The X-Files

Powerlessness

My Only power

Hopelessness, my only hope

I see the girl

Up in the tower

But my hands can't grasp the rope

No, my hands can't grasp the rope

Unsaid unsung

Unsaid undone

You can call me names, but I won't come Aah!

Unsaid undone Aah! Whoo!

Unsaid unsung

I'll just eat my words and move on

On a map of the world

Yeah!

He stands alone. . . .

With his dreams and his demons...

I'll just keep on having fun

Yeah, I'll just keep on having fun

Good mornin', captain

Good mornin' to you Ah, ah

Let me be another mule skinner

Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah

Oh, son of a bitch.

Whoa.

Phew. Heh.

What do you--? What the hell do you want?

No, no! Stop! Let go! Get out!

Let go, let go!

Stop! Let go, let go! Stop, stop! No!

["MULESKINNER BLUES" CONTINUES PLAYING]

Ah-ah, ah-ah, ah

Da, da, da

Arkie Seavers, age 20.

Currently a resident of the county jail.

What does the other guy look like? Funny you should ask.

Arkie there wasn't in a fight. Car crash, head-on collision into a tree. Drunk as a skunk.

He's lucky to be alive.

You have no idea.

Not wearing a seat belt, I suspect.

To hear Arkie tell it, he didn't have time to fasten his seat belt...

...because he was busy running from the boy he says caused the accident.

And who was that? You're looking at him.

No. Not me.

What, he blames himself?

In a manner of speaking.

I don't get it, Mulder.

Arkie, our hapless road warrior...

...is driving by his lonesome down the highway to hell...

...when he sees another Arkie, across from him, who grabs the wheel and crashes the vehicle.

Well, you did say he was drunk.

I know what you're gonna say about seeing double...

...and the bromides about not giving the kids the car keys.

Twenty is hardly a kid.

Circumstances bear a curious similarity to stories told by other good folk...

...who didn't share Arkie Seavers' luck.

Who also reported seeing their doubles before dying.

And how did these people die?

Each by their own hand.

After seeing their doubles?

According to all reports out of Henrico County, Virginia.

Reports issued by whom?

Friends, relatives. A doctor.

And the medical diagnosis is...?

A rare form of schizophrenia. Heh. Right, so rare I've never heard of it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Scully, and I know you will...

...but schizophrenics hear voices and report hallucinations similar to Arkie's.

Hallucinations, yes...

...not grabbing the wheel of a car and ramming it into a tree.

Well, they didn't all die from car crashes into trees.

Seven died from hanging, fourjumped off a tall bridge, three--

This is a mass phenomenon.

Precisely my thinking, Scully...

...which is why you and I are gonna jump on I-95 south...

...and get back to our bread and butter.

These the FBI agents? Agents Scully and Mulder.

And you filled them in? Mm-hm.

We know the facts, Arkie. We'd like to hear the details.

Okay, I-- I looked over, and he grabbed the wheel...

...and he floored the gas. And by "he," you mean...?

I mean, the dude looked just like me. And you'd seen him before.

Yes. Like, four times. He'd been following me for like a week.

Had he ever said anything?

No, I'd see him in a crowd or a window.

I thought I was tripping or something.

And do you take drugs, Arkie? No, I'm-- Eh.

Yeah, maybe once or twice, I mean...

And you're in jail because...? Arkie admittedly has a problem.

A few previous DUI offenses.

Exactly how many is a few?

I don't know, like...

...six.

So the judge is gonna throw the book at you.

But that's not what we're interested in.

We want to know how you came to be the lone survivor.

Why I'm not dead like all the other people, right?

What do you chalk that up to? I can tell you.

And it's the same reason I can prove I'm not lying.

You can prove it?

You gotta admit, Scully, the kid's story makes a lot of sense.

Arkie's double takes control of the wheel.

Then Arkie pumps the brakes with his left foot...

...producing the skid marks that start up yonder.

Or there's another explanation, of course...

...which is that Arkie, in his perpetual state of inebriation...

...falls asleep at the wheel, waking up to find he's going off the highway...

...and applying the brakes there. But if he was asleep...

...he wouldn't have been traveling at such a dangerous rate of speed.

You're saying you believe him. No.

I'm just saying that I think the kid's too stupid to make it up.

Yes, I treated several of the victims manifesting the symptoms.

Their episodes suggest a pattern of shared hallucination.

A distinct narrative. They all saw their doubles. Doppelgangers.

None of them had psychiatric problems before?

They never received treatment. So there were issues?

No, but they were arguably not upstanding citizens.

They had trouble with the law.

Not necessarily connoting they were mentally ill.

Dr. Russell, your diagnosis is of a nonconforming type of schizophrenia.

That was my clinical opinion.

So they were mentally ill?

They became mentally ill. It was almost like a kind of outbreak.

So would you say like a mass hysteria?

I've never heard of a suicidal mass hysteria.

A phenomenon known as suicide clusters or suicide contagion...

...have been known to affect whole communities or social groups.

Are you treating patients with those symptoms?

Nothing matching that particular pattern. Why?

This patient, what's her specific psychiatric diagnosis?

Mm. More a normative schizophrenic.

Could we possibly talk to her? I'd strongly advise against that.

Why would you say that? Because she exhibits split personality...

...with wild swings in affect, from benign to violent.

Unless you've got some good reason, I'd steer clear.

I'd like to take a look at her drawings.

Judy? You have visitors.

Oh. You should've warned me.

I look awful. I look a fright. No one's judging you, Judy.

Not without my coiffure.

You look fine to me.

No, I don't. I don't, not for such a handsome man as yourself.

My name is Fox, and this is Dana.

You can call me Little Judy.

That's what my fans call me. Are you an actress, Judy?

I'm a very famous actress.

They want to see your drawing. Would you like to show them?

Oh, it's nothing. It's just hangman.

You play a lot of hangman.

I play with my brother. Does he visit?

My brother's an insufferable jerk. We play telepathically.

"Arkie."

You know a...

An Arkie Seavers?

You know, he-- He had an accident recently.

I don't know an Arkie Seavers.

This is just a coincidence?

I don't know an Arkie Seavers.

But she might.

Hey, listen, man, where are they taking me? Don't know, transfer.

I gotta talk to my lawyer first or something.

Sorry. Can't help you.

Please, I mean-- Ah!

Okay, okay. Transfer where?

Like I said, can't help you.

Hey, help, help! He's here! Please, somebody help me!

Please, please, help me!

Coming.

Hi, we'd like a couple rooms.

Do you have reservations? No.

Uh... Do you have any rooms?

I've had a cancellation. It's just a suite. We'll take it.

There's a pullout sofa.

0K8)'-

Just trying to get some shut-eye.

I'm glad to hear it.

Mulder.

What are you doing?

That bed nice and comfy?

Mulder, go back to sleep.

I wish that I could, Scully.

They just found Arkie Seavers dead in his jail cell.

Somebody want to explain this to me?

Who found him there? One of the trustees.

That gUY-

This happens all the time, don't know what to tell you.

Looks like a suicide. He was strangled to death.

Not necessarily, Mr. Cavalier. He's wearing handcuffs.

It looks impossible, and it's highly improbable...

...but there is ample case history that it can be done.