Death by 1000 Cuts

What are you doing today?

I don't know. Does it matter?

You ought to be out looking for a job.

I told you I'm trying. There's no fucking jobs in this town.

Believe me, I want to get out of here.

I'm sure the two of you will find a way to never let that happen.

But Johnny, don't you appreciate living here with us?

No. I fucking don't/

And I hate that you're always telling me what I should do.

I'm an adult. I can decide things for myself.

Johnny, you need us. You can't leave.

Can you stop being so condescending?

Do you even know what condescending means?

I'm out of here.

Good. Maybe you can go find a job.

Johnny, don't leave. Get back here.

Death by a thousand cuts refers to

to an ancient method of torture, in which

numerous small cuts were made on a victim's body.

None of the cuts were deadly by themselves

but the combination of them would cause the victim

to die a slow, painful death.

In psychology, the term refers

to small issue that are over-looked

until they add up to something too big

to ignore.

Sometimes I question

which version of the phrase

is worse.

And back to you, Tim.

And thank you for that, Eileen.

And now we will bring you Earl Zachary Kurtz,

with the devastating story of yet

another missing person in our community.

Police efforts are little consolation,

disappearances in the Police efforts are little consolation,

Where twenty three year old disappearances in the

Where twenty three year old

Christine Gray has gone missing.

Another victim in a string of

in the area.

She was last seen under this overpass,

where she was socializing with

her friends on

Thursday night.

We reached out to her parents

who are urging anyone

who may have information about her disappearance

to please come forward.

We just want our daughter back.

We know she's out there somewhere

and we want her to come home.

We're just asking anyone who

may have seen of heard anything

to please come forward.

I beg you, please.

Please.

Local police have no leads at this time.

Which leave us all wondering,

who could do something so evil?

Thank you for that

disturbing report.

We hope that she is found

and returned home safely.

I'm going out.

Make sure you bring a jacket.

And in other news

For me,

life is like a

party I wasn't invited to.

Occasionally I meet people, and

sometimes convince myself they're my friends,

but in the end,

there's just this sense, that

I don't belong.

And eventually they'll all figure that out,

and then they'll all turn on me.

Johnny,

I've known you since you were a child.

You have your issues,

just like everybody else has their issues.

But there are people that love you.

People that care for you.

Like your parents.

They love you.

My parents wish I was dead.

Just like everybody else.

Sometimes I feel like everyone in

my life is trying to make me miserable.

That's not true.

You're the only person I have left to talk to

and I have to pay you for it.

Johnny, come on.

You know the graveyard at the edge of town?

My parents have a family plot there.

There's a spot for me.

So?

So I'll be buried next to my parents.

Who are buried next to their parents. And they're parents.

Everyone just lives and dies in this town.

Nobody ever escapes.

There's no greater purpose.

I can assure you, you have a greater purpose.

There's a church next to the cemetery.

And if you park behind the church,

you'll find a little dirt road between some trees.

If you go down that,

And on the left is the edge of the cemetery.

Eventually, you'll come up

on this huge pipe.

Duck under that and there's a tunnel.

Some kind of storm drain or something that

you can walk through.

I have to duck because I'm tall as shit.

The crazy thing about the tunnel,

it runs directly under the cemetery.

And if you see how close the headstones are,

you'll see that the bodies are buried standing up.

So the dead are standing,

maybe even walking,

on top of the tunnel.

When my parents were younger,

they said the high schoolers went there and called it Satan's tunnel.

They found a dead body there so they gated the thing.

I've gone there in my dreams

a lot lately.

Like every night.

But in my dreams,

the gate is gone.

And what do you see in there?

I never go in.

I always get too scared and turn back.

Dreams aren't random like most people think they are.

They are often our subconscious trying to tell us something.

Something we have forgotten or failed to accept.

Like you were saying,

you're entire family tree rests in that cemetery.

And you know so little about them.

Apparently you feel disconnected from your parents.

There might be some secrets buried there.

Or more importantly,

here.

I think it is important we learn about those secrets.

If I hypnotize you,

putting you in an unconscious state,

You can talk about the tunnel.

And unlike your dreams,

you can go in there,

and you can take control.

Hypnotize me?

The gate is gone.

Can you go in?

I already did.

I think I can see something.

What do you see?

It's some sort of mask.

What's behind the mask.

It's another mask.

Masks are often used to conceal things.

Behind those masks, I bet there's a deep desire or thoughts.

What is it? What do you see?

I can't. I can't tell you.

Even if it's something terrible, you need to tell me.

You need to talk about it.

Look to your left.

What?

Ow, my head.

Who are you?

You've been here before. You must remember when.

I don't.

Why do you have that thing on your head?

I wear this to conceal my pitiful fate.

Dreadful things have happened in this house,

and all over this town.

You need to discover the truth.

You know you're dreaming, right?

This is only an acceptable way out

in a dream, not in the real world.

You're awake. What did you see?

Please. Never make me do that again.

Johnny, Johnny, it's ok.

Come here. Come to me.

It's gonna be ok.

Johnny, tell me what did you see?

I can't remember anything.

It's like waking up from a nightmare.

My heart is racing but I can't remember anything.

Well, looks like our time is up.

Same time next week?

Yeah.

Sure, that sounds good.

I'll be here.

They're not real. That's stuff is still fucking with your mind.

When you look at this footage, there won't be anything there.

Just empty streets.

They're not real. You're gonna be ok.

I think I lost them.

Where the fuck am I?

You've been here before. You must remember when?