Dr. Voss groaned as he turned the corner. His hip was aching again. He stopped at the door and nodded to the guard. Then Voss waved a key card over the door lock. The lock flashed green and Voss listened to the loud click of the mechanism. The interview room was much better lit than the outside hall. The walls were eggshell colored and floors were lined with white marbled tile. Moving from the carpet of the hall into the tiled floor, the hum of the reality anchors became much more noticeable all around him.
The man sitting in the center of the room was SCP-343. It had dark brown hair that was greying, light skin, and blue eyes. His beard was very short and neatly kept. Dr. Voss lay his clipboard and pen down on the table between them and sat down.
"My name is Dr. Victor…"
343 leaned in. "Voss. I know."
"This will go much faster if you let me get the preliminary information out of the way. Most of this is for the benefit of the people who listen to the logs later.
343 nodded and leaned back in his seat.
"My name is Dr. Victor Voss. This is my first interview with SCP-343. It is being conducted on July 25th 2008. Subject of the interview is SCP-343."
SCP-343 cocked his head to the side and smirked. "You can just call me god."
"I'm sorry but I can't do that. If you have a real name we can just use that?"
SCP-343 shook his head. "Yahweh. Elohim. Brahma. Allah. Take your pick."
"So it is your contention that you are god with a capital G?"
"That's just the truth. I am that I am."
"So how long did it take to create the universe?"
SCP-343 chuckled. "You've got a rudimentary understanding of physics. You can't measure time before before time exists. Space-time just is."
Dr. Voss shifted in his seat. "What color was Moses's hair?"
"Brown. Then gray."
"How many innocent people have you killed?"
"I don't kill people, Vic."
"Sodom and Gomorrah would indicate otherwise."
"Those are stories written by men, trying to understand the universe. That was a meteor shower, not me."
"But you allowed it to happen."
"I don't allow things to happen. I granted you free will."
"Then why do…"
SCP-343 raised a hand and Voss stopped in place. "Why don't you ask me what you came in here to ask me?"
Dr. Voss's eyes went wide as soon as he could move again. "How did you do that?"
SCP-343 shrugged and rolled his eyes.
Dr. Voss nodded. "What happened to my sister?"
SCP-343 sighed and closed his eyes. "You were 10 years old, she was 8. A minivan stopped by your house. A man asked you if you wanted to go to the park. Your mother was just inside the house but out of sight. You said no. Your sister jumped into the open van. He left."
"And?"
"And you never saw her again. The funeral was closed casket."
"Why did you let it happen?"
SCP-343 was suddenly standing behind Dr. Voss. 343 reached a hand out and placed it on the Doctor's shoulder. "Son. I didn't."
"You did. You could've stopped it from happening. You could've…"
"What about you? Why didn't you stop it?"
"I was 10."
"Events shape people in unexpected ways. Not having a father made you not want to have kids of your own. Your mother's suicide after it happened put you into a system and made you want to fight for those who can't fight for themselves. And your sister made you unafraid to speak up when you knew something bad would happen. When the Scarlet King almost escaped last year, speaking your mind saved the world."
Dr. Voss was shaking as he turned to face SCP-343. "That's a lie."
"It is. But it's a comforting one."
Dr. Voss sneered, pulled a small reality anchor from his coat pocket and placed it on the table. A blue flash bathed the room as a strong vibration shook the table. Voss pulled a shard of dull grey metal from his other pocket and turned to lunge at SCP-343. SCP-343 snapped his fingers and sighed.
Dr. Voss could not see anything except himself. Even though there was no wind his senses told him he was falling. The endless black stretched in all directions. Then he saw it. He was walking backwards from SCP-343's room. He was getting out of his car after arriving at work. He was showering. He was getting up for work. He was sleeping. He was going to sleep.
All of it played in the distance but on a screen so large he couldn't conceive of it. And still he could see it all happening.
After what seemed an eternity, he landed on his childhood front lawn. There she was. His sister. Smiling and laughing. His mom had just went into the house to grab something for them to drink.
A dark grey minivan rolled up, the man inside opened the passenger side door. "Hey, you wanna go to the park?"
Victor Voss shook his head no and watched his sister run out towards the road. For a split second he was paralyzed with fear. Then he surged forward and stood between his sister and the van. She acted like it was a game, trying to get around him. Then Victor felt a pull on the back of his collar and he was dragged up into the van. He kicked. He screamed. His sister froze in place.
The world shifted again. The black void spun around the scene. Everything reversed again. The little girl yelled for her mom. Talked to the police. Attended a funeral. Eventually Dr. Valerie Voss sat at a table with SCP-343 and asked him something she'd wanted to know ever since she was a child. "If you're all powerful, why do you allow bad things to happen?"
SCP-343 sat in silence.
