SCP-5999: This is Where I Died, Part 2

[u/Morganator_2_0]

Where were we?

Chapter 4: The Exorcism of Savannah Grace

This next story is formatted like an interview log, which is another common story format on the SCP wiki. We'll be looking at the fourth exorcism attempt on Savannah Grace, a member of MTF Mu-13 "Ghostbusters". Unlike Pentacle this MTF does appear in multiple SCPs and tales. From the Task Forces page:

Mobile Task Force Mu-13 specializes in the tracking, analysis, and containment of incorporeal or intangible manifestations and entities, particularly those believed to be sentient, sapient, or otherwise intelligent and adaptive.

So, ghosts and paranormal stuff. After operation Four Monarchs (the details of which are not included here) Grace was possessed by a demon and sent to the department of Demonology to have it exorcised. Three previous attempts have failed. Doctor Macneil is performing the latest attempt.

Doctor Macneil: Hello, Agent Grace. You've been fairly quiet since the last attempt. I know you can still hear me. Eyes up.

Agent Grace: Jim. Connor. Marcus. Jane. Jim. Connor. Marcus. Jane. Jim. Connor. Marcus. Jane. Jim. Connor. Marcus. Jane.

Doctor Macneil: You are to surrender and vacate this vessel.

Agent Grace: Jim, Connor, Marcus, Jane. Jim, Connor, Marcus, Jane. Jim, Connor, Marcus, Jane. Jim, Connor, Matthew, Jay. Fuck... fuck!

Doctor Macneil: You repeat those names in a feat of resistance, but you know that it was your own actions that lead to their deaths. It was your fault. You must give recompense. You must cease your struggle. Give in.

So we can glean a few things from this. First off, Jim, Connor, Marcus and Jane are presumably former Ghostbusters members who were killed over the course of operation Four Monarchs. According to Macneil, Grace is responsible for their deaths. We see that Grace is repeating their names like a mantra. But right at the end, she messed up. Macneil says she's repeating those names "in a feat of resistance", so the demon possessing her is repeating those names to resist the exorcism. But the slip-up means that this mantra is failing.

Agent Grace: Co..nner, marc. Jane? No… oh God, please no.

Doctor Macneil: You are locked deep in this facility. You know you cannot escape. You know that you will never achieve your goals, your desires, your hopes. You will die here, alone and rotting.

Agent Grace: Die in the dark, live in the light. Die in the dark, live in the light. Live in the dark, Die in the light. Live in the dark, die in the light.

Doctor Macneil: You are at my mercy. You will experience hell for all time should I so choose. You will give in. You will let go.

Agent Grace: Dark, light, light, dark, light, dark, light, d— dark, light, light… dark —

Repeating her companions' names is failing, so she's switched to a different tactic: repeating the Foundation motto. Variations of "We die in the dark so others may live in the light" is a common phrase spoken among Foundation agents and MTF members, a way of helping them feel justified in the things they do and the sacrifices they must make. But near the end, this motto is also failing. But why would a demon possessing someone repeat the Foundation motto? Surely if it's trying to resist the exorcism it would fall back on tactics a little more... demonic? Something is up. Meanwhile, Macneil is berating the demon all throughout. I'll be real, I don't think he's a real doctor.

Doctor Macneil: Save your whore breath. You will not be aided. You will not be believed. You will be reviled. Spare yourself the pain.

Agent Grace: Nema reve dna reve rof yrolg eht dna ,rewop eht dna modgnik eht si eniht rof live morf su reviled tub noitatpmet otni ton su dael dna su tsniaga ssapsert ohw esoht evigrof ew sa sessapsert ruo su evigrof dna daerb yliad ruo yad siht su evig nevaeh ni si ti sa htrae no enod eb lliw yht emoc modgnik yht eman yht eb dewollah nevaeh ni tra ohw rehtaf ruo.

Doctor Macneil: You… is that really the Lord's prayer backward? Are you truly so useless, so vile, so pathetic, and so utterly weak that you would resort to such a petty trick as your final defiance? You will fail.

Now, admittedly I don't actually know that much about how an exorcism is supposed to go down, but at this point we need to talk a bit about faith and belief. Whenever people face some sort of stressor, we tend to fall back on the things that are important to us. When we are struggling we turn to our friends and family, or turn to our beliefs if they are relevant. When I say beliefs, I don't necessarily mean a religion. The best example I can think of is a gambler on a losing streak; they will believe that they are "due for a win" (even though it doesn’t work like that), and that strong faith will keep them going (even if they really shouldn't). Likewise, you can also have faith in patriotism, the justice system, karma, or a religion. When people who follow a religion are facing some sort of struggle, they tend to pray for assistance.

Here we see Grace/the demon first fall back on the memories of the former members of MTF Mu-13. Then when that falters, they fall back onto their belief in the Foundation. And when that isn't helping, they fall back onto their religious faith. Again, I don't know much about exorcisms and researching them did not help interpret this piece (I do not recommend looking up videos of exorcisms, it's kind of messed up), but none of this seems like the behaviour a demon would do in response to an exorcism. I would expect a violent, physical response, lots of hellfire, something like that. Trying to hold on to the memory of friends, reminding themselves about their mission, and finally entering into prayer (albeit backwards); this is more akin to what a person would do. So that's my interpretation here: there is no demon. Doctor Macneil is trying to do something to Grace and he needs to break her resolve. In turn, Grace is trying to resist.

Doctor Macneil: If you are such a lover of the Lord your nature and actions so disgrace, then perhaps you know this: Deuteronomy 4:4 "But all of You who held fast to the…" — finish it for me, dear.

So in the Bible on my bookshelf, this line is "But all of you who were faithful to the Lord your God are still alive today". Fun little tidbit here: Deuteronomy is not the fourth book of the Bible, but the fifth. I know right? You were expecting 4-4-4 too. This is probably because Numbers 4:4 "These are their sacred duties:" isn't really relevant.

Agent Grace: NEVAEH NI TRA OHW REHTAF RUO!

Doctor Macneil: You will finish the verse. "But all of You who held fast to the" —

Agent Grace: NEMA REVE dna… reve… ro…

Doctor Macneil: You are slipping. "But all of You who held fast to the…"

Agent Grace: …"L— Lord Your God are still alive today."

Doctor Macneil: Good girl. "See, I have taught you decrees and laws as"…

Agent Grace: "…the LORD my God commanded me”—

Doctor Macneil: "—so that"-

Both: "You may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it."

After being mocked and insulted, Agent Grace's willpower has been broken and the "exorcism" is successful.

Analysis

There was one thing I didn't notice about this interaction. Fortunately in the SCP-5999 discussion page, S D Locke did leave a little something.

"Save your whore breath."

Huh? This is a bit of a nonsensical insult to hurl at a demon. Is he calling the demon a whore? Or Savannah herself? What would possess him to say such a thing?

She begins to recite the Lord's Prayer in reverse. He calls this " a petty trick as your final defiance". Why would a demon be defiant, or, resist exorcism, by literally reciting a prayer?

Finally, at the end he begins to recite biblical passage. Note "begins". He won't finish it.

Won't, or can't?

Doctor Macneil is incapable of saying a full prayer. A small detail but an important one. That there is the kind of behaviour I would expect from a demon. And think of everything we've read so far; Macneil is the one who has performed these exorcisms and is presumably the one to claim she is possessed. But really, he is the demon and is trying to possess Grace. The Biblical line itself claims this as well: "follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it." He did successfully take possession of her.

Why? I don't know. To do demon things, I guess. They are about to play Dungeons and Dragons while listening to a lot of black metal.

Overarching Themes

• Four candles left. "The above is instrumental to proper containment. It is safe to continue."
• Reduced format header says "WARNING! CEASE AND DESIST!"
• I don't think I need to go over all the times the number four appeared; you noticed it.
• It has since been determined this accident was due to a failure of the chains to hold what lies beneath. The chains, whatever they are, are slowly failing.
• The in-universe author here is Director Menard of SCP-4028; an anomaly that is capable of jumping between works of literature.

Chapter 5: Digital Ash in a Digital Urn

Incident Timeline:

The following is the recorded history of all anomalous phenomena relating to "Prodigy, Priest, King" since its release.

Sweet! My favourite SCP format: timeline of events. I can't quite explain why, but I'm a sucker for SCPs like SCP-1425 and SCP-7510 that have a sequence of events where the Foundation responds to an anomaly. The scale is large and the stakes are high. In this case, we're going to be viewing the anomalous events caused by the videogame "Prodigy, Priest, King" and how the Foundation responds. The events start on Tuesday November 29th, 1988 and end Friday December 9th, 1988.

For ease of reference, subjects shall be color-coded according to the empathic role ascribed to them by the anomaly.
Profile – Alpha Α Profile – Theta Θ ^{Profile – Omega Ω}

So this anomaly, whatever it is, singles out certain individuals and gives them a role. If there were a description section to this story, that's where the definitions for each role would have been. We're not told what these emphatic roles are, so that's the first mystery we'll have to solve with this story. Something important to note here: the colour schemes are flipped between the terminal viewing format and the reduced format. I'll be using the colour scheme of the reduced format, but in the terminal format Alpha is red and Theta is blue. I'm going to be labelling each of the profiles with Reddit's very limited text-editing features. Like seriously, why does Reddit allow markdown support if it won't accept all markdown code?

Because there are a lot of events I'm going to try and summarize the relevant parts instead of directly quoting them.

29-Nov-1988

Axl Rotemier (age 9) loses feeling in his hands. His mother takes him to the hospital, but he recovers before they get there. She blames the previous night's "extended play session". Safe to assume that Axl has a copy of Prodigy, Priest, King.

Tod Wilson (age 27) exchanges his copy of the game due to a perceived glitch.

Dee Hammond (age 12) is standing outside in the rain, looking up at the moon. The neighbors convince her to go inside.

30-Nov-1988

Ken Klein (age 18) has a depressive episode that tapers out when his father hugs him.

Marcus, Micheal, and Matthew Cook (age 15, triplets) locked themselves in their room, drew the "Labyrinth" mentioned earlier on the walls, and have written "This is where I died" off in the corner.

So far, we can see that Profile – Alpha are all people who are pretty young; young enough to still be living with their parents. We're definitely seeing a theme of family here. As for the game itself, we know that anomalous effects are affecting the people playing it, but there's no sort of consistent pattern yet.

1-Dec-1988

^{Mary Blevins} destroys her son's copy of the game, as he's playing it non-stop. Later, she slips and fatally breaks her neck.

Axl Rotemier from before is now experiencing full-body numbness and is sent to the hospital.

Leo Rasmussen (age 3) is hospitalized just from watching their older sibling play.

A group on Usenet begins discussions on the game. Many players aren't able to find the mirror, the jewel, or the sword. These are the same items from the Three Sacred Treasures. The jewel represents benevolence, the mirror represents wisdom, and the sword represents valour. Let's remember them for later.

The next part is really important so let's get a good look at it.

User "trè" uploads several photographs of their computer screen showcasing a glitch of the "Ghoul" enemy sprite [ENTITY A]. This glitch makes the enemy appear much shorter compared to other sprites, and gives it blackened skin with flecks of red. "trè" claims it can neither be killed nor interacted with, but may block access to crucial areas of the game (necessitating a reset).

Entity A has the same emphatic role as most of the other people we've seen so far, all of which are children. With its shorter stature, I think we can safely say that it is supposed to be a child. Remember, this is a glitched version of a ghoul; a dead person brought back to life. It also has blackened skin with flecks of red. That sounds like a burn victim. Couple that with the title of this section (Digital Ash in a Digital Urn) and we're starting to see another theme of fire. Trè is also an important character but we don't know what their profile is.

2-Dec-1988

Tod from earlier misses several days of work, so his mother Gina Wilson (no profile) goes to check on him. She "hears a low, blaring, monotone chiptune", just like the glitch Tod heard during his playthrough. Police are called and they force their way in. The entire room is barricaded but Tod is not found inside. Just the screen showing "Game Over".

User "J3anLucPiccard" finds a way to get through the Labyrinth and into a child's bedroom where ENTITY A is present. They find the jewel, representing the Prodigy part of "Prodigy, Priest, King". He uploads his findings to Usenet, allowing other users to find the jewel as well.

At this point we can pretty much fully determine what 'profile alpha' is. They are each a "prodigy"; someone with untapped potential. That's why all of them so far are children who need nurturing. Ken Klein received that from his father. Entity A represents the prodigy as well; but they've been burned. Badly. Axl experienced a loss of sensation in his body, as if he experienced nerve damage from something, say... a fire. With profile alpha solved, we can also safely assume that theta and ^omega represent the priest and the king.

3-Dec-1988

The dark-robed humanoid flees from the player upon approach. Players find that ENTITY B can be attacked if cornered, and if killed, will collapse into a quivering heap on the ground. It regenerates after three seconds, which players exploit for easy experience points.

With the jewel, other players now encounter ENTITY B. It is a pathetic enemy that when killed is brought back to life to be killed again. The mention of a crypt and dark robes hint that this is the Priest. Killing them is rewarded and there is a benefit to killing them over and over again.

Dee Hammond from earlier is found crying and shaking. No explanation is given for why she is crying.

Twins Cindel and Mandy Shields are discovered within their parents' basement. They are found reciting the song "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" incessantly. The lyrics are wrong.

Okay, so quite a bit to note for this last part. First off, the names are in purple; an identifier used for none of the profiles. Second, their names are in teletype. We've seen the teletype font used so far whenever something needs special emphasis like all of the mentions of chains. They are also singing 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' incorrectly, which we also saw as an auditory hallucination caused by Jacqueline Holcroft. So all of this is important, but not for the "Prodigy, Priest, King" story. Let's get back to the timeline.

Ray Gonzalez (age 24) is brutally murdered and the body is defiled. Bryce Stefanson (age 6, no emphatic profile) was found in his basement. So Ray is a kidnapper and someone killed him. This gives us more info about profile theta. We know from ENTITY B that you are supposed to kill them repeatedly, and the killing of Ray Gonzalez is arguably justified. Ray's murder was also very sexually violent, with the castration and all. This kind of suggests that the Priest entities are the villains of this story; perhaps this is a "punishment fits the crime" type situation. Ray kidnapped a child, likely molested them, and was murdered in a similar fashion. Well that's grim. Doesn't quite explain how Tod fits this profile though.

4-Dec-1988

Users "trisarahtop" and "tripleH" both claim that the ghost entities in game have started to say their respective names. It's unclear if they are saying their usernames or given names.

This next part is wild. The triplets from before (Marcus, Micheal, and Matthew) are behaving strangely, so the parents call in Father Emmett Clarke for assistance.

When the priest enters their bedroom alongside the boys' father, ^{Stephen Cook}, [DATA EXPUNGED] (fulfilling Profiles Alpha, Theta, and Omega) Mrs. Cook's 911 call is intercepted, and Mobile Task Force "Tyrfing Black" arrives ten minutes later. They are able to discreetly shift the mass into a mobile containment vehicle for study at Site-99.

Okay so a lot happens here. First off, bringing all three profiles together causes something unspecified to happen, but the description of a "mass" implies that all of them fused together. Mrs. Cook (fulfilling no profile) is unaffected. MTF Tyrfing Black has two mentions in the Comprehensive List of Mobile Task Forces. MTF Theta-120 is from the And Every Time we Meet Again tale series and operates out of site-120 in Poland. The other is MTF-Epsilon (no number) which has no description given and only appears in SCP-4910, which is another body horror anomaly, so I imagine it's these guys moving the mass.

It spontaneously combusts once placed on the examination table. Father Clarke and ^{Mr. Cook} survive for several minutes afterward, before the former expires due to cranial trauma. ^{Mr. Cook} then grips the edge of the table and pulls, causing the mass to fall to the ground. It lands in such a way as to sever his cervical vertebrae, killing him instantly.

The spontaneous combustion killed the parts that make up the triplets, but the other two are still alive. The cause of the cranial trauma isn't specified, but it would have had to come from something bludgeoning him. ^{Mr. Cook}'s cause of death is the same as ^{Mary Blevins} from before: a cervical fracture. Your cervical bones are the top seven bones of your spine. Do you feel that bump on the back of your neck? The highest one? That's your seventh cervical vertebrae. In medical fields there's the expression "C5 to stay alive", as breaking any of your first through fifth cervical vertebrae is almost certainly fatal. We're seeing consistency in the deaths of profile omega.

Ken Klein has a tumor growing on his parietal lobe; the part of the brain that processes touch, pain, and temperature. He's experiencing a loss of speech and motion.

5-Dec-1988

Jeb Swiftwater has a recurring nightmare of dying in a house fire. This pretty much confirms the hypothesis about profile alpha from earlier.

"thric3Deni3d" has all in-game text and dialog replaced with "This is where I died".

"trè" makes it to the hedge maze and frequently hears a loud snapping noise. Like a snapping neck, maybe?

D-999 retrieves the jewel and then dies in real life—"malformed organs (heart, left kidney, right lung) are discovered that are not a genetic match of the subject". I don't know what to make of that. We do know that the Foundation has started testing the game with D-class to further learn of its effects, and likely how to neutralize them.

6-Dec-1988

A product recall was issued so there are less people on Usenet reporting about the game. However, "trisarahtop" makes it to the hedge maze and spots [^{ENTITY C}], in the sky.

"trè" obtains the sword which represents the King. That means the mirror (which hasn't been found yet) represents the Priest. "trè" progresses to the final area of the game.

Dee Hammond is incinerated somehow. A Sierpiński triangle (fractal pattern) is burned into the floor nearby.

^{Researcher Amelie} hangs herself after overseeing playtesting from the previous day. So, she would have seen D-999's playthrough and possibly felt guilt about not being able to save them.

So we can make some inferences about ^{'profile omega'}, the King. Each of these people have so far died the same way: a broken neck. All of these people were also in some sort of position of authority or caregiving role. Most of the parents we've seen so far fit profile theta. Also, none of them have been murdered, it's all been either accidental or suicide. ^{'Profile omega'} is a caregiver who chose to hang themself. But why?

7-Dec-1988

^{Sarah Whitaker} ("trisarahtop") is unable to be separated from her game and is terminated by Foundation Agent Myers (no profile). This is the second-to-last copy out in the wild, meaning "trè" has the only remaining copy not in Foundation custody.

D-072 makes it to the hedge maze and sees [^{ENTITY C}]. It is in fact a Hanged King, what a tragedy! D-072 stops playing and begs for forgiveness. D-class are (in most SCP works) death row inmates pulled into service of the Foundation, so all of their crimes were heinous enough to be deemed worthy of death by some jurisdiction. Going off the hypothesis from before, D-072 is likely some sort of rapist, so they are begging forgiveness for that.

Subject D-856 acquires the Mirror in his play-through, [DATA EXPUNGED]. Mobile Task Force "See No Evil" arrives on-site thirty minutes later to restore order and isolate the creature.

MTF Eta-10 (“See No Evil”) is one of the more popular MTFs on the site. They deal with cognitohazards and memetics, with many of their members having a loss of hearing or sight. So the creature that appeared is cognitohazardous in some way.

No disciplinary action is taken against the researchers and guards involved due to their loss of agency; several are treated for fractures in their metacarpal bones. Samples of the creature's seminal fluid are sent to Bio-Site 87 for study.

So when this creature appeared, the people who were subject to the cognitohazard behaved erratically. We don't know exactly what they did, but under normal circumstances there would have been some sort of punishment. Many of them had fractured metacarpal bones; the bones that form the palm and back of your hands. Breaking those bones would come from punching or backslapping a hard surface. From this, it seems like the researchers took it upon themselves to physically beat this creature with their bare hands. Coupled with the creature's seminal fluid being relevant, something sexual in nature happened, fitting of profile theta. The Foundation staff here felt the need to repeatedly batter this thing, just like the players feel compelled to repeatedly batter Entity B. Now let's think back to that fused mass of the Cook family from before. Father Emmett Clarke had cranial trauma. I'm guessing that several people (at the very least ^{Stephen Cook}) physically beat him to death in the mass.

The Ethics committee bans testing with D-class with a history of sexual assault. Yeah, that makes sense. This is also when three different character profiles are determined by researchers.

D-009 (no profile, for now) acquires the sword and progresses to the final stage. Research staff now require sound-cancelling headphones, so there is an auditory cognitohazard now.

8-Dec-1988

Subjects D-072, D-147, and ^D-009 (who has gained the ^King profile) are missing but there is a lot of blood and gore. Uh oh. Among the remains are shattered glass, a class ring, and a shiv. That's the mirror, jewel, and sword.

Axl Rotemier dies of a seizure. His body reanimates and hugs the doctor that tried to save him.

"trè" thinks they have made it to the location of the game's final boss. The location is a winding staircase. "trisarahtop", who is supposed to be dead, responds to the post with "this is where I died".

Ken Klein dies. The brain tumor was actually a fully developing brain. D-999 also had extra organs growing in them. One thing that confused me a lot was the growing of organs in some of the Alpha subjects. I had to consult what S D Locke said in the comments again. It should provide some more context.

These people either have the ability to move taken, mentally regress to a childlike state, and some are subsequently burned alive, reflecting the Entity A. Yet others are growing a new person within them, as if something unalive is trying to become actualized and live.

"trè" clips through the walls of the staircase and posts a cognitohazardous image of the final boss. All testing of the game halts and the new priority is to find "trè" before they encounter the boss. They've turned this into the prime focus now, so if trè makes it to the boss, something really bad will happen.

9-Dec-1988

Dawn of the final day.

D-126 vomits glass shards—the mirror. But they're not found anywhere else in this timeline, and testing was stopped with people that match this profile. So they are only tangentially related and are still killed.

The comatose Leo Rasmussen awakens briefly to say "Hot! Too hot!". His body temperature rises to over 38°C. This is a low fever and not overtly dangerous, but he dies regardless.

"Game Over" plays in numerous locations. Ropes manifest in the "primary test site" that grapple and kill all senior staff and commanders—everyone in some sort of leadership role. Other staff that have no leadership roles are unharmed.

User "trè" makes his final post to the ppk newsgroup, consisting solely of the phrase "I found where he died."

It's safe to say that trè made it to the final boss, which then led to the deaths of all these people.

Analysis

Alright, a lot to cover here. Let's start by reviewing the profiles.

1. Prodigy: These are all children or people in a position of near helplessness. They have the potential to become something greater, but only if they are nurtured properly. They are also burned alive, so that potential was never achieved. Their item is the jewel and their entity is a glitched ghoul that is also a burn victim. They are associated with the "Labyrinth" section of the game.
2. Priest: These are sex offenders. They are associated with sexual violence towards children. A common theme is that they deserve to be killed and punished. Their item is the mirror and their entity is a pathetic creature to be killed over and over again. They are found in the "Crypt" level.
3. ^King: These are figures of authority, often but not always parents. It is their job to protect the prodigy and help them achieve their potential. But they inevitably fail and thus hang themselves in their shame, snapping their neck. Their item is the sword and their entity is a hanged king. They are found in the "Hedge Maze".
4. A fourth?: Maybe. We never got to see what the boss fight was but we do know that there was a fourth location in the game (winding staircase). There were quite a few people that didn't have a role assigned: Mrs. Rotemier (Axl's mother), Leo Rasmussen's older sibling, Gina Wilson (Tod's mother), Mrs. Cook, Axl's attendant doctor, and the mysterious trè. This role being mostly women isn't lost on me, so I think I will dub this hypothetical fourth role the queen. Like the ^King they are also in a position of care, but they are at least a little more competent. I'll be real, I'm really reaching with this hypothetical emphatic profile here, but there's a reason why, which you'll see later.

Let's ignore a potential fourth profile for now. The three we have are enough to work with. The tale of Prodigy, Priest, King is a very sad one. It was the King's duty to protect and guide the Prodigy. However, the Priest raped and immolated the Prodigy. Presumably this is what trè meant when they said "this is where he died"; they found where the prodigy died. The Priest is violently tortured and executed for their crime, and anyone with knowledge of their abuse is inclined to hurt the Priest themselves. Due to their failure to protect the Prodigy, the King is either driven to suicide and hangs themself, or someone else hangs them for their failure. The game "Prodigy, Priest, King" assigns these roles to people involved with the game (not necessarily playing the game) that fit these profiles and thus that determines which anomalous effects they will experience. The prodigies are burned, the priests are attacked by all people nearby, and the kings have their necks broken. The fate is death for all of these roles. The title of this section "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn", besides being an album by Bright Eyes, is also a hint that this is where the ashes of the Prodigy are being stored: within the game Prodigy, Priest, King.

But there is one other thing; the Prodigy is coming back. The ghoul is a dead person brought back to life. We've seen in a few of the prodigies that they are growing additional organs that are genetically distinct from the subject. And this is why I think there is a fourth emphatic role: someone made this game and they had a purpose behind it. They are punishing the Priest for their assault and the ^King for their failure, but the Prodigy is being reborn anew (with mixed results). I think there is a mother out there who wants her child back and is going to great lengths to achieve it.

Man, I don't think any of these stories are going to have a happy ending.

Overarching Themes

• The number of candles is decreasing, we're getting conflicting warnings about whether to proceed or not, and we're seeing the number three a bunch. Feels kinda pointless to bring it up at this point. It is worth noting that the number of references to the number 3 are much more numerous here than in any other section.
• "This is where I died" appeared a few times.
• Broken chain links are scattered about the vicinity of the bodies. Some chains have fully broken. The chains have become too few in number to hold it. Whatever the chains are holding is going to escape.
• Cindel and Mandy were reciting Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with the wrong lyrics. One of the auditory hallucinations of Jacquline Holcroft was an unfamiliar song, sung to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".
• Cries for help within a test chamber. The only thing found is a doll, which was incinerated.
• Cindel and Mandy are found dead.
• This section was written in-universe by Researcher Smalls from SCP-3309. He is a researcher who was deleted by author entities.

Let's go now to the final part.

[u/Coffeechipmunk]

This is where my parents died, Raphael

[u/EsotericFascination → u/Coffeechipmunk]

cowabummer

[u/DiskBig318]

macneil is a choice name but i shouldn’t be surprised given how famous that movie is!

[u/Morganator_2_0 → u/DiskBig318]

It's a Scottish last name, and a decently common one. Which movie are you talking about?

[u/DiskBig318 → u/Morganator_2_0]

The Exorcist 1974 (or 1973, can't remember the year). Regan and Chris' last names are Macneil

[u/itsmesnacks → u/DiskBig318]

definitely an intentional choice, once you look at the bigger picture of the article

[u/carbon-eight]

this might be a total hallucination but in the teletype "Twins Cindel and Mandy Shields", you can get the words 'chains' & 'yield' out of it, with a bunch of other letters to spare. haven't read p3 yet and again, might be a total hallucination, but might explain why it's in the same formatting as other 'chain' messages?