Chapter Text
My eyes opened only to close again. I groaned from the bright light that shone in the small room. My head felt numb yet when I tried to sit up a sharp pain ripped through it. I yelped quietly and brought my hand up to my head. I observed the room. It was quite small, big enough for me to walk only a couple steps, and all white. The walls were white, the floor was white, the crappy bed and blanket were white, the crappy sink was white. The only thing that wasn't white was the annoyingly bright orange jumpsuit on my body. I looked through the pockets of the jumpsuit and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper. I unfolded it and began to read it.
In black bold lettering it said,
SCP
Secure. Contain. Protect
Orientation Leaflet for the Class D Personnel
It basically said underneath it that I would be staying for a month to be used in some "highly classified experiments." I continued to read the leaflet; uninterested in what it had to say. My eyes widened at one statement. If you fail to comply with the instructions you are given, you will be sent back to your term in death row. When had I gotten onto death row? I don't recall doing anything that would even send me to court. I sighed and read the last paragraph.
If everything goes as planned (meaning that we will have your full cooperation), you will be released at the end of the month and you will be granted an absolute pardon for all of your previous offences.
I sighed and stuffed the leaflet back into my pocket. I just had to survive one month of whatever tests they were going to put me through and be done with it. I would even be completely forgiven for whatever I did. It shouldn't be that difficult, right?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I stared at my reflection in the dirty mirror. I had been sitting on my uncomfortable bed for what could have been hours. My mind kept wracking with the possibilities of why I was on death row. Nothing came up. I couldn't remember anything from before waking up except for my first name. My age was a mystery, my last name was a mystery, as well was my age. My face seemed to be like something I've seen in a dream. Distant yet familiar.
I jumped lightly when the metal door opened with a 'whoosh.' A guard in Kevlar uniform stood. My eyes widened slightly as I noticed the gun in his hands.
"Hey, they've got some work for ya. Do me a favour and step outta your cell." He said in an annoyed voice.
I gulped a little bit and stepped outside the cell. Another guard stood in the hallway dressed the exact same way. We walked through the metal hallways. Not a single soul seemed to inhabit this place. I flinched slightly as I heard a faint scream. The guard behind me chuckled. Finally we went through a door. A single piece of paper hung by said metal door. All I saw was some whitish figure and the letters SCP-173. Maybe this would actually be dangerous.
Two other men stood, also in orange jumpsuits, outside a giant garage-like door. I looked behind me to see that the two guards had vanished. Probably to the balcony above the room. The door opened revealing a big room. The room was plain. The only thing in it was some sort of dirty white statue with a multicolored face. Blood stains scattered the room on the floor and ceiling. I swallowed the lump in my throat.
"Class D Personnel please enter the chamber for testing." A static-filled voice said over the intercom.
Slowly the three of us entered. I carefully avoided a couple puddles of blood that were by the door. The door closed behind us with a supra singly soft clang.
"Please keep eye contact with SCP-173." The same voice said. I heard one of the guys groan, "This is fucking stupid. It's just a statue." He walked up to SCP-173 and tapped it. I rolled my eyes.
"I-I don't think that's a good idea." The last guy said. He seemed to be visibly shaking. The first guy scoffed, "There're probably just trying to scare you." He had a smirk on his face as he turned around.
"I mean look at it. It's just some paper mache facing a wall."
"I think you should actually take this seriously." I said to him, obviously annoyed. The guy turned his gaze towards me. He took a couple steps to me, "Oh, what do you know princess?" I just rolled my eyes and focused my gaze back on the statue. He'll probably shut up after a bit.
"Well then. Be that way bitch." With that he walked up to the other guy and began speaking with him.
"I heard that he crushes the bones of whoever doesn't look at him." He sneered. I heard the other guy whimper. I looked over at them, " Why don't you just shut up and follow orders?"
The guy just turned and smirked at me. He opened his mouth to say something he covered the other one's eyes. In a split second I heard two distinctive 'cracks'. The two other D Class laid on the floor, blood pooling beneath them, dead. SCP-173 stood by them. Facing me as though it was mocking me. My blood ran cold. I felt some bile rise up in my throat as I took in what could have just happened. Their necks were twisted in a way that shouldn't be humanly possible. I think I had an idea of what happened.
My eyes burned and I felt tears forming, but I refused to blink. I would die the second I did. Sadly the human eye has to blink. So I did. When I re-opened my eyes I saw that SCP-173 was right in front of me. My heart felt as though it was going to beat right out of my chest. My death was right before me. I don't even remember anything about myself. I shut my eyes and waited for the death. Suddenly I felt my feet left the ground. A couple gasps were heard from the intercom. I was confused. Why hadn't he killed me yet? I slowly opened my eyes to find that SCP-173 had lifted me up into what I assumed was a hug.
"Hello. I'm Natalia, the main scientist for SCP-173." A female voice rang through the intercom, "I would like you to please get out of SCP-173's grip, if you can, and leave the chamber." Her voice instructed, "Remember to keep eye contact."
I nodded my head and began my attempt to leave SCP- 173's grip. It failed. I sighed and closed my eyes; hoping for SCP-173 To loosen it's grip. Luckily it did. I kept my gaze on it and walked out. The giant door shut as I finally stepped out. I felt a little sad but relieved to still be alive.
"Hello D-3927." I turned to see a woman with long black hair and emerald green eyes in a lab coat with two guards behind her. She smiled at me.
"I'm Natalia, as you should know from before." I shook the hand she held out.
"You're Y/N, correct?" I nodded my head at her question. She laughed.
"Don't look so nervous. We're not going to hurt you. We just want to question you a bit. Nothing too difficult." I once again nodded. That sounded easy enough.
I followed the woman and the guards through the hallways. My heart had slowed slightly and I wasn't panicking as much as before. 'I'm going to be fine' I repeated myself over and over again. Maybe I'd belive it.
~~~~~~~~~~
I sat in a room; similar to SCP-173's chamber but with less blood. Natalia sat in front of me, a folder, pen, paper, and recorder sat between us. She smiled brightly at me.
"I believe that you know why you're here." I nodded slowly, "It's because I'm alive right?" Natalia nods at my question as she wrote something down.
"So, something about SCP-173 is that he can't move if someone stares at him." I nodded again at this, "Another thing about 173 is that it doesn't matter who it is, 173 will kill anyone." I just continued to nod slowly. It seemed that I was missing something.
Natalia sighed, "We have to keep you under tight security since you're still alive." She smiled brightly and gestured to the room around us, "This is where you'll live from now on." My heart stopped.
"You mean that I won't be able to leave? Ever?" Natalia smiled and nodded. I put my head on the table and felt tears well up in my eyes.
I would never leave. Even if I remembered nothing I could have made some sort of life if I got out. Tears began to fall out of my eyes and onto the floor below me. It seemed what little chance that I had at a life had vanished right before me.
"It seems that while you left 173 has begun to communicate." Natalia continued, "It seems to be Morse code, so for an hour everyday I'll come here and begin to teach you how to understand it." She seemed to take my silence as a response.
"So, is there anything that you'd specifically like in your new room? Other than the essentials of course." I sighed and nodded my head as well as I could, "I guess some books and notebooks." I heard Natalia's pen scribble on the paper, "I'm assuming you'd want something to write with." I nodded my head for the hundredth time in the short time we'd been here.
Natalia's chair scraped against the floor and I heard her heels click against the floor. A hand landed on my shaking shoulder, "You'll be fine. I promise." With that she walked out. The door shut with a loud 'bang' behind her.
I cried for a couple more minutes before I slowly lost conscious. Slipping into a dreamless sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~
My eyes opened. I sat up and stretched. My mind felt foggy and it seemed that sleep had done nothing. I was still as tired as I was before. My eyes widened as I the day's events came back to me. It seemed that they'd moved me to some sort of bed. It was a lot more comfortable than the one in that cell. The dark blue sheets were even a bit soft. I scanned the room. By my bed was a small dresser with a black notebook and multiple colored gel pens sitting on top. A small black and white striped suitcase as tall as the bed stood beside the dresser. I stood up, wobbling slightly, and sat next to the suitcase. I opened it to find some clothes and a note on top.
We decided that it would be best if you'd change out of those disgusting rags that we put every D-class in. I didn't know what kind of clothes you like so just tried to get a bit of everything. I hope that you enjoy them. You can just place your clothes by the door every night, after your lessons with me, and we'll clean them so that they'll be good as new by tomorrow. ~Natalia
I took out the first clothes on the top of the pile. A white sweater that was slightly over sized, black skinny jeans, and combat boots. I actually enjoyed the outfit more than I though I would. Maybe the scientists here weren't all unfashionable, anti-social people as it's been stereotyped. Or maybe just Natalia. I took out the other clothing and just decided to wear the knee-length white dress to sleep. Why were there so many white items? At the bottom of the suitcase was some undergarments. I blushed slightly since Natalia probably had to check to get the right size. Maybe she was some sort of wizard that could guess these sort of things. I need some fresh air.
I changed and opened the notebook. I didn't feel like writing so began to draw. It was a rough drawing of a woman's face. She was smiling and had long flowing hair. Her face seemed extremely familiar but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Something about her was comforting yet it scared me at the same time. My mind ached as I tried to remember what relevance she had in my life. Eventually my head ached so much that I had to close my eyes. My ears rang and it felt as though I was going to throw up. Tears began to fall down my cheeks as pain began to spread throughout my body. It hurt. It hurt a lot.
"Y/N?" I heard a voice call. I shook my head. It hurt to listen. It hurt to see. It hurt to feel.
Someone began to shake my shoulders. I quickly brought my head up as everything seemed to leave my body. It felt as though only a few minutes had passed but due to Natalia being here it was probably a few hours. I felt like an empty shell. Tears continued to fall down my face as my mouth dried and my stomach ached with hunger. Natalia looked at me with a look of concern. Guards stood at the open door.
"Let's get you some food and water." I quickly shook my head. Natalia seemed to shout say something to one of the guards. He left and quickly came back with a wheelchair. They strapped me into the chair and began walking down the hallway.
My tears had stopped and my heart rate had seemed to have slowed down quite a bit. Natalia walked beside me as we walked by multiple other rooms. Other scientists passed by; some looking more frazzled than others. They didn't take much notice to Natalia and I. The guards had stayed by my room. My eyes began to close as I suddenly felt sleepy.
"Don't fall asleep Y/N. If you do you won't be able to eat." I quickly opened my eyes and noticed the other D-class personnel roaming the area as guards tried to wrangle them back up. We entered a set of swinging double doors.
It seemed that this area was a cafeteria. D-class personnel wandered or sat eating. A couple of them looked up while the rest of them continued eating what looked like some actually good food. The cafeteria quickly became quiet enough that you could hear the distinct clicks of Natalia's heels on the floor. My face burned as their eyes burned at the back of my head. I got some food and we walked back out.
"Don't pay attention to them." Natalia started as we left the area, "If you'd like I can get your food and just bring it here." I nodded and began to drink some water. I began to eat a bit of the food that sat on my lap. It tasted pretty well and made my stomach growl a bit too loudly. Natalia chuckled behind me and continued taking me to my room.
We entered my room and she sat me on my bed. She picked up my notebook and put it away as I ate. She seemed to hesitate closing it but just smiled at me and put it on my drawer. She turned to walk away but stopped and turned back around. She fished something out of her pocket and handed it to me. It was a small button with a light above it.
"If you ever need me just push this button and I'll come as quickly as I can." With that she walked away. The door closing with that same 'bang' behind her. I finished my food and set the tray by the door. I took of my boots and laid on the bed. Now that I had food and water in my stomach I could finally fully relax. At least relax as much as possible in such a place.
~~~~~~~~~~
I opened my eyes to someone shaking my shoulders. Natalia smiled down at me.
"Hello." She said in a cheerful voice, "It's time for your lesson." I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
A single table with two chairs sat in the middle of the room. She helped me up and sat me down on one of the chairs. A folder, pencil, recorder, and a blank sheet of paper sat on the table. Natalia sat down on the chair across from me. She took out a sheet of paper and laid it out in front of me. It was Morse code alphabet.
"I need you to copy this down and memorize them. I only have a couple days before you have to go back to 173 and I don't want you to not be able to communicate. At least on a basic level." I nodded and began to copy down the information.
"Natalia?" I looked up from the paper after a little, "How do you know all of these languages?" Natalia just smiled, "It's kind of a must for this job. Since we take in anything and everything from around the world it's necessary that I understand many languages." I nodded my head and continued writing and rewriting the alphabet.
After a couple of minutes Natalia took the paper and began testing me. It took a bit but after a while I could finally recite half of the alphabet. Natalia smiled at me and stood up. She grabbed everything but the pencil and paper. She put down some flash cards on the table.
"Study these. I'll be back tomorrow." She pointed an accusing finger, "You better have the whole alphabet by tomorrow." I nodded my head. A small smile graced my face. Natalia continued to smile and walked out.
"I'm bringing your dinner soon so don't fall asleep." I nodded again and began studying a bit.
Natalia came back with some food and sat it on the table. She stayed and chatted with me for a bit before she said she had to leave. I nodded my head and handed her my empty tray.
"The CEO are thinking of assigning you to other SCPs. Of course you'll be with other D-class personnel but," Natalia looked me straight in the eye, "You need to be careful. We can't afford to lose you." With that she walked out. I sighed and continued to study the flashcards. After a while I finally memorized the whole alphabet. I smiled at my progress and tucked myself in. Maybe I could finally rest peacefully. The bags under my eyes had probably only gotten bigger. I sighed and closed my eyes. Maybe they'd even let me use a bathroom one day.