The SCP Experience - The Ravening | SCP-8939

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

This story was derived from https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-8939 and is released under Creative Commons Sharealike 3.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Author: Matt Doggett * * * DISCLAIMER: This episode contains explicit content. Parental guidance is advised for children under the age of 18. Listen at your own discretion. #thescpexperience #scp #scpfoundation #scpencounters #securecontainprotect #scpstories Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I turned off Hawthorne Boulevard and hit the brakes. The SUV came to a rocking stop a couple of feet from the chain link gate that blocked the entrance to the abandoned shopping mall. How do we get in? I said, leaning over the steering wheel and looking at the evening sky. We were losing light. I got it, Mitch said from the back seat as he reached into his big bag and retrieved a pair of bolt cutters.

I had been so preoccupied with my own roiling anger and sickening worry that I had barely registered Mitch bringing a large backpack with him. Don, who sat in the front seat, raised his eyebrows at me while Mitch got out of the vehicle and jogged up to the locked chain that held the gate closed. I knew what he was thinking. Button-down Don was a stickler for the rules, and cutting through a chain so we could get into the abandoned mall was breaking the rules. A part of me wanted to grab Don by the collar of his baby blue dress shirt and scream in his face. It's my fucking son!

I was still fuming from the phone call with the police, and I wanted to let that anger out, but I knew Don only wanted to help in his way. So I ignored his raised eyebrows and looked out the windshield, strangling the steering wheel, while Mitch cut through the chain and got the gate open. Once the SUV was through, Mitch got back in, not bothering to close the gate behind us.

I was old enough to remember going to the mall before it closed, so I knew that the nearest pedestrian entrance was around the corner. As I directed the vehicle that way, the mall and the parking garage came into view ahead. I prayed that he'd run away, like the cops seemed to believe, and not that something else, something awful had happened to him. I directed the SUV left, following the road around the side of the shopping mall. The empty parking structure was on our right, little more than a forest of evenly spaced concrete pillars holding up the second floor. In the fading evening sunlight, the shadows looked as dark as midnight.

The stories centering on this mall all came to mind. Urban legends. Everyone who lived around here knew them, especially the teenagers. Maybe Austin decided to come here and see for himself. He was at that age where taking us. stupid risks was more exciting than anything else. Although I didn't believe a word of the ridiculous stories about some dark monster in this mall, I could imagine Austin having fallen and broken a leg. I could picture him on a dirty concrete floor, crying for help, his pain so immense he thought he might pass out. The mental images only served as an accelerant for my anger. Not only anger at Austin, although there was certainly some of that, but anger at myself.

for driving him away, and at the police for not taking my missing person report seriously. As I pulled up next to a pedestrian entrance to the mall, a private security guard came rushing up in his car, the yellow lights on top flashing. I shut the SUV down and got out, moving over to the boarded up doors. Mitch got out as well, but Don stayed where he was, his brows still up and his eyes wide. The security guard came to a stop and lurched out of his car. He wore an ill-fitting uniform over a body that had a two-to-one ratio fat to muscle. What the hell are you all doing? This is private property.

My son might be in there, I called out, trying to pull open one of the doors. It was locked and wouldn't budge. Mitch, a man of average height, but with the kind of rangy, thick muscle that comes from a lifetime of manual labor, headed straight for the security guard. We need to get in there and make sure. There's no one in there, the security guard said, coming out from behind his open door

and hitching his belt up. He was a short guy, and his stomach fat pushed his belt right back down. I spun around and stalked toward him. My son could be hurt in there, damn it. Have you been in there lately? Mitch asked, as the guy stopped by his front bumper. The two of them were about six feet apart.

The guard hesitated. No. When was the last time? Again, the guard hesitated. Listen, I would have seen anyone trying to get in, okay? Mitch took a step toward the guy as I stood nearby with clenched fists. When was the last time you searched the inside of the mall? Not for a while. We're not supposed to go in there. It's a safety thing. Exactly, I shouted.

He could be in there with a broken leg or something. You have to let us check it out. Isn't it possible for someone to sneak past you? Mitch asked him. Maybe not probable, but possible? Listen, guys, I have my orders. You can't go in there. If you don't leave, I'll have to call the police. I was about to open my mouth to beg this man to look the other way

when Mitch flashed towards him and whipped one rock hard fist at the guard's face. The punch produced a whap and knocked the guard's head sideways. He stumbled and collapsed onto the hook. of his car. Mitch darted forward and caught the guy before he slid off to the asphalt. He eased him down while I stared in shock. Don finally got out of the SUV, shouting in a high-pitched wine. What are you doing? That's assault! That's assault! Mitch ignored him, finding some flex cuffs on the guard's belt and using them to secure his hands behind his back. The hit hadn't completely knocked the man out, but he certainly wasn't all there. Don rushed over to me

and grabbed my arm. Cow, this isn't right. Mitch is going to be arrested, and we will too if we don't get ahead of this right now. I simply stared at Mitch, who had a daughter, Austin's age. He got the guard secured and sitting up against the car

before he started going through his pockets. If I was honest with myself, I wasn't all that surprised at Mitch's actions. He had always been one to go a little overboard with things. Most of the time, it made me nervous. At this time, I felt relieved. Ignoring Don, I walked over. We're losing light. Does he have keys?

Got him. Mitch threw the keys to me, and I went about trying to find the right one to unlock one of the three boarded-up doors. Oh, Jesus Christ! Don said, gripping his head and walking in circles. Jesus Christ! I listened to him pace as I tried different keys. But when he spoke again, I froze at his words. I have to call the police.

I turned and stared at him, meeting his gaze. I'm sorry, but I have to. I can't go... Mitch was suddenly there, gripping Don by his neck and shoving him backward until he slammed into the door right next to the one I'd been trying to open. You're not going to do any such thing. You're going to come and search for Austin with us because your friend asked you to.

This is important, and you're not going to fuck it up. Once we're done, you can do whatever you want, but not a minute before. Mitch dug Don's phone out of his pocket with one hand while he spoke. When he was done speaking, he made Don agree with a nod of his head. Then he released him. After looking between my two friends for a long moment, I resumed going through the keys. Soon, I found the right one and unlocked the door.

The security guard was coming back around, so Mitch went and hauled him to his feet. Gripping him by one arm, he guided him to the door. The four of us went inside the Hawthorne Plaza shopping mall to start our search. There's something else here now. Something new. From exclusively on Paramount Plus, it's the series Stephen King calls Scarious Hell. Everything here is impossible, but it's also real. Sci-fi vision comes up the best show streaming right now. We're running out of time and we still don't know the rules.

Don't miss what the movie blog calls something you need to watch. Saving those children is how we all go home. From Binge All Episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus. The entrance we'd chosen led into what had once been a department store. Now, it was nothing more than a huge, empty shell with concrete floors and metal posts. The ceiling was mostly obscured by the half-rotten acoustic tiles that had probably been there since the 80s. With no windows and the doors behind us boarded up, the place quickly became too dark to navigate as the door closed behind us. Pausing a few yards inside, I pulled out my phone to light the way.

As I shined my light around, I could see that the walls had been tagged, and there was some evidence that people had been around. Broken beer bottles and crushed cans littered the floor here and there. Listen, guys, the security guard said. Just let me go, and we can forget all about this. I won't press charges. What's your name? Mitch asked. Roland.

Okay, Roland. We're not going to hurt you. I just want your help navigating this place to see if we can find my buddy's son. That's it. I wouldn't have had to take drastic action if you would agree to do this in the first place. But if you want to fight me the whole way, I'm afraid I'll have to hit you again. What will you do with me afterward? What do you mean?

You think I'm going to kill you or something? Come on, man. Get serious. I'll let you go. You can do what you want then. Fine, Roland said. Let's get this over with. Austin!

I called, swinging my phone around as I started forward, already growing impatient at our slow progress. I saw movement as my flashlight beam passed over something, and I whipped the beam back, illuminating a couple of thick cables hanging down from the ceiling. One of the cables was swinging gently. Must be a breeze or something, I told myself before moving ahead. There was a lot of maul left to search.

hustling ahead of the others, I was the first to reach the non-functioning escalators that had once allowed shoppers to go between the two floors of the department store. I looked toward the second floor, shining the light up the escalator. Austin! The sound of footsteps erupted from the floor above. Certain it was Austin, I darted up the metal stairs, kicking pieces of trash as I went. Don called after me, but I ignored him. Huffing when I reached the second floor, I peered around, looking for any sign of Austin. When I saw no one and nothing but more cables hanging from the ceiling, I called his name again

and again, jogging deeper into the store. As I came out of the store and into the mall on the upper concourse, I approached the overlook carefully because the railings had been removed. Out here, the fading daylight provided some illumination through the mall's skylights, but not much. I scanned the area and called my son's name. Austin! But I saw no one and heard no reply.

The nearby escalators were set at an angle to the store entrance, so I was looking at them from the side. They were dirty and pretty much every inch of them had been tagged, but they were still usable as stairs. I was about to start toward them when I heard a shout from behind me. I spun around at the sound of running footsteps, shining my light into the store, and seeing the security guard running toward me.

screaming as he looked over his shoulder. His screams and the terror, implicit in his body language, put me on edge. I peered behind him to see what he was running from. Roland, running awkwardly with his hands, secured behind his back, turned toward me, still screaming. He squinted at the light I was shining in his face, but he kept running, and he kept screaming. Stop! I shouted, glancing over my shoulder at the railless drop-off down to the concrete below. The guard shifted, angling away for me. but still heading toward the drop-off.

I was no longer trying to see what he was running from. Now, all my attention was on keeping this man from falling to the first floor. Stop! He shouted, shifting to get in front of him. There's a ledge! That seemed to get through to him, and he began to slow, no longer running blindly forward from whatever had scared him so bad. Then something strange happened.

The darkness immediately behind the security guard, the shadow cast by my flashlight, seemed to twitch and surge. Then it was as if the darkness pushed the man. His head whipped back on his thick neck, as if he'd been shoved in the upper back. His legs kept moving in an instinctive effort to keep from falling on his face.

But he was coming too fast to keep his footing and too fast for me to catch him. Worried he would take us both over the ledge, I jumped out of the way at the last moment, turning to see the man finally lose his footing. As he fell, he turned to land on his left shoulder, but he was too close to the edge. He hit the concrete heavily on his shoulder,

and then he slid right over the edge, disappearing from view. A moment later, I heard him hit the floor below with a horrific slap. I stared at the edge for a moment in shock. Then I turned to look into the store I had been in about a minute earlier. The only thing I saw moving

were a couple of heavy black cables, swaying as they dangled from the ceiling. Mitch? I called, heading to my feet. Don? There was no answer. I couldn't even see Mitch's flashlight anymore. The store was completely dark.

Swallowing, I turned my attention to the edge. I carefully stepped over and peered down to see the security guard lying face down in a pool of expanding blood. But there was something strange about that blood. Some of it was smeared, as if the guard had been dragged backward a foot or two. As I stared down, trying to make sense of this, Roland moved. Something was dragging him by the legs. Something I couldn't see, unless I wanted to lean far out over the drop and shine the light under me.

And that was the last thing I wanted to do. The guard shifted again, and I stepped back from the edge, suddenly feeling terrified and very alone. All the urban legends about this place raced through my head like a horror movie on Fast Forward. What had brought us here in the first place? I tried to remember. It was Mitch. Mitch said something about how his daughter, Austin's friend, told him that Austin was thinking about sneaking into the abandoned mall to see what all the fuss was about.

At the time, and in the midst of my panic, I latched onto this possibility, having nothing else to go off of. Now, as I peered out across the fraction of the mall I could see, I hoped with all my heart that Austin hadn't come here. Something was happening in this mall, something horrible. The shift in my priorities nearly gave me whiplash. I wanted to find my two friends and get out of here. Spinning around, I rushed back into the empty department store,

shining my phone flashlight around, barely putting a dent in the darkness. After I'd taken several lunging steps into the store, my light caught on the thick black cables hanging down from the ceiling. Again, they seemed to be swaying in some non-existent breeze. I stopped moving, eyes narrowing. I tried to reconcile what I was seeing with my memory. Hadn't the cables been in a different spot when I'd last seen them? Staying where I was, I kept my light on those dangling cables.

Mitch? The name came out as a harsh whisper. Swallowing, I tried again. Don? With a shaky hand, I took the light off the cables and swept it around again, illuminating more of the space for my new position. I stopped the light on a pile of something on the floor about 50 feet away. A glint of reflection made me realize that there was some liquid around the pile.

It was impossible to tell what it was from this distance. I took a step closer, and as I did, I think my subconscious realized exactly what it was. My stomach contracted and went cold. But I still didn't know, not consciously. So I took a step forward, and the picture became clear. No, I rasped, staring at the bottom half of Don's. body. A nest of ruptured intestines had spilled out and rested amid the pool of blood. Stepping closer out of some misguided instinct to help prompted a cry from the other side of

the store. Don't! It was Mitch. I whipped my light toward him and saw him sprinting at me out of the shadows. Run! Something massive shifted behind him. Something coming down from the threadbare acoustic tile ceiling. In the dim illumination from my phone light, I could make out what looked like the bottom half of a human skull. Only instead of being white, it was a glistening maroon, as though it was still covered in a fine layer of exposed muscle. The enormity of it struck me into a stupor, the mouth, lined with teeth as big as coffee mugs, was a good three feet across. It gaped as more of the thing came down, revealing that it was a massive human skull, complete with nostril slits and eye sockets that weren't quite empty. Strange blue sparks

erupted constantly in those sockets, looking like pupils that stared at both Mitch and me at the same time. The cables nearest me shifted, pulling back up into the ceiling and disappearing. I saw why a moment later, as the skull fully emerged, it must have been nine feet tall. It started to move swiftly toward a sprinting Mitch, closing the distance easily. For a moment, I couldn't see how it was moving. It seemed to be floating. But as it grew closer, I saw that a writhing, whipping, crawling mass of black cables propelled it like an octopus. If an octopus had dozens of tentacles that moved in frantic jerks. As it closed on Mitch, two of these tentacles whipped out and snatched his legs out from under him.

He managed to get his hands down to cushion his fall, but the force was so great that his head hit the concrete anyway. Dazed, Mitch tried weakly to crawl away from the thing, but it wouldn't have mattered even if he'd been all there. The cables were too strong. They whipped Mitch around as the jaw opened wide. His upper body landed inside the creature's mouth an instant before the jaws snapped together and cut him in half with a crunching snap.

A wordless, wretched scream erupted from deep in my lungs, seeming to knock me out of my stupor. I turned and ran. A cable whipped out and hit my right foot, causing me to stumble and drop my phone, but I somehow managed to keep my feet. I sprinted out of the store toward the escalators, navigating by what little light was still coming through the skylights. I sprinted down the escalator without looking back. When I reached at the bottom, I turned and ran back toward the store, only thinking about the security guard when I slipped on his blood, which was smeared across the concrete floor. Going down hard, I bashed my left elbow and

hip into the floor. As I scrambled up, I scanned the gloom for any sign of the man's body, finding none. The only sign he'd ever been here was the blood smeared across the floor. I ran as fast and as hard as I could toward where I knew there was an exit. The same door we had entered. It was on the other side of the store, on the first floor. Salvation waited on the other side of the unlocked, boarded-up door. I ran. Not far into the store, the darkness grew complete.

But I still ran until I crashed into a beam with my right shoulder. The impact spun me around and sent me to my knees. But I got up again. This time, I moved slower. My hands held straight out in front of me to prevent further collisions. Finally, I came to the line of doors and tried to open one. It was locked. So I moved onto the next one and yanked.

It opened, allowing orange sodium light to spill into the store. There were the vehicles. My SUV and the security guard sedan parked right where we'd left them. I took one step out, but then a familiar voice from behind stopped me. Dad? Straightening. I looked over my shoulder. and saw Austin standing just outside the fan of illumination coming through the door.

He wore the same clothes I'd last seen him in, skinny jeans, a baggy black t-shirt, and sneakers. Austin! Overwhelmed with emotion, I let go of the door, turned fully around, and rushed toward him. The door swung shut behind me. And in the last of the light, as I stepped up to my son to pull him into a hug, I saw that his eyes had changed. Deep in the pupils, little blue sparks constantly, erupted. Before I could do anything, Austin's mouth opened, and a thick black cable shot out,

wrapping itself around my back and yanking me forward. I collided with my son, wrapping him in an awkward forced hug. He felt cold and hard, like clay, left out in freezing temperatures. And as I wrapped my arms around his back, I felt dozens of cables jutting from his body. As the thick cable around me constricted, cracking my ribs, I caught a glimpse of that giant skull back in the all-consuming darkness of the store. It was smiling at first, then its mouth opened wide to welcome us. A rise in missing persons' cases was noted in the area, surrounding the abandoned Hawthorne Plaza shopping mall in early to late 2024. Reports of unusual activity at night from civilians also appeared around that time. Further investigations showed that the mall had been the focal

point of various urban legends and online rumors, primarily consisting of a dark and dark and entity residing within the structure. The Foundation became aware of anomalous activity at the location after five people, including a security guard and a miner, went missing in the structure. The SCP Foundation investigation is ongoing.