SCP-6182 — The Dear Repose by dxvi
call me when you try to wake her up
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Special Containment Procedures: As a result of the actions of Dr Richard Barthes in January 2022, SCP-6182 has been provisionally reclassified from Euclid to Neutralized, pending further research. No Special Containment Procedures are necessary at this time. The Neutralized form of SCP-6182 is contained in Document 6182-Final (see below), which is kept in a document storage locker in Site-19.
Since SCP-6182 was discovered in 2013, Foundation disinformation agents have been embedded in several online communities devoted to the 'Mandela effect'.The Mandela effect is a term given in several online communities to a shared false memory, such as the eponymous false memory that anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela died in prison rather than being released in 1994. There is some speculation in these communities that this phenomenon represents memories of alternate realities, but in fact alternate realities are responsible for only a small minority of Mandela effect incidents. to protect the Veil.
Description: SCP-6182 is a narrative entity that formerly appeared in a variety of media, including books, plays, poetry, films and songs.
SCP-6182 took the form of two individuals, designated SCP-6182-1 and SCP-6182-2. Descriptions of SCP-6182-1 and SCP-6182-2 were consistent between all appearances.
- SCP-6182-1 was an unnamed male in his early thirties, of tall, olive-skinned and muscular appearance, with a short beard and dark hair.
- SCP-6182-2 was an unnamed female in her mid-twenties, of slight stature, with dark hair and fair skin, in a vegetative or comatose state. In all instances, SCP-6182-2 was described as SCP-6182-1's wife.
Appearances of SCP-6182 followed a consistent pattern:
- SCP-6182-1 manifested in a narrative, pushing SCP-6182-2 in a wheelchair or attending to her in a bed, and asked other characters whether they could heal SCP-6182-2's unspecified illness.
- Characters either professed ignorance or incapacity, or attempted to treat SCP-6182-2 but invariably failed.
- After some time (usually a period of weeks), SCP-6182 would disappear from that narrative and reappear in another.
SCP-6182 manifested most often in narratives where doctors and hospitals were prominent.
When SCP-6182 manifested in a narrative, it manifested in all copies of that narrative in existence at the same time: for example, if it appeared in a novel, it would appear in every copy of that novel at once, including the original manuscript..In some cases, derivative works such as adaptations, reviews and fanfiction were also changed. Likewise, when SCP-6182 demanifested, all copies of that narrative were reset to their original state. As a result of this behaviour, SCP-6182 was initially classified as Euclid and presented a substantial threat to the Veil.
However, SCP-6182 also displayed a mild antimemetic effect that partially ameliorated the inherent risks of exposure. When SCP-6182 appeared in a narrative, most observers did not remember that it had once not been there; likewise, when SCP-6182 demanifested, observers typically did not remember it. However, approximately 1 in 25,000 people possess enough innate resistance to antimemetic effects to be able to remember SCP-6182's appearance and/or disappearance. As a result, SCP-6182 is implicated in several instances of the 'Mandela effect' (see Special Containment Procedures, above).
SCP-6182 was first detected by the Foundation by chance after it appeared in a re-run of the American soap opera General Hospital in September 2013. Dr Richard Barthes, a Senior Researcher at Site-19 specialising in narrative and memetic entities, noticed the discrepancy due to his unusually high Cognitive Resistance Value and immediately reported it as a potential anomaly. Several users in the r/MandelaEffect subreddit also noticed the manifestation, but were quickly discredited by Foundation active disinformation efforts. SCP-6182 disappeared from General Hospital in November of the same year, and Dr Barthes was promptly appointed to head a taskforce to research and contain SCP-6182.
An abridged list.The full list, including speculative appearances and a full timeline, is appended to this document as Appendix 6182-06. of confirmed appearances of SCP-6182 since its discovery in General Hospital is as follows:
| Narrative | Date of appearance | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday, by Ian McEwan (novel, published 2005) | December 2014 | Appears in a memory recounted by the protagonist, Henry Perowne, a neurosurgeon. |
| The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat, by Oliver Sacks (non-fiction book, published 1985) | March 2015 | Appears in an anecdote recounted by the author, a neurologist. |
| House, Series 7, Episode 12, 'You Must Remember This' (TV medical drama, first broadcast 14 February 2011) | October 2016 | Forms part of a subplot: SCP-6182 appeared as side characters who were briefly and unsuccessfully treated in the clinic by the protagonist, Dr Gregory House. A minor detail about SCP-6182-1's clothing prompts a revelation that allows Dr House to successfully treat the episode's main patient. |
| The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (young adult novel, published 2012) | September 2017 | Appears as a memory, described by the protagonist Hazel Grace Lancaster to love interest Augustus Waters in a discussion over dinner. Does not appear in the 2015 film adaptation. |
| Frozen (2013 animated film) | February 2018 | Brief appearance as side characters asking the trolls for a magical cure for SCP-6182-2. The trolls were unable to provide the requested cure. |
| The Big Sick (2017 film) | December 2019 | Appear as side characters in the hospital towards the middle of the film. SCP-6182-2 receives unsuccessful treatment from one of the doctors in the film. |
| 'Soon You'll Get Better', Track 12 from Taylor Swift's 2019 album Lover | June 2020 | An extra verse describing a man and his wife who match SCP-6182's description receiving treatment in the same hospital as Swift's mother. Notably, the song is extended by a full minute. Upon manifestation, several reviews of the album also changed slightly, praising the verse containing SCP-6182 as "arresting" and "haunting", and pointing out supposed parallels to Swift's mother's condition. |
Civilian interest in the Mandela effect increased in the late 2010s, raising the risk of exposure of SCP-6182 and prompting Dr Barthes' taskforce to accelerate its containment efforts. However, these efforts were wholly unsuccessful: SCP-6182 disappeared from any narrative into which it was confined, regardless of countermeasures.
In late December 2021, Dr Barthes noticed that in several recent manifestations of SCP-6182, SCP-6182-1 appeared gaunt and exhausted, and was described in several text iterations as "despairing" or "hopeless". Fearing that SCP-6182-1 could die or become permanently incapacitated, Dr Barthes made an urgent reference to the Ethics Committee to expedite research and planning for the containment of SCP-6182.
On 30 December 2021, during a routine meeting, the Ethics Committee agreed as follows:
RESOLVED: No immediate action is to be taken, due to excessive cost to scarce Foundation resources. Current measures to protect the Veil from SCP-6182 remain adequate in conjunction with SCP-6182's antimemetic effect.
NOTED: The apparent decay of the SCP-6182 phenomenon may be beneficial to the overriding mission of the Foundation. Decay of the anomaly may result in the associated narrative phenomenon expiring or becoming contained within a single narrative. Consequently, SCP-6182 is likely to become easier to contain or may self-neutralize, and therefore presents a limited threat to the Veil.
FURTHER NOTED: Dr Barthes has displayed a clear emotional attachment to SCP-6182 and has repeatedly expressed his desire to 'save' SCP-6182-1 and SCP-6182-2. Despite his efforts to present them as novel containment methods, his proposals go well beyond the requisites of containment.
DECLARED: Dr Barthes is reminded that he is under a duty to avoid emotional attachments to anomalies. The purpose of the Foundation is to contain anomalies like SCP-6182, not help them. Dr Barthes is further reminded that the Foundation's protocols exist to protect consensus reality and derogation from those protocols is not permissible except in extreme circumstances, with O5 authorization.
RESOLVED: Dr Barthes is hereby suspended from oversight of SCP-6182 with immediate effect, pending further investigation. Dr Barthes is hereby ordered to cease work on SCP-6182 at once and hand over all relevant research materials to the SCP-6182 taskforce.
Dr Barthes initially complied with his orders and handed over his research materials without incident. However, on 4 January 2022, in serious breach of his orders (and without informing the SCP-6182 taskforce), Dr Barthes wrote a brief narrative in an attempt to 'cure' SCP-6182-2 of her illness. It ran as follows:
Once upon a time, Dr Barthes persuaded the SCP Foundation to set up a small medical facility in Site-19 to try to cure a special young woman of her strange illness. It was equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment and staffed by the best doctors the SCP Foundation could find. With great difficulty, Dr Barthes also secured permission to keep a single pill of SCP-500 in the ward..For the avoidance of doubt, no such facility exists in Site-19 or anywhere else. All extant instances of SCP-500 remain in their can. The SCP Foundation decided that the ward would stay open for as long as it was needed by the special young woman, and Dr Barthes sat down to wait for her for as long as it took.
The End.
Dr Barthes then printed the narrative onto A4 paper and locked it in his desk drawer.
On 11 January 2022, Dr Barthes opened his desk drawer and discovered that SCP-6182 had manifested within the document. Upon reading it, he handed the document over to his former colleagues on SCP-6182 containment, and immediately referred himself to the Tribunal.
Upon review by the team assigned to SCP-6182, SCP-6182 was reclassified as Neutralized, pending further research. Dr Barthes was demoted and given a severe reprimand, and the Tribunal also imposed a lifetime ban on working with anthropomorphic anomalies.
The document written by Dr Barthes and affected by SCP-6182 is designated Document 6182-Final, and is appended below. Material introduced to the document by the final manifestation of SCP-6182 is highlighted in blue.
Once upon a time, Dr Barthes persuaded the SCP Foundation to set up a small medical facility in Site-19 to try to cure a special young woman of her strange illness. It was equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment and staffed by the best doctors the SCP Foundation could find. With great difficulty, Dr Barthes secured permission to keep a single pill of SCP-500 in the ward. The SCP Foundation decided that the ward would stay open for as long as it was needed by the special young woman, and Dr Barthes sat down to wait for her for as long as it took.
Eventually, the man brought his wife to see Dr Barthes. He had heard that the SCP Foundation had medicine no-one else did, and although he was tired from so much looking and so much waiting, he decided to try one last time.
Dr Barthes ran test after test and put her through scan after scan, but nothing made sense. Every doctor the SCP Foundation had assigned to the special young woman's care was baffled, and went away shaking their heads.
So, Dr Barthes went to the box where he kept the single pill of SCP-500. He opened it, shook out a single precious pill, and gave it to her husband. The man took it and turned it over in his hands for a moment. Then he lifted his wife up and gently opened her mouth, as he had done for so many treatments before. Patiently, calmly, he helped his wife to swallow the ruby-red pill. Then he lay her down again, and waited.
Seconds passed, then minutes. Then an hour. Watching the clock anxiously, Dr Barthes reminded the man — and himself — that SCP-500 took time. As the clock ticked towards the two-hour mark, Dr Barthes felt his heart sink: it hadn't worked, it couldn't have worked, and nothing would ever work. The man squeezed his wife's hand in silence, and Dr Barthes looked away in shame.
Then, as if waking from a dream, her eyes opened, and she sat up, and called her husband's name.
And they all lived happily ever after.