for his sadly-looking smile.
Another few days later, a psychologist went to the central police station to see a police chief.
“So how our Bruce is doing? Do you think he is till capable to carry this?”
“Yes. Well we can’t stop now, anyway.”
“Well well well… Just remember your job is to find where the blue flowers are using Bruce. And then I’ll take care of Bruce and flowers. Got it?”
“You don’t have to keep remind me that,” he grabbed his bag and raised his body.
“Was there any contact from Donna to Bruce?”
“Uh?” he suddenly stopped moving and replied, “No, I haven’t noticed anything from either Bruce or Donna. Are you sure a girl named Donna will come after him?”
“I’m sure she’ll bust her ass to get him out of there and ruin our plan. We’ll see.” The psychologist left the room.
“Do you think we can trust that psychologist?”
“We’ve got no choice mate. It’s the only place not monitored by our intensive high-technology surveillance. And there must be a reason for it.”
At that time, Bruce was lined up with other prisoners in the field. The spray day came again.
“Jeff, you go to section 2 and Brain you…”
“Bruce. I’ll go to section 2.”
“What? Hmm… so you wanna go to section 2. Ok! Bruce goes to section 2 and Jeff goes to section 3. Next …”
“Bruce. Go to section 2.”
It is a huge corn farm – sun sets by the time you finish the spraying job. Corn plants are much taller than a height of ordinary man and bulky enough to cover one’s body.
He carefully walked along a row of corn plants and trusted his keen sense of smell.
He stopped and looked down.
“Yes there you are. A death rising from the earth again,” he went down on bended knee.
“A present for my friend,” he hid one of blue flowers in his boot.
- At Donna’s room in New Path Corn Farming Prison –
“I’m Donna and you’re Arctor. We’re friend and I do care about you; that’s why I’m here.”
“I’m Arctor and you’re Donna. We care about each other and it’s our secret.”
“Yes, Yes.”
Donna had to keep remind him about his identity and values of friendship between them. He sometimes had impulsive actions when he felt Donna did not care enough and was not ‘there’ enough, but it was manageable for him after they spent long time together.
“We’re going to have a Thanks-giving party at the Santa Ana facility. You and I are going together. I’m not a psychologist but will be and you’re not Bruce but be Bruce for a moment for me. Ok? Will you do it for me?”
“Sure. I like Donna. You’re friend Arctor will be Bruce.”
When Donna was about to approach a door to go out, Arctor stopped her.
“Donna!”
He turned her back. Arctor took the blue flower from his pocket and said,
“Happy Thanksgiving, Donna.”
- After discovered that New Path is responsible for the manufacture and distribution of Substance D by growing blue flowers at the corn farm –
“I’m agent Ross and he’s my partner agent Louis. You’ve must got a message from my chief to hand them over to us. Is that the lot?”
“It's sick-making that you guys are being taking so much for doing so little. It’s over there. Take it and get out of my sight!”
One agent tabbed the other agent’s shoulder and walked towards a pile of black bags. They grabbed and threw them into back of the van.
“Just be careful with them,” the police officer spat out the words and marched out of the field.
In the van, agent Louis looked checked the back to see how far they’d been driving from the farm.
“Are you alright? Don’t worry I think we’re safe now,” and agent Ross grinned at him.
“I guess you’re right. They were fooled into believing that we were actually from the secret government agency.”
“So what was your dream?”
“Move to North, Living in a farm near the mountains… in a cabin.”
“Let’s go. Let’s go to North… Donna.”
Both Donna and Arctor laughed and drove the van to the North.
“So how our Bruce is doing? Do you think he is till capable to carry this?”
“Yes. Well we can’t stop now, anyway.”
“Well well well… Just remember your job is to find where the blue flowers are using Bruce. And then I’ll take care of Bruce and flowers. Got it?”
“You don’t have to keep remind me that,” he grabbed his bag and raised his body.
“Was there any contact from Donna to Bruce?”
“Uh?” he suddenly stopped moving and replied, “No, I haven’t noticed anything from either Bruce or Donna. Are you sure a girl named Donna will come after him?”
“I’m sure she’ll bust her ass to get him out of there and ruin our plan. We’ll see.” The psychologist left the room.“Do you think we can trust that psychologist?”
“We’ve got no choice mate. It’s the only place not monitored by our intensive high-technology surveillance. And there must be a reason for it.”
At that time, Bruce was lined up with other prisoners in the field. The spray day came again.
“Jeff, you go to section 2 and Brain you…”
“Bruce. I’ll go to section 2.”
“What? Hmm… so you wanna go to section 2. Ok! Bruce goes to section 2 and Jeff goes to section 3. Next …”
“Bruce. Go to section 2.”
It is a huge corn farm – sun sets by the time you finish the spraying job. Corn plants are much taller than a height of ordinary man and bulky enough to cover one’s body.
He carefully walked along a row of corn plants and trusted his keen sense of smell.
He stopped and looked down.
“Yes there you are. A death rising from the earth again,” he went down on bended knee.
“A present for my friend,” he hid one of blue flowers in his boot.
- At Donna’s room in New Path Corn Farming Prison –
“I’m Donna and you’re Arctor. We’re friend and I do care about you; that’s why I’m here.”“I’m Arctor and you’re Donna. We care about each other and it’s our secret.”
“Yes, Yes.”
Donna had to keep remind him about his identity and values of friendship between them. He sometimes had impulsive actions when he felt Donna did not care enough and was not ‘there’ enough, but it was manageable for him after they spent long time together.
“We’re going to have a Thanks-giving party at the Santa Ana facility. You and I are going together. I’m not a psychologist but will be and you’re not Bruce but be Bruce for a moment for me. Ok? Will you do it for me?”
“Sure. I like Donna. You’re friend Arctor will be Bruce.”
When Donna was about to approach a door to go out, Arctor stopped her.
“Donna!”
He turned her back. Arctor took the blue flower from his pocket and said,
“Happy Thanksgiving, Donna.”
- After discovered that New Path is responsible for the manufacture and distribution of Substance D by growing blue flowers at the corn farm –
“I’m agent Ross and he’s my partner agent Louis. You’ve must got a message from my chief to hand them over to us. Is that the lot?”
“It's sick-making that you guys are being taking so much for doing so little. It’s over there. Take it and get out of my sight!”
One agent tabbed the other agent’s shoulder and walked towards a pile of black bags. They grabbed and threw them into back of the van.
“Just be careful with them,” the police officer spat out the words and marched out of the field.
In the van, agent Louis looked checked the back to see how far they’d been driving from the farm.
“Are you alright? Don’t worry I think we’re safe now,” and agent Ross grinned at him.“I guess you’re right. They were fooled into believing that we were actually from the secret government agency.”
“So what was your dream?”
“Move to North, Living in a farm near the mountains… in a cabin.”
“Let’s go. Let’s go to North… Donna.”
Both Donna and Arctor laughed and drove the van to the North.
4 comments:
Hi Yuna
No.1 reply in this story.
Good story line and plot, can you please tell me why do you pick this story to write ?
Alan
^^ well it's because of the actors, Keanu and Winona, I guess... but the main reason will be... in fact I never read comics before. I always have a thought that those staffs are bad (not TOO bad but bad) and not good for kids, you know? And, for anime, 'kids' animes' ones are fine but not others... like animes for adults.
But this 'a Scanner Darkly' gave me a kind of feeling that it's a movie but an anime at the same time. Isn't this interesting?? And its technical effect used in this film made this very different from others.
I'm sure that you applied Vogel's theory in story, right ?
While you deal with audience (i.e child or adults) do you have any consideration on the story like what is the message of the story ?
If you are dealt with kids animes , i am sure that result will be like good man will have good result , bad man will be send to jeil etc.
But for the adult audience , your writing will be much more deeper with some "thinking" like ours one.
Do you agree with me ?
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