The SCP Experience - The Anomalous Lake and the End of the World | SCP-1464

Episode Date: April 18, 2022

SCP Foundation SAFE class object, SCP-1464: The Anomalous Lake and the End of the World  This story was derived from https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1464, and is released under Creative Commons Sharealike 3.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Author: Matt Doggett Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/MatthewDoggettAuthor/ Website/Newsletter sign up: matthewdoggettauthor.com DISCLAIMER: This episode contains explicit content. Parental guidance is advised for children under the age of 18. Listen at your own discretion. #drscp #scp #scpfoundation #doctorscp #scpencounters #securecontainprotect #scpstories #scpexplained #whatisscp Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You didn't kill anyone, Mr. Sims, I say to the man. He sits across from me at the table, shaking his head. His long, stringy hair sticks to his sweaty skin in places, while the rest of it waves like curtains in a breeze. You don't know me. You don't know. You weren't there. He says. I killed that woman. I killed her because I didn't have a choice. Don't you understand?

But it didn't work. It didn't work. He's hunched over the metal table, his aquiline nose jutting out over his spotty mustache. Two or three days' growth of facial hair sticks out from his pale, oily cheeks like weeds on a poorly tended lawn. He's a small man, and I can't imagine him overpowering anyone, much less a full-grown woman. But that's not why I don't believe him, not even close. Mr. Sims, how did you get to that lake? Can you tell me that much? He looks up at me

But without straightening his back He just tilts his head So he can look into my eyes It makes him look even smaller than he actually is I'm trying to tell you I've committed a murder And you're asking me about the lake What the hell kind of outfit is this?

I want you to walk me through it I say Willing to play along for a bit I want you to tell me how you got to the lake. Did you drive? If so, where did you park? Was the woman already there? Or did you have to drag her through the woods to get to the lake? None of the above, man. How about that? Sim says, I can't believe you're the one I'm talking to. I can't believe you're the one. It doesn't make sense. I could get one of my colleagues in here if you prefer. Would you be willing to talk to them?

No. You're the one here. You're the one I'm talking to. Fine. So tell me how you got to the lake. I killed her, man. Sim says, shaking his head again and picking out a cuticle on his left index finger. I came up behind her and hit her with the rock. She fell into the water.

She wasn't knocked out, though. She started splashing around and screaming. I had to jump on her and hit her again with the rock. But then it slipped out of my hand. It got wet. So then I had to hold her under. It wasn't supposed to happen like that. It didn't work.

What didn't work? Did you kill her or not? You're not the one, Sims says. I stand up from the table and step toward the door. Sims, small eyes, follow me. I knock on the door to be let out. Where are you going? He says with alarm in his voice.

I'm just stepping out for a minute. I tell him. Do you need anything? coffee, soda, water? No, Sim says, going back to picking at his cuticle. The door opens, and fellow foundation agent Tim Sykes is there. I step out and close the door behind me. Sykes has been observing the whole thing,

thanks to a couple of cameras and microphones in the room. Any word on how he got past our security? I ask him. Sykes shakes his head. No. The guys have reviewed all the footage, but they're not seeing anything. Do we have a blind spot I'm not aware of?

I mean, it's a lot of forest to cover, but we have all main entrances covered with cameras, motion sensors, or security officers. I guess it's possible there's a hole in the security, but it would have to be a small one, and it would mean he walked for miles through the woods and just happened to go through the blind spot. How likely is that?

Not likely, I say. unless he knew where to walk. Yeah, that's possible. But to what end? We know this SCB is safe. Whatever visions these people experience, they're not real. We don't know anything, and remind Sykes. We think it's safe.

It's rated as safe. But that doesn't mean it can't suddenly turn dangerous. Besides, they're pretty real for the people who experience the visions. Sykes nods, But we're both silent for several long moments, thinking, I want to cut him loose, Sykes says. Use Class B amnestics on him and send him home. I almost agree with him.

But there's something funny about this one. It doesn't follow the patterns we've recorded for other people affected by the SCP. My gut tells me I need more information before letting this guy loose. No, let me talk to him a little bit more, see what I can figure out. Then we'll cut him loose. Sykes shrugs. Your call. I opened the door and step back into the room.

Sims is just how I left him. He doesn't look up as I come in. What are you going to do? arrest me? He asks. Let's take a ride, I say. We take one of the foundation jeeps out to the lake. It's about eight in the morning. And the woods are alive with birds, squirrels, and chipmunks.

From where we park, it's about a five-minute walk to the pristine lake. It's a beautiful, chilly day in February, the second day of the second month of 2022. Can you show me where you killed her? I ask Sims. He looks at me with tight lips and then looks around at the edges of the lake.

His eyes fix on a place about halfway around and starts walking. I follow. Here, he says, right here. I look down and see muddy footprints and disturbed dirt at the edge of the the lake. I see footprints, but they're all yours, I tell him. So, I'm telling you the truth. I look out across the lake, studying the shimmering surface. I don't see a body floating anywhere.

Bodies generally float, Mr. Sims. You have to make sure they don't come up with rocks or something if you want them to sink. Did you weigh her down with rocks afterward? Sims shakes his head. I wait for him to say something, but he doesn't, so I speak. Back in the interview room, you said, you're not the one. What did you mean by that? I thought you were supposed to be there, he says. But you weren't. That's why it didn't work.

But we still have one more chance. One more chance at what? At stopping the darkness. I'd heard enough from Sims to quell my curiosity. So I had his memory of the whole thing erased with Class B amnestics. We took him to his house, which was several hundred miles away, and left him there, sure that he would wake up without remembering a thing about any of it. Days passed without another incident at the lake.

Twenty days passed, to be precise. But now here I am again, looking at Mr. Sims on a computer screen, while a drone hovers over the lake, its lens fixed on him. He's waving a pistol around in one hand, jumping up and down, and shouting at the drone from the edge of the lake. Sykes stands beside me in my office. He's the one that alerted me about the incident. You ever know Amnestics to not work?

He asks. I just shake my head. He took a shot at one of the security guys, Sykes says. Who? Is he okay? He's fine. But Sim said he won't talk to anyone but you. Me? I ask. He mentioned me by name?

Apparently. Sykes says. He said, anyone who isn't Jason Dunn, I'll shoot on site. How? I didn't even tell him my last name when he was here. Sykes looks at me. You're sure? Of course I'm sure. This is too strange. I knew something was different about this man. What do you want me to do? I can have a team take him out. No, I say. I'll go out there and talk to him. But it's almost sunset. Are you sure that's a good idea? No, but I feel like I have to do it, I tell Sykes, standing up from my chair. Sunset is a few minutes away as I step out from the tree line, about 20 yards from Sims.

I have my hands up as I take slow steps forward. Sims, I'm here. He spins, pointing the gun at me. He looks almost exactly the same as he did 20 days ago. Come here, he says. We don't have much time. Time for what, Sims? Why do you want to talk to me? I told you. You're the one. I didn't believe it at first. But you're the one. You're the reason it didn't work last time.

I'm about 10 yards away now. Sims, it's not real. There's something about this particular lake at sunset and sunrise. It does strange things to you. I work for a foundation that studies these strange things. So please believe me, it's not real. The sky is turning orange and pink over the western horizon. The lake catches this display and reflects it, the colors growing more pronounced as the seconds pass. It is real! Sim shouts, the gun shaking in his hand. You just can't see it! You don't know, only I know.

This is my purpose. Sims! Something glints off the lake, and I turned to look at the reflected sunset. In the lake's reflection, I see the sky crack open. I try to tell myself that it's just a hallucination, but the enormity of it all strips me of any logical thoughts. The sky on the lake shatters pour through, spreading like death across the sky, snuffing out the colorful sunset.

I look up to the sky and see that nothing has changed. It's only the reflection that is playing tricks on me, but somewhere deep inside. There comes a realization made of stone, immovable. and unquestionable. It's not new. In fact, it has been with me for as long as I can remember. I've just never had the right knowledge to see it for what it is. The truth. Sims is right. I turn my head back toward him in time to see him strike a young brunette woman on the back of the head. I don't wonder where she came from. I don't wonder who she is or what she's doing here. These things don't matter.

What matters is that she's supposed to be here, just like Sims and I are supposed to be here. The woman goes to her knees in the shallow water next to the shore. She's wearing jeans and a hiking shirt. She's 20 years old, and she needs to die. She gets up and takes a step forward, away from Sims, deeper into the water. The waves ripple outward, disturbing the apocalyptic sky on the surface of the water. She screams, scrambling away. I run toward her as Sims jumps into the lake behind her.

A glance over my shoulder strikes fear into my heart as I see that the sky is fissuring. The real sky. I turn back around. I'm closing on them. Sims strikes her in the head again with the rock. She falls into the water, struggling to get away. Sims lifts the rock again, but it slips out of his hand. And I catch it before it falls into the lake.

It's slick with blood and water. but I have a good grip on it. The woman turns, crying out for us to stop, begging me to help her. I lunge deeper into the water, bringing the rock down on her face. She stops making noise. Something moves off to the west, and I look up to see a tentacle of smoke-like blackness shooting down from the sky like the plume of a rocket.

It smashes into the trees next to the lake, turning them to ash. The ground shakes with the impact. Sims and I both jump forward at once, grabbing under the woman. I grip her shoulders, pushing her under the water, while Sims grabs her hips. She bucks and fights, but we hold her under until she stops moving. The world goes quiet, as if it's holding its breath. It worked! Sims says, between heavy breaths.

It worked! I stand up, still hip deep in the water, and look west. The brilliance of the sunset is gone now, leaving behind only a deepening blue hue as night engulfs this part of the planet. There are no more cracks, no fissures in the sky. But there's a huge gap in the trees where one of the blacker-than-black tentacles touched down. Some of the ash, if that's really what it is, is still falling to the ground. Foundation personnel are running out of the trees toward us. I see that Sykes is one of them.

I look back at the young woman's body, which is now floating slowly toward the middle of the lake. Sykes stops as he gets within hearing range, bending over to catch his breath. Was it real? I ask him. He looks back at the gap in the trees, then over at me. Realest thing I've ever seen. But the woman, where? I shake my head. She was just there. Sims is sitting on the edge of the lake, his feet in the water, sobbing. I don't know if it's from relief that it's over or sadness at what he's just done. Maybe both. My name is Jason Dunn.

I work for the SCP Foundation. It's the 22nd day of the second month of 2022, and I just helped kill a 22-year-old woman. But I think in doing so, I've saved the lives of nearly 8 billion. others. SCP 1464 is a body of water in an undisclosed location. When viewed under lighting conditions corresponding to dawn or twilight, SCP 1464 is a cognito hazard. Affected subjects experience highly detailed false memories of having participated in ritual

crimes at the site of SCP 1464. All affected subjects express intense remorse and guilt at having participated, regardless of whether this is compatible with their psychological profiles. They described the ritual as having concluded with a victim or victims being submerged within SEP 1464. And they claim that the ritual was necessary in order to prevent what is effectively an XK-class end-of-the-world scenario, and state that the ritual was incorrectly performed and must be repeated. The precise nature of the ritual described by affected subjects varies depending on a

number of parameters. At no time as any subject expressed cognitive dissonance, regardless of how incompatible the described scenario is with reality. Underwater exploration and sonar analysis of SCP 1464 have not revealed any of the submerged objects described by affected subjects. However, in approximately 30% of cases, the scenarios which the rituals are allegedly intended to prevent. Correspond to worst-case extrapolations involving known SCPs. Lazzang sur-gillet, puissance-moyance-moyerned 15 minutes. We'd say that's the hour dojo.

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