Spoilers for the end

by DrREDACTED

Published September 18, 2026

12+

In The Department of Unidentified Phenomenon

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UNIDENTIFIED PHENOMENON POST-FIELD REPORT

Department agents Byers, Richard, Samson, Lila.


Phenomenon class - Object

Hazard class - Visual (appears to be present within the text present on the object)

Physical description - Object appears to be a papyrus scroll with writing on the front. Language is not known, as reading the text causes harm to the reader (SEE CASUALTIES BELOW).

Casualties - Agents Byers, Samson.

  • Both agents directly read the text written on the object and immediately exhibited altered behavior. The change in behavior was similar if not identical between the two. The changed behavior included substantially increased apathy, decreased professionalism and seemingly not longer particularly caring about the world around them.

Unofficial Containment/Safety Procedures - Object rolled up to obscure text, then placed in an opaque container. Said container is held within pre-archival visual-hazard containment locker.

END REPORT




Dr. Marylin scans over the report again whilst in the elevator to the 2nd floor of the building to be sure she has the details correct, particularly the causalities report. It's rare for a visual hazard to have such a drastic effect on the human mind, people are typically much more durable than that.

The elevator dings and the doors open, and she steps into the medical floor. Its situated like its own, small little clinic - a small waiting room with a receptionist, doors leading to other rooms with rest beds, medical equipment or the infirmary, and multiple full-time doctors and nurses. She greets the receptionist.

"Hi Roger. Dr. Heron sent for me, where's Agents Byers and Lila currently?" She asks. Rogers nods and taps at his computer.

"Makes sense he'd send for a psychologist, from what I know they're struggling to find anything indicative of injury." He scans over his computer screen. "Alright, looks Byers is in room I-7, and Lila is in I-8. Good luck!"

Marylin takes a hallway leading off to the left, heading towards the patient rooms. After a few moments of walking she realizes she can hear yelling from up ahead. She feels a spike of panic and quickens her steps. She turns into the patient hall, and sees what the commotions about. Doctors and nurses are clustered around a room down the hall. Marylin curse when she realizes its room I-7. She sprints over and grabs a doctor to demand to know whats going on.

"Its Byers." The doctor says. She glances at the room then back at Marylin. "Dr. Sage was giving him an EEG when suddenly his brain activity just... just stopped. There's nothing. Its like his brain just switched off. His automatic functions are fine, his lungs and heart are working, but he's brain dead." The doctor has to run off. Marylins jaw tightens and slips past the alarmed doctors, and stands in front of I-8. The room is creaked open, and another doctor she doesn't recognize is inside, examining Lila, who lays on a bed. Marylin steps in, and both look up at her.

"Dr. Marylin, psychologist." She says to the unrecognized doctor. "I've been assigned to help with Lila and... Byers." She says, a brief pause separating Byers name from the rest of the sentence. Lila watches Marylin, a bored expression on her face.

"I'm not gonna die yet, in case you're wondering." Lila states. She yawns, her attention drifting away from Marylin to nowhere in particular. The doctor takes Marylin to a far corner of the room to speak quietly with her.

"There's no physical abnormalities, at least that we can detect." The doctor says. He glances at Lila briefly then back at Marylin. "Byers went into brain-death a few minutes into EEG so we're nervous that's what caused it, somehow. Otherwise we don't know. I was sent here to keep an eye on Lila, but without know how Byers died then we're basically hoping to get lucky-"

"I can tell you guys how he died." Lila suddenly speaks up.Marylin and the doctor both look at her, look at each other, than look back.

"...how did he die, then?" Marylin asks, as she approaches and sits in a chair besides the bed. "Does it have something to do with the object you two were sent to retrieve?" Lila nods. She holds up her hand for a moment, and examines her fingers.

"Have you ever been reading a book," Lila begins. "Or watching a show, or something, and been so into the story, only for someone to spoiler the ending, the answer to all the secrets, and all the plot twists? It ruins the experience, right? Sure, it might still be enjoyable. But it doesn't feel the same. Its almost... boring. Sure, its fun to look back and see all the details and foreshadowing you missed but... it just isn't the same." Slowly she turns to look at Marylin. "Byers is gone. And I don't mean that figuratively in a 'he's dead but want to avoid saying that,' no I mean he's gone. He didn't die, he left. He decided there wasn't a point to sticking around here anymore so he left. And I... well I don't quite agree, but I get what he means. Because the object.... well to be frank, it spoils the ending. I won't tell you anymore about what that means, because you'll either burn up with curiosity even more than you currently are or, even worse, you'll actually check. Don't read it, there's no point to a story if you just skip to the end."

Slowly, Marylin nods. "Are you going to... 'leave,' as Byers did?" Lila shakes her head. "Well that's good... I can't promise nobodies going to try and read the scroll. I'll tell them what you told me though, if that helps. Would you like me to visit again? It can be nice having someone to talk to."

PHENOMENON B-8O3 REPORT

Phenomenon class - Object

Hazard class - Visual (hazardous recorded information).

Physical Description - Phenomenon B-8O3 appears to be a papyrus scroll with text written on its surface. Viewing this text causes the individual to begin showing signs of mental fatigue, boredom, and burnout, and can result in the individual becoming brain-dead, however it is believed that this brain-death occurs as a result of the individuals own consent, as a result of the other symptoms of the objects hazards. Due to a lack of aging, English text, and the scroll having no abnormal or usual durable (tests have shown it can be damaged like a normal scroll), it is believed that the object is either a translated recreation of an ancient item or a fabrication. The exact nature of the text on the front is unknown, however interviews with Agent Lila Harrison have indicated the text to contain information relating to;

  • The exact nature of reality
  • The existence of the Afterlife(s)
  • The purpose/meaning of life\
  • The existence of God(s) or other deitys.

Other proposals have been that the information present on the objects text is not itself the hazard, but rather visually seeing the text causes information of the above nature, or of the individuals future life and potentially death to be projected into their mind. This has not been proven however, and is suspected to be false.

Official Containment - Phenomenon is to be rolled up and contained within an opaque, cylindrical container. This container is then to be locked and placed in visual hazard storage locker GF-4. As the object cannot be analyzed without risking seeing the text, no testing nor direct analysis of the scroll is the be performed.

Additional notes - No you guys, we aren't testing to see if pictures transmit the hazard, or if copies do. That would risk human death, and what kind of monster would sacrifice human lives just to see the different ways a piece of paper can kill people? - Archival Specialist Sawyer C. Parker.


Comments & reviews · 3
User avatar
Tikaya
Review
Tikaya wrote a review Review · Sep 26

Hia!
With such a name how could I NOT put this on by TBR =D

Oh one of the characters has the last name Lila? I am so here for that!

Hmm it kinda reminds me of Phantasmorga or whatever the game is called. Phasmofobia? (Never played it but I have friends who do and who love to talk to me abt it!)

I find the

appears to be present within the text present on the object
very cumbersome to read. Like, the “text present” causes a lot of confusion for me. It feels there might be a more concise way to describe what is going on here that would also feel more official?

Hmmm if the writing causes harm, I wonder if having a computer AI scan the text and then display it on a screen might circumvent the death by reading thing? Or would the computer break when attempting to scan? Would a picture of the scroll cause the same issues? (I am really into this concept so I’m already theorizing heheh)

I’m also reminded of the series Warehouse 13 where they also keep all such mystical stuff locked up =D

It's rare for a visual hazard to have such a drastic effect on the human mind, people are typically much more durable than that.
I like how you phrased this. Kinda makes me immediately get a grasp on how Dr Marylin ticks!

Ok, embarrassingly it took me until now to realise that the agents are called Richard Byers and Lila Samson (sad, I would have loved a last name Lila). I feel like there might be a way to make this more obvious in the initial report. Like maybe by working with semi colons?

”[…]where's Agents Byers and Lila currently?" She asks.
Since She asks is not a complete sentence, you treat the dialogue as part of the same sentence as She asks. Which means, she is not capitalized. More on that here: topic/44898-punctuation-within-dialogue

looks Byers is in room I-7, and Lila
First of all, is he friends with Lila or why does he not use her last name here? Second, it looks like you missed a “like” in your looks Byers part XD

she realizes she can hear yelling from up ahead. She feels a spike of panic and quickens her steps.
“she realizes she can hear” is like the double filter expression. Both realise and can work against the urgency you want to portray with the sentence. If instead, she opens the door and is greeted by the screams, THEN her quickening her steps works much better. Can and realise create distance to a situation that should be immediate and concerning :3

Hmm if the heart is still pumping oxygen to the brain, then being brain dead cannot really occur right? I am confused on why they think they cannot keep him alive until the brain activity comes back? (I am no doctor but I could summon one? @AlexWrites [Yes Alex, I’m doing the thing and calling you a doctor already =D])

I also feel like since Lila (why does she get first name treatment but her colleague gets last name treatment?!) is talking to them and clearly answering their question, why is no one really talking to her. She even said that she doesn’t intend to die, which makes me think this forced apathy from the scroll had Samson simply give up on life, while Lila is even to apathetic to try that?

Lila, Lila, Lila. As someone who always rereads her favourite books (and even one book where someone told me the ending in full and I still ended up liking) I cannot really relate to this apathy at all. If the book (the life) is good ofc you would endlessly experience it, no? =D

Don't read it, there's no point to a story if you just skip to the end.
That said, I love how she phrases this. It also tells us a lot about HER =D

Aww I like how Dr Marylin offers Lila future sessions! I mean ofc that is her job but I do like that she offers it all the same. It IS good to talk to ppl~

the scroll having no abnormal or usual durable
I feel like something is missing from this description. Usual durable… what?

No you guys, we aren't testing to see if pictures transmit the hazard,
Ahh shivers, because this feels as if the story is speaking to ME !!! AHhhh!!!

Thanks for sharing, that was fun!

This review is brought to you by-
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EDIT: Sorry for summoning Alex. I know that in the end the brain dead person wants to be this way. I'm still curious about the logistics tho!

AlexWrites replied · Sep 26

Well I'm no expert and you severely overestimate my knowledge but I'll still share what I know!
Though closely related, the heart being able to pump blood to the brain doesn't exclusively prevent brain death. The human brain is considered dead when it cannot sustain independent function. A beating heart doesn't mean the brain is not dead- since our heart is myogenic and not neurogenic (heart produces its own nerve signals to operate, free of brain). Similarly, brain can die despite heart pumping. Maybe blood doesn't physically reach upto brain due to 😂occlusion in the way. Or certain toxins in blood hinder brain's ability to use the oxygen in it, or there's little oxygen due to poor lung function! Also, if there's inflammation due to infection or bleeding in the brain, the vessels get occluded inside the brain and can't supply to the brain. There's actually a last ditch safety response the body opts for this- cns ischemic response. Basically it raises the bp drastically to counter the raised intracranial pressure. Sometimes, it works and sometimes it doesn't. So the heart beating and brain living aren't really synonymous, but still somewhat related and of course it depends on the case and how much we know.

Tikaya replied · Sep 28

Yay I learnt something again <3 Thanks Alex~ Oooh I just had the realisation that you might be able to help me with an injury in the sci-fi story (if I ever gain inspiration for it again.)

creeperfeverdreams wrote a review Review · Sep 23

Hello there, human! I'm reviewing using the YWS S'more Method today!

Shalt we commence with the morbid S’more?

Top Graham Cracker - This is about a scroll that contains information about the world, answers to all the questions anybody could ever ask. But seeing it all has not been reassuring for some.

Slightly Burnt Marshmallow - I have no recommendations to make as of right now, but if you would like to edit this, you may.

Chocolate Bar - I like the detail that reading the scroll could make someone turn off their brain, because if they have all the answers, then they might not see the point in being human anymore. The text itself doesn’t seem evil, but its existence is a reminder that maybe it’s best not to know everything, because if we did, then could we handle it?

Closing Graham Cracker - Overall, a rather frightful story. I have enjoyed reading this and I will be certain to check out your other works. The scroll remains hidden and now…

I wish you an amazing day/night! ^v^

User avatar
Aet Lindling
Review
Aet Lindling wrote a review Review · Sep 20

Hi there! I see this is an SCP-inspired piece, nice! I love Sawyer’s initials at the end, how you snuck in a sly little homage to your inspiration for this piece.

I’m going to go through and point out some errors or things I would change, then give my thoughts on the piece overall. (I liked it!)

appears to be present within the text present on the object


It’s clunky and awkward to use “present” twice like that, especially because the second use is extraneous regardless of what came before. Just say “present within the text on the object” or even just “present within the text”.

I’m assuming you were trying to sound extra formal with this description, and you succeeded, but the second use of present doesn’t need to happen.

professionalism and seemingly not longer particularly caring about the world around them.

“not” here should be “no”.

to be sure she has the details correct, particularly the causalities report.

“causalities” should of course be “casualties”. I’m guessing autocorrect was the culprit here.

she steps into the medical floor. Its situated like its own, small little clinic

“into” should be “onto” and the second half should be “It’s situated like its own small little clinic” because that first “it’s” is short for “it is”.

"Hi Roger. Dr. Heron sent for me, where's Agents Byers and Lila currently?" She asks. Rogers nods and taps at his computer.


Is the person named Roger or Rogers? Unless his name is Roger Rogers, this is a minor error.

"Alright, looks Byers is in room I-7

should be “looks like Byers”

and sees what the commotions about.

“commotions” should be “commotion’s” since it’s short for “commotion is”

Marylin curse when she realizes its room I-7.

Should be “curses” and “it’s” (again, short for it is)

demand to know whats going on.

"Its Byers." The doctor says.

For the same reason as above, it should be “what’s” and “It’s” here.

Also, dialogue and dialogue tags are part of the same sentence. As a result, you should have a comma instead of a period and shouldn’t capitalize “the”.

So it would be:

“It’s Byers,” the doctor says.

"Dr. Marylin, psychologist." She says to the unrecognized doctor.


Similarly, this should be “‘Dr. Marylin, psychologist,’ she says to the”

Also, “unrecognized” is a slightly weird word to use here. I understand what you’re going for, but I would try “doctor who she didn’t recognize” or something instead. This is because unrecognized has another meaning, which is “not acknowledged as valuable or valid”.

Marylins jaw tightens and slips past the alarmed doctors

Possessive apostrophe time! This time the apostrophe isn’t short for “is” but it is necessary here. That’s “Marylin’s jaw tightens”.

Also, I don’t think you mean to say that her jaw alone slipped past the alarmed doctors, but rather herself. So it should be “Marylin’s jaw tightens and she slips past”

"I've been assigned to help with Lila and... Byers." She says, a brief pause separating Byers name from the rest of the sentence.


Same thing about period to comma and not capitalizing “she” here. Also, the ellipse does the job for you and that last clause (“a brief pause separating Byers’ name from the rest of the sentence”) is unnecessary. If it weren’t unnecessary though, there would still be a possessive apostrophe missing from “Byers”. Since Byers ends with an S, the apostrophe just goes after the S without an extra S included.

in case you're wondering." Lila states.


I think you get the idea by now, but this should have a comma after “wondering” instead of a period.

at least that we can detect." The doctor says.

Same thing here.

I can't promise nobodies

should be “nobody’s”

Other proposals have been that the information present on the objects text is not itself the hazard,


Possessive apostrophe time! Should be “object’s”

without risking seeing the text,


“without risk of seeing the text” would work better here.

the scroll is the be performed.

Should be “to be performed”.

Alright, so what did I think of the piece overall? Well, as I already mentioned I liked it.

I haven’t read enough SCP or creepypastas to really know if the object here is inspired by anything specific, but I thought it was a great concept either way. I especially found it interesting that it is likely a translated recreation. I liked Lila’s character a lot.

This was a fun piece to read! I hope all my grammatical corrections don’t mislead you, I really did have a good time reading this.

Have a good one yourself!



The ink in which our lives are inscribed is indelible.
— Helena 'HG' Wells, Warehouse 13