Euclid
Episode 1 - Burning Orphanage
An SCP fanfiction series about a person reincarnated as a orphaned boy in the SCP universe. Will he survive the this world or would he be one of the preys of these anomalies?
Chapter 1:
Retained Memories
Immense laughter of children woke me off my slumber and in my waking sight, I was surrounded by them. Midgets walking and playing within the walls of this wooden facility while being poorly watched by a bored adult more attentive on newspaper he was reading rather than the some children crying in their abrupt fall.
The entirety of the building and the people were all new to me. Yet strangely enough, I remember having memories living in this orphanage.
But it can’t be right.
For as long as I could remember, I was no orphan and had already passed my childhood. Entered and graduated high school, and should currently be at my college years. But it wasn’t the case in my current situation.
My real name, before this mysterious event, is somewhat buried under vague images of my past. I couldn’t tell who I was, nor who I was related to but I could remember being a normal person with an average life. Having few friends and living on a small apartment of plain four corners, nothing more nothing less.
But at the same time, I retained the memories of the abandoned child. Being avoided and sometimes bullied by the other orphans, while drenching my bed sheet in tears after at night. The only child with black hair in this orphanage.
I, of name that had been lost, is trapped inside a body of an eight year old child called Euclid.
Hands of small grips on an old worn out book as the other drags a ruptured teddy bear, dark hair that indifferent from the other light haired children which seemed to be the cause of their avoidance, and a greyish clothing almost considered as rag hides the bruises from punishment and pranks.
I am Euclid, and at the same time, I am not.
“B-billy! Get away from him, he’s a monster” a reluctant child tucked his tail as he took heed of the child’s warning, leaving the ball rolling into my side.
The other children clump themselves as they play among themselves as I was stuck on the corner of the room where dusty shelves and antique books only accompanying me on my boredom. And disgust were visible in their eyes as they gazes in my direction.
“Good afternoon, children!” a voice of a man greeted in such a cheerful manner as the children gleefully approached him. Wearing a brown tuxedo, he removed his hat, placing it on a rack before proceeding inside the indoor playground. “I see you’re all well. I brought another friend so be kind to her.”
“Who’s that?” the children asked as strands of gold-like hue swayed from behind the man’s torso.
“Come on. Don’t be shy. They’re your new friends” the man insisted.
Hiding, the little girl peeks upon the crowd as she slowly reveal herself in her white dress. Her blue eyes gazes at us, then everyone became fixated at her, asking her lots of question while trying friendly gestures. She was startled but soon started showing affable nature.
In her presence, I felt disturbed. She was the opposite of the child I was. She was loved and in the light, while I was ignored and unseen in the shadows. And even in my sudden disappearance towards outside, none had noticed. As if none had cared at all.
But there was more pressing matter in my hand rather than caring over childish matter.
“Where am I?” I questioned myself as I gazed the scenery of outside but neither the memory of my past nor the child could tell. It was just an orphanage, standing in middle of nowhere and the only noticeable features were the dirt road extended and elongating to somewhere as it disappears into the forests, a small farmland owned by the orphanage and the mountain behind and a vintage car parked the grassy plains.
The fresh breeze far better than in the city, the texture of the grass within my naked feet, everything felt too real to be a dream.
I could remember the last memory I had. Drinking brewed coffee while reading a fandom site on my desktop out of boredom and recommendation. Then a sudden drowsy feeling came stronger than the brewed coffee and every thing had gone dark after. And there I was, a kid.
“Hello there, kid” the man from earlier greeted with a suspicious grin. His hat was back in his head, and hands grasping his keys, seemingly on his way to leave until his sight shifted into one of my hands. “Looks like you’ve got a good book there.”
In his word, I noticed I still had it within my grasp and securely held with both my hands unconsciously. He seemed to be in interest on it so I stretched out my hand to offer it.
There was never actually the time I had read it as I was formerly illiterate before I gained my previous memories of an adult. But to Euclid, it was a consolidation as scary images and drawings of monsters were far better than those who can hurt you in reality.
“Ah, takes me back to memory lane.” he said, before handing it back to me. “You can have it. It’s nothing but a fiction book I wrote back in the previous work.”
He then gets into his vehicles, driving into the dirt road leading into the forest path. A relief was there as the precious book were still in my grasp but the peculiar grin of the man still lingers and bothers me.
“Euclid, where are yoouuu!?” voices of children called out, yet it brought me terrors just hearing.
I have to escape. I have to hide.
But to where? Everywhere I hide, they always find me. And every time they find me, I suffer consequences of either being hit by sticks repeatedly, shoved into the mud for multiple times, or worst, tied into a tree for days. There were also unspeakable things but memories were too vague to remember, and maybe it was for the best.
To them, it’s all a measly prank and the adults didn’t seemed to care. No matter how many times I returned with bruises and scars nor bathe in blood.
“Here you are.” Reid said as he come out of the orphanage. But just from sight of his, my stomach turned upside down and my feet ran on its own. It didn’t matter where, just far away as possible him. “Hey, come back here!”
It became a chase, but eventually he caught up, along with the others. Again, he and the others played the same game again. Heroes and demon lord. They were the so called heroes, and I was the demon lord for my black hair.
And as they stopped and left, I was tied into the same tree again while my body filled with fresh cuts and bruises as it trembles from the incident.
All I could do was cry. Like little kid who can’t do a thing. But what can I even do? I am really just a kid.
“A-are you alright?” a voice suddenly jolted my spine and thought the gang was back but instead, it was the girl of blue eyes. “W-what happened?”
I couldn’t response and just looked away. Hatred, and envy were already beginning to consume me that the moment she untied me, I had jumped at her. Both of us fell into the ground, splashing mud, dirt and blood into her pure white dress. It had surprised her, but instead of fighting back from anger or be frightened, she instead caress the cut in my forehead with pitiful eyes.
“It must have been scary, isn’t it?”
“What do you know!?” I scowled, before jumping out from such a weird position we were in. “T-that wasn’t sexual harassment!”
From a blank face, she started giggling until she was laughing about something. “You’re weird but funny!”
“Same goes for you, trying to help a stranger who you just met.” I scoffed but she just laughed it off again. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
“Jeez, not even a thanks?”
“Well, thank you, your majesty?” I stated and vow. “Is that what you want to hear?”
“Ha-ha, very funny” she replied sarcastically. “I just got curious, that’s all. Why would all children greet me except for one. Hmm, suspicious”
“What are you now? A detective?”
“Ah, that’s way better than princess!” she cheered.
“Don’t tell me the shy girl was all just an act?”
“... maybe?” she giggled. “So, what’s the reason for the avoidance?”
“You’re the detective wanna be here. Try guessing it yourself” I replied, picking up the book covered in mud and dirt.
“He-he, come on. Give me a hint” she became clingy and rather annoying as I try to clean the book. The cover was damaged and underneath the fake sheath, a leather with a symbol peeking from it. “Oh, that looks suspicious. Lemme see”
“Hey, give it back!” I shouted but too late. She already started peeling the enveloping material of the book, revealing the leather cover of the book with the symbol of something I had seen in my past. Three arrows pointing at the center circle while inside a three teeth gear. “N-no way… is this a prank?”
“What is this weird symbol?”
“SCP foundation…” I gasped, but there was no mistaking it.
“Eh!?” she titled the book in every angle she could then made glared. “It doesn’t even say anything like that! Not even a text is here in the cover! Are you playing tricks on me?”
“Just give it back!” I shouted, snatching the book back.
“W-where are you going!?”
“Back. It’s already getting dark. I’ll be in trouble if I stay too late…”
“Are you sure? What about the kids earlier?” she asked, putting a halt in my feet for a couple of second before continuing. It was starting again. The stomach turning, the hand trembling but I had no choice. I would be in more trouble if the adults find me returning late instead of the kids. “hmm, then how about this?”
“W-what are you doing?”
“Oh, don’t be such a wuss” she said, holding my hand as she drags me back into the orphanage.
What awaited us were gritty faces and uncomfortable gazes. I was saved somehow with her presence but I knew they would haunt me after.
Chapter 2:
Who I really am
For the rest of the night until supper, she never let go of my hand and bugged me with a lot of questions, starting on how I got to know the symbol’s meaning and what contains within the book I had on me.
I avoided most of the question, pertaining the symbol was mentioned many times in the book without actually telling where I had originally learned it from. It was too much for a child to comprehend, and she wouldn’t even believe it if I told her.
Yet despite my action trying to ignore her, she became more adamant to annoy me. Asking every little detail in the book and conjuring hilarious theories of what the book could be. One of which she said it was a book of a witch, containing all the monsters she had created in some elaborate lab.
But as supper started, so was the start of our disconnection. She was dragged into her reserved seat by the others, adamantly asking questions of her origin and me, who had no seat within the table were to take my meals into anywhere I could, just except to where most of the people were eating, at the dining.
“What? That’s all what’s left kid. Now scram!” The cook said, after giving me nothing but bread and water from the kitchen filled with more than just hardened dough. Though even the hardened dough were wasted as the other bullies pushed me, covering the bread with dirt and soaking it in muddy water as I went outside.
Now it was just me, sitting on the porch and having water as dinner. “I really hate this…”
“Hate what?”
“Ack! Oh come on, don’t suddenly show up like that!” I shouted, trying to shove away her face too close to mine.
“Come on, tell me. What’s the matter?” she asked, sitting beside me with a plate of sandwich in her side.
“To you, nothing.” I claimed, then a heavy breathe came out of me. “but to me, everything. Everything in this place is sickening. The orphanage, the other children, everything and everyone is a piece of shit”
In the serious atmosphere, she broke a snort which pisses me off.
“Sorry.” she laughed. “Never thought I’d hear such vulgar words from a fellow child.”
“Oh, please just stop. I’m already in a bad mood…”
“Here” she took the sandwich from the plate and offered one the other half. “Bet you’re hungry.”
“T-thanks…”
“Oh, you do know how to thank someone” she giggled which I ignored, trying to eat the food before something happened again. “By the away, I haven’t mentioned my name. I’m Anya Garin, and you are?”
“... it’s A-” the word was in the tip of my tongue but vanished so quickly. “Euclid. Just Euclid.”
“Well, Euclid. Nice to meet you” She smiled, offering her hand for a shake. But before I could take it, my shoulder felt an instant impact then I was thrown from the elevated porch.
“Hey, don’t come near our princess.!” Reid claimed, while rebuke towards me.
“What are you doing!?” Anya complained.
“Saving you from the demon, princess”
“What!? You’re being jerk, not saving me. Leave, I don’t want to see!” she scolded, rushing into my side while the others just left without notice. “A-are you alright Euclid?”
“I’ve been to worsts.” enduring the newly added pain in my wrecked body, Anya took me in her shoulder and dragged me into where my room was.
On a detached small cottage of nothing but scrap junks and broken devices, I had a well improvised bedding from destroyed stuff toys and torn clothes.
“Are you sure this is where you stay? Not inside the orphanage?” she asked.
“Pretty sure…” I claimed, resting my aching body in the makeshift bed and started reading the book once more.
“But shouldn’t you be? You’re an orphan, just like the rest of us.”
“Unlike you, I was left in this place without permission. Those who were taken here are funded and me, who mysteriously appeared out of nowhere is not part of it.” I replied based on the adults had said in the memories of the child. “To them, I’m mere parasite…”
“Any recollection of where you came from?”
“No. I was here before I could even have consciousness.” I replied then sighed. “I used to have at least a better life in earlier days back when the previous caretaker was still alive. I still have a place to stay inside, a plate and seat among the tables, a not so lonely life…”
Euclid’s memories of a female brought me warmth somehow but it also brought guilt and fear as something appeared within my memories.
The reason she had died.
“That’s… tough…” she claimed. “I don’t what to say but I guess I feel you too…”
“Yeah, right. How would a princess even know what I’m feeling right now?” I claimed, receiving a flicker in my forehead. “Ouch! What was that for!?”
“For judging me. I really hate it when people call me princess so shut it. ” she pouted. “And trust me, I know how you feel. Maybe not on the same level, but I just know it.”
She curled into a corner as her face burdens. “I may look tough outside but in truth, I afraid. What if bombs were to drop here as well? Or another war break free? The sound of firing guns and explosion is still fresh and echoing in my head that sleeping at night was hard…”
It was then I saw her tremble while a single tear were visible in her face, as if she was trying to hold it.
We talked about our dreams until night has gone deep, and she left in the calling of the adults. She wanted somehow to be a detective, solving mysteries and crimes even though she doesn’t look the part. But the dream I shared was my own as the child’s only wish was to have a peaceful normal life. A life away from the orphanage. Away from the place who had been causing us trauma.
In her departure, exchanges the arrival of Reid and the bullies. They dragged me once more into the forest, under the brilliance of the moon partially hiding behind the clouds.
“You really have insane, aren’t you Demon? She was supposed to be close with us. To Me! But now, because of you, she hates me! You’ve tainted her!” Once again, Reid attacked but not with a stick but with his fist, jabbing my stomach to point I threw up the last thing I ate. Several seconds, everyone attacked as well until my bruises were covered by new ones while all I could do was whimper and cry. “That’s what you get for getting near the princess.”
“Yeah, stay away from her.” all the other children claimed.
“Yeah, who do you think you are?” another one asked.
Who am I? Who am I exactly? The child abandoned and forsaken in such corrupted place. The child who’s too weak to defend himself. The kid who could do nothing but oblige and get used as a punching bag.
I can feel everything he feels, every trauma he had, every weakness he had. For I am him.
“You just the wimpy demon Euclid. ” Reid claimed. “And don’t worry. The princess will soon hate your existence too.”
“No…” I grumbled.
“What did you say?” Reid questioned as his eyebrows raised. He soon took one of the sticks the other had, and attempted to advance but something halted him as I looked him in the eyes.
“No…” I’m someone who had memories of my own past, and the original tenant of the orphanage. I’m not just Euclid. Nor just a remnant of a past live. “No more…”
For I am both.
“P-punish him!” Reid ordered then the rest advances.
“Get out of my way!” I shouted, blinding the others with dirt and jabbing a few unconscious before charging toward Reid. He flinched as I jumped on him, causing him to fall upon being pushed him down while he cries from numerous hits I inflicted. “No, no, no, no…”
“You started the game, don’t complain now, Hero.” His cries seemed to amplified into the others as they couldn’t move. They only watched me with horrors in face while I continued. And as the brilliance of the moon lit the forest, I had enough with how messed up his face got. “Who’s next?”
They started scattering, wailing as they return towards the orphanage and leaving the others on their own. My fist were full of callus and bruises, but my heart was heart was in content as I was free from the child’s fear and agony.
“Where are you going? Aren’t we playing?” I asked but I knew they weren’t returning. “Now, what to do with this troublemakers?”
In the tree I had been tied up, the rope still rest in the ground, giving me a perfect revenge and a good idea.
“An eye for an eye, or so they say” I muttered, then tied them into the tree with the very rope they had used before preparing to leave. But someone called for my name.
“Eu… clid…” he said, but as I turn back, none of the bullies were awake and the call only seized after I got out of the forest.
Chapter 3:
Missing Children
Every inch of my body aches as I slumber. Yesterday’s incident really took it’s toll on me that I couldn’t move any muscle without experiencing pain.
“Look’s like something happened last night.” Anya said, poking the bruises I had in. “Reid and others ganged up on you, didn’t they?”
“Well, congrats for solving the case, Ms. Detective” I claimed as joke but she just gave a sly smile as if she saying ‘it was nothing’. “But did you guess that I won?”
“Really? Well, bad news for you. Something happened and you’re most like the culprit.”
“I already knew it’s gonna happen.”
“Really now? Then where are Reid and the other two children?”
“What do you mean? They haven’t returned yet?” I asked, yet she just shook her head in disagreement. “Then they’re probably still in the forest, tied up.”
“WHERE’S THAT LITTLE BRAT!?” a voice of adult shouted, bursting into the entrance of the cottage I was in then instantly dragging me outside by my hair. “Where are Reid and the others?”
From the side, the children who had ran from last night’s incident watches with a sliver of grin in their faces but soon averts their gazes. “How should I know? Am I their baby sitter?”
His eyebrows raised and his gaze became enrage, causing him to throw a heavy punch into my face, pummeling me into the ground once more. It became blurry and I could feel something of vague red running from my nostrils.
“Where are they?”
“That’s enough! Why don’t you just asked those kids?” Anya claimed as she catching me fumbling in every attempts of standing. “They’re always with him.”
“W-we last seen them in the forest… along with that m-monster… demon…” of the blurry small figures claimed, then I could feel being dragged, my scalp seemed to be almost breaking from the man’s grip.
But after all the dragging, it stopped and there were silence before children began to scream and wail. The sound of vomiting, heavy gasps and heavy footsteps of running sounded after.
“W-what in tarnation...” the man gasped.
It was vague. All I could see were trees and tree sap leaking out of of the trees. But as my vision slowly returns, there was no tree sap at all but blood spilling in the very tree where I had tied the three.
“It’s him! He ate them!” A child claimed, pointing at me. “Demon! Demon!”
“No, no, no! It wasn’t me! I swear!” I claimed but everyone didn’t care of what I’ve said.
The children kept repeating the words, over and over while Anya, who was surprise averted her gaze, never even dared looked at me and just turned away. With the children getting too noisy, the man drag me once more towards the orphanage and took me to where I always trapped in whenever I get accused of something. Stealing and wreckage done by Reid himself and his lackey but shifted the blame to me.
I was imprisoned once again in the wardrobe of shame, probably locked for days without food and water like the other days.
“I didn’t do it! I didn’t do anything!” I cried but no one was listening. It was just me, in a dark interior of the wardrobe, and the tiny specks of light passing through the thick wardrobe surface coming from outside this small confine, the small attic room of the orphanage.
Seconds, minutes, to hours, only I could do was cower in the darkness of the wardrobe while memories of being held captive in this small space gets recalled over and over again. It was also getting dark, I knew it in the fading beam of light passing through the wooden door.
Until eventually, light had stopped to pass through.
Footsteps soon became clear that got me on alert and it closing in. Nearer and nearer of where I was then stopped, giving another beam of lights passing through the holes. Then the door splits and sways open.
“No, no more…” I tremble, hiding my face further into the darkness, and away from the source of light.
“He-he, you cower like a turd” she laughed with a lamp in her hand. “Come on, let’s leave this place. It’s sickening me.”
“A-Anya…?”
“Yep, the one and only” she claimed high and proud. I didn’t know what came over me but I sudden grabbed her tight as I tremble. “W-what are you d-doing!?”
“I-I thought you b-believed them a-and hate m-me” I replied, sniveling as I continued hugging her tight.
“Oh please. How can a wuss like you even commit such act? I bet you were just lucky to have won the fight last night” she claimed, pushing me away. “Now, let go will you?”
Upon separation, I got a clear view of the attic which had changed over the years. It was supposed to be empty and covered with cobwebs yet bottles of alcohol stacks in multiple layers. The same bottle our current caretaker had been drinking.
“Come on. Let’s take anything we can find and get the hell out of here.” She claimed, pocketing a weird looking key.
“Hold on, we’re leaving?”
“Yeah, what else?” she asked, putting the bag in her back.
“I… Me leaving wouldn’t make a difference but you… you’re leaving just quite fine here. You have proper food and shelter. I think it’s safer for you if you stay.” I claimed, before getting a bonk in the head. “Ow, what was that for?”
I thought she was being funny or something but she began shedding tears. “So you’re gonna leave me? What if something comes and get me as well? Like what happened to Reid!? Something is out there Euclid! Something dangerous!”
“T-that can’t be possible. Wild animals only lives in the wilds, in this case in the forest. I don’t think it would enter a orphanage.” I assured her, but almost simultaneously, screams from downstairs resonated and from the windows, children and adults started fleeing the orphanage.
“You were saying?”
“What was it? Wolves? Lions?” I questioned but she shrugged in ignorance. But no growls nor howls could state that it was a wild feline or canine. Instead, the scream of the children and something hissing. Then a voice of someone calling me. The voice I heard yesterday. “That… it’s the one who took Reid and the others.”
She was no longer listening and moves closer into the attic trap door, as if in some kind of trance.
“Anya!” I screamed, grabbing her before she could open the door. “What’s wrong with you?
“W-what!?”
“Where were you going? Downstairs!?”
“But someone’s calling me…”
“And you’re just gonna go?”
In realization, she dropped in her knees. “What just happened!? What was I doing? This It… It’s a wild animal, right? How can ‘It’ speak!? ” Anya asked. “It was calling me and I couldn’t… Euclid, we got to get out of here!”
“Yeah, we should. But we can’t leave through the trapdoor leading downstairs.” I claimed, then saw a window which could fit anyone. It would have been the best way to get out, if the locked weren’t rusted and we had the key. “Darn it! It won’t budge.”
“Hold on, I got this” She proudly volunteered, took the key from earlier then went into the lock. And in just few seconds, the rusted lock was cracked opened. “And done”
“How did you…”
“Ask questions later. Let’s just leave-” the whole orphanage shakes, then attic floor crumbled into below.
Anya was lucky to be able to held into the window frames but I wasn’t. The flooring cracked open, dropping me into the lower level as the bottles smashes everywhere, create the stench of alcohol while shards of glass scatters around.
“Euclid!” Anya shouted, attempting to descend.
“No! Get away as far as possible. I’ll find another way out!”
“B-but…” she was reluctant I was adamant. Until her face became dreaded and started pointing “Euclid, behind you!”
From behind, a humanoid figure emerged. But it was human at all. It was a mass of brown word, standing like a human and within the floors, skeletal remains of the others lies dead. And worst of all, I’ve already seen it.
“Eu…clid… Ha-ha-ha” it laughed.
“No-no way… Y-you’re…” I gasped in horror while I attempted to flee but it was keeping up in tail as I’ve gone circle inside the orphanage and only made distance after dropping many obstacles in it path. “
“He-he-he… running is futile Euclid… You will also be sustenance… like your favorite mother…” it hisses as I recall the previous care taker of this orphanage. The lady who had been good to me. Became its food in order to save me.
“Euclid!” Anya called from outside as I try to get back into the attic once, the only place a path was open.
“Leave already! This things too dangerous!”
“But how about you!?”
“I… I’m already done for…” I claimed. Although I had arrived in the attic, the mass was slowly stretching itself into the crack and soon, I would be its dinner. “Save yourself, Anya!
“N-No! You have to survive!” She shouted, but the thing arising from below the crack grins.
“N-no! You have to survive!” it mocked.
Chapter 4:
Arson and Escape
The stretching mass was already near the crack, slowly peaking from it as the creature was satisfying itself with the fear I was accumulating while I collapse into the stable floor of the attic, unable to do anything except from trying to make distance by backing away.
“Eu… clid…” it called but in the voice of my previous… no, this child’s previous caretaker. It sounded so familiar, part of me wishes to approach it.
It was the end and I was already done for.
Or so I’ve thought.
Upon backing away, my hand jolted as it touched a hot steel and within my grasps, the lamp Anya had left glows brightly. Something in my memory were jogged and without hesitation, I put the lamp in between us.
It became hesitant at first, until the stretched face grin once again.
“Ha-ha, funny Euclid. A small lamp” it laughed in her voice but its laughter disappear as I grin.
“Wanna know what it can do?” it screamed in horror and pain as I threw lamp into the crack, setting the being stench in alcohol ablaze. The flames spread from below, until the face of the monster shrinks into the hole.
The orphanage then starts to burn as well as I continued pouring the rest of the untouched bottle of alcohol before leaving through the window Anya had passed through. But she was no longer outside, nor anyone.
From within the forest, I watched the orphanage ablaze along with the hiss and cry of the creature, slowly fading as the fire continued. I watch it to ensure the anomaly were truly done for and as well as in revenge of what it did to the previous caretaker of the orphanage.
The only person who treated me human.
The fire took hours to cease but eventually, it became into ruins and ashes. And SCP - 906 was no more but ashes as well.
Although the incident was already over, the fire had alerted the nearest civilization and Anya came back along with the authorities, adults and the people who fled from earlier’s incident.
She kept shouting, calling for my name but I didn’t showed up nor gave any sign that I had survived. I refused to do so. It was better if she believed that I was dead. Burned along with the ashes within the burned orphanage.
That way, I get to repay for her kindness. As my existence would only make her recall everything which happened in this area.
“Bye, Anya… You’re the first true friend I had in this world” I whispered into the air for the very first friend I gained afar from the previous caretaker.
As I was about to leave, a van came with the logo of the SCP foundation drawn in it then men in lab coat and armed men got off the vehicle and took the people while the others drawn a yellow line into the orphanage.
“So, it’s real. In this place…” I muttered before silently backing into the forest, then started running as visibility within the orphanage had gone.
I couldn’t believe it but I really am in the world I thought was fiction. I was just reading it from the site two days prior inside my room and now, I am existing in. Where dangerous monsters and anomalous that could end you, the humanity and even the world is either contained or roaming somewhere in the this world.
Just knowing an anomaly was already worth for an amnestic. Meaning, wiping one’s memory varying within the incident. But my memories stretches beyond just earlier, and if they were to notice, my entirety of being someone with memories of out of this world, could be wiped out.
“Good evening, young lad” a familiar voice called and as he approached from the shadows, the man who brought Anya revealed himself. “It seems you are in a hurry. But to where?”
His grin was hiding something and within the trees, I could feel more people were watching.
“A-are you gonna kill me?”
“Don’t worry, young lad. We aren’t here to kill you. In fact, we’ll help you. ” he assured but I already knew what he meant. Resisting is futile in the foundation, and getting your memory erase or manipulated was the best thing you could hope for among other things. “So why don’t you tag along with us?”
“I… one condition.”
His eyes beamed for a second, before turning back into an innocent like facial expression. “What is it, child? A candy or chocolate bar?”
“The girl you brought, Anya. Make sure she doesn’t see me to wherever you’re taking me…”
He nodded then gestured into the shadows to retreat while he accompanies me back into the orphanage. Few armed men were still left in the vicinity of the ruins, and the van was emptied, assuming the others were already transported into one of their facility.
For the last time before I hopped into their van, I took a last glimpse into the orphanage.
“I’ve heard you’ve got bad memories in this place. But don’t worry, it will all be alright by tomorrow.”
“I also had a bit of fond memories in it as well” I muttered then engine started and the vehicle began to move.
It was a long and silent ride that lasted for hours with interval times the man offered a chocolate bar as he says to ease the boring journey. But rather than bored, I was frightened inside to what he was up to.
In a screech, the vehicle stopped and the back door opened. Few personnel in lab coat was already there, attempting to converse with me but the man gestured, saying “Later. The child’s still in trauma… ”
He then turned towards me, and give another bar of chocolate. “Now, be a good kid and follow them, okay?”
I just nodded then obliged. And in the guidance of the personnel, they took me to where the interrogation room and asked multiple questions pertaining to the creature I burned. But to protect myself, I altered the story.
The creature appeared out of nowhere, killing everyone who wasn’t able to flee while Anya and I attempted to escape. While I was trapped, the creature accidentally tripped the lamp and burned itself after the alcohol reserve had soaked it.
It was the most believable and closer to the truth story I could come up with as alteration could show signs of lying. And somehow, they believed it.
“What’s gonna happened to me?” Acting innocently, I questioned the personnel. He assured that nothing bad was going to happen to me before leaving the interrogation chamber. But even after the questioning, I still can’t let my guard down as there were still eyes upon me.
I pretend what a child would do, loiter around the chamber while pretending to be curious of surrounding. Until the said moment came. A new personnel came, giving a mysterious pill along with a glass of water and another chocolate bar placed on a tray.
“Euclid is you’re name, right?” the new personnel asked. “Now, Euclid. I want you to take this pill and if you do that, I’ll give you this chocolate”
“W-what is that?”
“Ah, it’s just vitamins. It appears you’re not in good shape” she claimed, pointing on the skinny wrist I had. “This will also make your bruises disappear!”
She was exaggerating things, adding that taking the pill would help me grow big and strong. And other things to just make me shove it in my mouth and drink. With the eyes watching, I had to keep with the act, even though I had to loose my memories.
“Really!?” I asked in faked curiosity while the female personnel assured it. Loose my memory or loose my life? The later was a possibility and something I wouldn’t even dare to want.
With all the courage I had, I took the pill and drank the glass of water before swiping the chocolate quickly to keep the act. But as soon as I took the candy at hand, everything felt hazy and my body was getting heavy until I felt being caught before my fall.
Everything was dark, but I could hear murmurs of people beside me. Someone was arguing over something but it was hard to figure out. The murmurs were to vague to hear and my consciousness was once again drifting into darkness. Then the darkness was followed by a dream.
A dream of Euclid, the child smiling at me.
He was somewhat at peace while he had the chocolate in his grasp and uttered a voiceless word yet it read like a thank you before he disappeared with a familiar woman holding his hand.
“Is it over? Am I returning home?” I asked myself in wishful thinking but soon that wishful thinking was shattered as I woke up on a hospital bed with one of the SCP personnel guarding me.
“Do you remember me?” she asked.
“W-who are you?” I questioned in pretend ignorance as she sighed in relief.
“I found you crossing the street while I was driving. I didn’t know if I did hit you or you collapse in shock but I knew I had to bring you into a hospital quickly”
“I-I see…”
“How are you? Do you recall you are?” she asked then suddenly corrected her question. “What is your name?”
“It’s…” I tried but I still couldn’t remember it, my original name. And strangely enough, the memories I had as Euclid had disappeared, except for the memory I had as I had awaken in this world. “It’s Euclid… Just Euclid…”
Chapter 5:
A new life
A day after my hospital awakening, I was then issued a release with a miraculous recovery, like they had promised. The bruises and wounds I had were gone and my body were healthier than it used to.
But in every great things comes with a catch. The SCP personnel who talked to me in my waking became my guardian as I was but an orphan. Every memory of the orphanage until the moment I was taken to the facility was erased from Euclid’s memory.
Meaning no orphanage trauma, no phobias, no bullies and no Anya. It was as if Euclid’s entirety was erased.
But not in my original memory.
It was like a memory outside a memory. A cloud linked from outside the hardware storage. I remember the incidents and the recollection I had within Euclid’s mind but could no longer access his erased memories. In another term, it was like playing an RPG with the character gets reset and repeats all the dialogue as he couldn’t remember what previously happened in the game. But even though the memories of the avatar were gone, the memory of who uses it remains.
“I guess he’s truly gone…” I muttered while looking on a mirror of Euclid’s reflection in this small chamber. I finally can to see Euclid… my appearance properly. Wavy black hair stretches not more than four inches and pupils of black.
And what’s weird was, his face… was similar to my previous childhood reflection.
“Euclid, are you done?” the female SCP personnel asked from outside the changing room, waiting as I fit another set of clothing. A dark grey long sleeve partnered with a comfortable pants and sneakers. “My, you look wonderful. Is that your favorite among all you’ve chosen?
“Y-yeah… thank you for taking me in your care…”
“Don’t mention it. It was my fault as well that you were hospitalized and besides, I also wanted a younger brother ever since” she claimed, while I laughed inside from her frivolous act. She was a descent liar, that’s for sure but there’s hesitations in some of her acts. “Should we get going? I bet you’re excited seeing your new home”
“Yeah!” I claimed, playing along with the guardian-adoptee act as she dragged me to numerous shops for children needs. Clothing to hygiene, education to entertainment comic books, she did a number of swipe in a special card she was holding as if it had no limits.
“Is there’s anything else you need?”
“N-no. I don’t want to be too greedy…”
“Don’t worry about that. Today is the day I’ll allow you to be” she laughed like a evil crooked who just scored a credit card from a billionaire. “Since I got this card for the day, pick anything you want! Anything!”
“Y-yeah… I’ll try…” never mind, she DID indeed got a billionaire’s credit card for a day! “W-what should we get?”
“I’m probably gonna be needing a new set of computer. If at it, the highest spec.” She muttered as she grins to herself then asks “How about you? Do you want to have a computer or laptop?”
“Ah-” I was about to agree to her suggestions but I forgot I was just a young child, grown and raised in a province out of advance technological reach. Also, I was a child with erased memory. “Computer? Laptop?”
“Oh, you don’t know anything about it…” Being a previous university student specialized in computer and coding, denying it was hard. Especially if your whole life and dream revolves in it. It was also sad I couldn’t get one but safety first. “ but I guess I should get you a phone. My line of work is… very busy, I’m not often at home.”
“Line of work?”
“That’s a secret.” secret my foot, you work on a management that deals with anomalies and erasing people’s memories. And a child just slipped from your so amnestics so should be losing your job. “Our destination will be at a bit far, how about a last minute play at the amusement park just recently opened?”
“P-play!?” Gosh, pretending to be a child is so hard…
A few minutes ride from the mall, we arrived to where the amusement park was at. A pink rabbit costume walking and distributing brochure of the park, food stands selling hot dogs, ice creams and other snacks, and many game stands.
I was so focused on pretending innocent, I passed through Anya by accident. She’s being accompanied with some adult that looked like her new forest parents and another girl much younger than her. She looked so happy in her current life and doesn’t seemed to have no recollection of me.
But it was for the better.
“What is it, Euclid? You saw something?”
“N-no… nothing.” I replied, then saw what Anya was eating fitting as an excuse. “that just looked delicious…”
“Not to worry, I’ll buy your favorite bar of chocolate! A whole fridge of it!” she assured with a weird laughter which felt awkward but at same satisfying as I gotten the liking of the snack of chocolate.
For the rest of the day, we toured the amusement park and played. Watching underwater non-anomalous creatures, theater play, craning stuffed toys and hopped on multiple amusement rides.
And as the park closes, a mysterious gray vehicle awaited us outside. To which to drove us farther and farther away from the city, and towards the unknown destination. Large structures were slowly lessen, changing into more forestry like environment as night falls deeper and I fell asleep.
“We’re here, Euclid. Wake up.” my foster parent claimed.
In a street deprived of continues moving vehicle and forest scenery present behind the houses, I stand in front of our one story house with a window on the roof which seemingly an attic present. It was a bit old with the paint near discoloration but it looked stable enough to live in.
To both side was the neighboring houses, raising to two story with one house parks a police car. The two structure beside ours were the only neighboring houses as the rest were pretty much a few walks to come by but still visible from the streets.
“Home sweet home.” she said with a huge sigh of relief. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
***
​
​
“What just happened out there!? Did you follow the proper amnestics procedure?” a man in lab coat scowled.
“Y-yes, sir. I-I followed it properly...”
“Then what happened there, Dr. Torres!?” he scowled once more while the board was in silence.
A procedure for applying amnestics varies on certain aspects of objectives. To alter, wipe or prevent lost of memory, every objectives differs in every procedure and equipment.
But something had gone wrong the in earliest operation. The machine broke twice, and the patient entered a seizure, stopping his heart over numerous intervals.
“Why did you even went into length of trying to wipe the child’s trauma!? What do you think of our job? Some free government health care!?”
“That’s enough.” an overseer stated. “Scenarios such as this is normal in the foundation. Plus, it was an order from above.”
“The O5 council!?”
​
"Yes, so drop the quarrel and focus on your jobs! We have bigger problems to solve." the overseer stated with a grim face. "A lot of anomalies has escaped its containment..."
Source:
SCP - 906 scouring hive by Veerdin. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-906
SCP - 005 skeleton key by unknown. Source: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-005
Licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.