Mars ain't the kind of place to be a kid.
SCP-9580
Item #: SCP-9580
Object Class: Zeno
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-9580 cannot be relocated safely and thus remains in place. While it was already fenced in at time of recovery, the fence has been heightened by 6 feet and topped with barbed wire to minimize the likelihood of intrusion and material loss.
Persons exposed to SCP-9580 are unable to demonstrate paranormal phenomena, and thus do not require additional resources.
Description: SCP-9580 is the primary scrap pile at Lehrer Brothers Recycling, a scrapyard in Welcome, MN established in 1992. After the scrap pile's anomaly was discovered in 1993, the facility was purchased from its previous owners and SCP-9580 was contained on-site.
Skin contact with any part of SCP-9580 causes the victim to develop a false memory of visiting the site once in their childhood. Over time, the victim will develop more memories of time spent in SCP-9580 between the ages of 4 and 19; these memories will typically be of time spent alone in SCP-9580, wandering aimlessly through the scrapheap. This is accompanied by the loss of other childhood memories.
The victim will eventually also spontaneously develop scar tissue in various locations, and in some cases, fingers or toes will disappear. Victims attribute the former to scrapes and infections received from SCP-9580's scrap, while the latter is attributed to frostbite.
These effects progress until the victim's only childhood memories are false memories created by SCP-9580.
Case Study: C. Wynn
C. Wynn was exposed to SCP-9580 in 1993, after the establishment of basic surveillance but before the implementation of adequate containment procedures. Wynn presented a rare opportunity to study SCP-9580's progression from start to finish and was thus retained as a test subject.
The following interview excerpts have been chosen to illustrate the progression of Wynn's symptoms.
2 hours, 15 minutes
"I went there once when I was in third grade. I think my dad had something to drop off… I don't remember what, but I got away from him while he was talking to the guy at the counter and started climbing in the scrap heap. I was only there for a minute before my dad ran over and got me. He was so worried."
[Lehrer Brothers only opened up last year.]
"No, it was definitely here. I remember the dinky little office building, and you could see the SuperAmerica down the road. The one my friends and I would get slushies at."
17 days, 5 hours
"I pretty much spent my evenings and weekends at the scrapyard starting from… must've been first grade, 'cause that's when we moved here, up through like seventh grade. I'd just go and mess around in the big pile they had, walking around in it, climbing in it, looking at weird old pieces of metal. Kinda samey, but it was relaxing. My folks probably thought I was off doing drugs."
[Did you ever see any other kids there?]
"Nah, it was just me. Which was perfect for me, 'cause I was already with those kids seven hours a day five days a week, I probably would've lost my mind if I had to spend another minute with them."
2 months, 1 day
"I was skipping school like three days a week to hang out at the scrapyard. I wasn't, like… doing, anything. Just walking around in it. The scraps themselves stopped being interesting by the time I turned eight. It was so fucking boring, I don't know why I didn't get a hobby or something."
[Your parents let you do this?]
"My parents didn't give a shit about me."
[And what makes you say that?]
"I missed so much school I didn't graduate… or, I shouldn't have graduated… and they never said anything about it to me. Presumably the school district would've called them about me missing classes, and being covered in scrapes when I did show up, and they just never said anything about any of it and acted like everything was fine."
[Did you ever tell your parents about the scrapyard?]
"No. And before you ask, I don't know why, either, okay? I was too stupid to do anything except hang out in a scrapyard all day and I guess part of that is being too stupid to even tell my parents I didn't want to do it."
4 months, 15 days
[So, what was it like hanging out in the scrapyard?]
"I dunno. Quiet."
[We're going to need more than that.]
"Quiet as in nobody else was there and nothing happened. If it ever bothered me I would scream a bunch or make some noise with the metal."
[You ever think about leaving and going somewhere else?]
"Of course I thought about it! But I couldn't just… leave, okay?"
[This isn't an interrogation. I just want to understand your thought process.]
"Yeah. Okay. Yes, I wanted to like… be a normal kid, make friends, go to parties, get laid. But all that stuff happens on Earth, and I'm on Mars without a spaceship, is how I thought about it."
[It's definitely rusty enough to be Mars. Why didn't you have a spaceship?]
"There was something wrong with me and I had to be away from everyone else I guess."
8 months, 21 days
"Yeah, we're not doing this. I already told you, I was born, I did fuck all for eighteen years, and then I moved on with my life."
[Your contract states —]
"My job is to help you study anomalies, not to recite the exact same sob story about my fucked up childhood every week."
[If it's the same sob story every time, what's the issue with just stating it for the record?]
"Because I can't keep fucking thinking about this! I didn't get to be a girl, and that's going to be true for the rest of my life, but I'm an adult woman now. I've got another fifty years ahead of me, and I'm not gonna be able to enjoy them if I keep fixating on what I didn't get."
[Fine. I'll tell the project lead that you're out of information to give us.]
"Thanks. I'll let you know if I change my mind, but don't hold your breath."