I Didn't Forget Pt 8: Theodore North - SCP Foundation

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Present Day

When I get back home from Theo’s church, I find him sitting on the couch, watching TV. “Hey,” he says as I enter the apartment. I glare at him for a moment. He glances at me. “What’s wrong?” he asks.

“What haven’t you been telling me?” I ask.

“What do you mean?”

“About your church, and about my brother. You know things you haven’t been sharing.”

“My Church? What are you talking about?”

“Please don’t play dumb. I’ve been inside your church. I’ve seen all of the weird shit. Knives and bowls—”

“Wait, how did you get inside my church?”

“I picked the lock on a side-door.”

Theo stands. “You broke into my church?”

“That’s not what’s important.”

“I beg to differ! You could’ve gotten yourself arrested!”

“Well, I didn’t, and I saw all the freaky shit inside. I want to know what you’ve been hiding from me. I want to know what’s up with that place, and I want to know everything you do about the people who took my brother.”

He hesitates for a moment. “Jerry, you’re not making sense.”

“Don’t you fucking try to gaslight me!”

“Shhh! Neighbors will hear.”

“This is your last chance, Theo,” I say. “Either you’re on my side, or you’re not. Tell me everything you know about Evan, now.”

“That’s not how things—”

“Either you’re on my side, or you’re not.”

Theo has the nerve to shed a tear. “I… okay, listen, my church is secretive, and, yeah, to an outsider, it’s going to be strange. I’ll admit I’ve lied about it a little, but that’s because we have very strict rules designed to keep us safe from people who aren’t okay with what we believe. If you want, we can talk about what my church really teaches but please, understand, nothing about our faith has anything to do with your brother.”

“Okay. Sure. Now, how about you tell me what the SCP Foundation is?”

Theo’s eyes go wide. “Where did you hear that name?”

“From the microphone I planted on you before you went into church yesterday. You said it was almost certain that they took my brother.”

His face froze in shock. “Jerry, look, this is a misunderstanding.”

“Then explain. Now.”

He hesitated. “If I did that, you’d run off and do something rash.”

“Then you’ve chosen your side. I think there’s someone else who might be able to give me answers.”

“Who?”

I turn and start heading toward the door.

“Jerry, please don’t leave. If you go mentioning the ‘SCP Foundation’ to the wrong person—”

I turn around. “So, you do know who they are?”

His cheeks are wet. “Jerry, I don’t want you to get yourself hurt.”

“Then tell me everything.”

“That won’t solve things the way you think it will.”

I turn back toward the door.

“Wait, who are you going to talk to?”

“Daisy,” I say. I leave the apartment, slamming the door behind me.

10 Months Ago

My eighteenth birthday party was one of the happiest days of my life, even more so than every other day I spent with Theo. Not that he was the only person there. Most of my family was present, along with some of his, and a few friends from school. We did plenty of fun things, but none of them were the true source of my joy. That came from the simple knowledge that I would soon be able to live with him.

Theo had turned eighteen a few months before I had. He’d already moved out on his own, an unusual thing to do at his age, but he needed to get established somewhere before I could move in with him, and we wanted to do that as soon as possible.

As the party was winding down, I brought Theo up to my room, saying I had something to tell him. He sat down on my bed. “What is it?” he asked.

“Okay. First, I want to say that I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this earlier, but it’s something you have to hear before we can live together. You probably won’t believe what I’m going to tell you, and that’s okay. I don’t have any proof, but it’s still an important thing for you to know, and… I guess I’m hoping you’ll be able to help me.”

Theo put his hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay. You can tell me anything.”

I hoped so.

I took a deep breath, and I told him about Evan.

Present Day

The sun is setting when I arrive at Runes & Relics. The store has just closed, but Daisy is still behind the desk, gathering money from the register. I knock. She looks over at me. She closes the register and comes over to let me in. “Jerry,” she asks, “what is it?”

I step inside the store. “I’m sorry, but I have more questions for you.”

“Can they wait? I’m kind of busy closing the store.”

“I’m afraid not. Time is of the essence.” Every second gives Theo and his church more time to cover things up.

“Where’s Theo?”

“He’s no longer joining me on my investigations.”

“What happened?”

“I need to know what he and his church told you.”

“What do you mean?”

“When you confronted them about the book, what did the people from Theo’s church tell you about who they were and why they wanted it? I know they didn’t force you to sell it to them, but there’s no way you sold it just because you were just that gracious. I think they told you something about themselves or the book was that made you decide to give it to them.”

She looks at me for a moment. “Theo said he wanted to be the one to explain everything to you.”

“He lied. He has no intention of telling me anything, ever, so I need to hear it from you.”

She studies me. She locks the front door and takes a few steps toward the center of the room. “They told me it was a book of their scriptures. They said they’re part of a persecuted religion, forced to hide themselves from the world because their faith deals in real magic. They showed me some of that real magic. It was more amazing than anything I’d ever seen, even back at Spirituality Club. They said that if I didn’t give them the book, it would be confiscated and buried by the same people who’ve forced them into hiding.”

“The SCP Foundation?”

“They never gave me any names, but they said these people practically run the world, and that they’ll do anything to hide magic from the people in it.”

“I see.”

“Is that their name? The SCP Foundation?”

“Yes.”

“Where did you learn it?”

“I eavesdropped on Theo.”

“Eavesdropped?”

“That’s not the important part. The important thing is that he’s known who they were the whole time, and he was never going to tell me about them.”

“Why not?”

“He thinks…” I hesitate. “Wait, I never told you about Evan, did I?”

“What about Evan?”

“He’s not dead. These SCP Foundation people kidnapped him. I saw them do it. They tried to erase my memory, but it didn’t work. That’s why I’ve been trying to learn more about what happened to him. I want to find him. I want to save him.”

Daisy stands there stunned for a moment. “Oh my God,” she says. “I… good luck. I’d be happy to help however I could, but I’m not sure there’s much I could do for you.”

“It’s okay. You’ve already done plenty.”

Suddenly, an Uber pulls up to the store. Theo climbs out of it, runs up to the door, and starts knocking furiously.

Daisy looks at me.

“Let him in,” I say.

10 Months Ago

“I know how crazy I must sound right now,” I told Theo. “I know this is all hard to believe, and I’m not asking you to believe me.”

“I do.”

That startled me. “You do?”

“Yes. I believe you. If you say it was too real to be a dream, it was.”

I leaned into his chest. I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him while I cried. “Thank you,” I said.

He hugged me back. “Thank you,” he said, “for trusting me with this.” He squeezed me.

“I’m planning to find him,” I said.

“What?” Theo asked.

“I don’t know how. I don’t know who they were or where they took him, but I think they still have him, and he needs to be saved. I’m going to try to find him.”

“Are… are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, it sounds like these people have a lot of power. Are you sure you won’t just get yourself hurt?”

“Of course not. I understand the kind of power I’m up against, but I have to try. I’m the only one who knows he’s alive. If I don’t save him, no one is ever going to. You don’t have to help me, if you don’t want to take the risk—”

“I’ll be with you,” Theo said. “I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Present Day

Theo bursts into the store. He looks at Daisy while she closes the door behind them. “What did you tell him?” he asks her.

“Everything,” Daisy says.

“I asked you not to.”

“Oh, did you, now?” I ask.

Daisy crosses her arms. “You said you wanted to tell him on your own time. According to him, you’ve decided not to.”

“I…” Theo looks at me. “Look, Jerry, I’m sorry—”

“Finally down to tell me everything now that you no longer have a choice?”

“Look, I understand how you feel.”

“Do you?”

“Yes! I’ve lost people too. I know how mad I’d be if someone kept a secret about my parents from me, but I need you to understand, the idea that the SCP Foundation took your brother is speculation. There are other people it could’ve been. It could’ve been the Global Occult Coalition, or even the Chaos Insurgency. There’s so much you don’t know about the world all of this is happening in—”

“That’s your fault.”

“You’re right. It is. Clearly, I should have told you more. I should’ve brought you to church as soon as we moved in together. We’ll go next week, and we’ll schedule a talk for you to learn everything before then.”

“Why haven’t we already done that?”

“I was hoping the right time would present itself.”

“The right time was back when I told you what happened to Evan.”

Theo hesitates. “I didn’t want to lose you.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“You’ve been dead set on ‘rescuing’ Evan since before you met me—”

“Oh, have I?!” I shout. “Excuse me for feeling strongly about rescuing my kidnapped brother.”

“That’s not what I meant. It’s just that… your determination is part of what I love about you, but in this case, dangerous. The Foundation is really, really powerful.”

“I know.”

“Do you? Inside the veil, can you even comprehend the kind of power they have? The power to keep all magic, ten fields of science, half a dozen religions and three whole countries secret from the entire world? If I’d told you everything from the beginning, can you honestly deny you’d have run up to Site-17 alone and gotten yourself captured?”

My eyes go wide. “What’s Site-17?”

“I… forget it—”

I step closer to him. “What’s Site-17?”

Theo takes a step away from me. “It’s their second-biggest containment site. It’s the one that has the most, well, people. Most of the things they contain are magical objects or monsters. They have hundreds of sites, and, assuming they do have Evan, he could be in any of them, but, technically, Site-17 is the most likely.”

“And, you’ve known that this whole time?”

“Jerry—”

“You’ve known that the entire time we’ve known each other?”

“Jerry, I’m sorry.”

I step closer to him again. “The entire time we’ve known each other, you’ve known the name of the building he’s in, and you never told me?”

“No! I just explained that there’s no guarantee he’s there!”

“But it’s a place worth checking?”

“No! This is exactly what I’m talking about. If you try to ‘check’ whether Evan is in Site-17 you’re going to get fucking killed! Or maybe captured, like he was. Either way, you’ll never see him again, and I’ll never see you.”

“Where is Site-17?”

“I don’t know.”

“Bullshit!”

“I just told you these people can hide the existence of whole countries. Is it really hard to believe they can guard the location of their black site?”

“Okay. Sure. Tell me what you do know. About the Foundation, about Site-17, all of it.”

“And what is it you want to do with that information?”

“Save my brother.”

“Jerry, you still don’t understand—”

“I understand perfectly fucking well! When we first started this, I told you I knew the risks. Do you think I didn’t realize I was risking my life for this? Do you think I didn’t realize they could imprison me like they did him? I knew about those risks, and I chose to take them, because they’re worth it if there’s even the slightest chance of getting Evan back.”

“There isn’t! There is no chance of you rescuing him.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because you’re one person, up against practically the entire world. You can’t fight them, Jerry. There is absolutely nothing you can do to get your brother back. That’s what I should’ve told you at the beginning. Not about Site-17, or even about the Foundation. I should have tried to make you understand that your quest was always hopeless. You need to give up.”

“I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. I remember how I felt right after I lost my parents. It felt like I’d lost everything in the world that mattered. That’s how it always feels after you lose someone, but despite how I felt, my life went on, and now I have new people to live for. You do, too. You’ve built a new life with me. Please don’t throw that away.”

I stare at him for a moment. Even through the cloud of anger, there’s a small part of me that wonders if he’s right, if what I have now should be enough. I can’t give up, though. Not while I know Evan is still out there. I can’t live my life knowing that I’m choosing not to rescue him.

“Tell me about the Serpent’s Hand,” I say. “Your priest said they’ve rescued people from the Foundation before.”

“When?”

“I planted a microphone, remember?”

“Right. Okay. So, the Foundation controls the world. The Serpent’s Hand, I don’t think you can call them a resistance group, because they don’t have anywhere near the resources they’d need to dislodge the Foundation from power, but, very rarely, they try to rescue people from containment. They usually fail. They just get themselves captured or killed. Even if you could find them, even if you could talk them into trying to rescue your brother, you wouldn’t get him back. All you’d do is give the Foundation a few extra ‘anomalies’ to contain.”

“So, this entire time, you’ve known who took my brother, where he probably is, and about an organization dedicated to rescuing people from them?”

“Jer…”

“And you didn’t feel the need to tell me any of that?”

“I didn’t want to lose you.”

“Well, you have.”

His eyes go wide. “No…”

“You’re right. It is just me, against the Foundation.” I clench my fist. “I was hoping it could be the two of us, but you’ve made your choice.”

“No, Jerry, please—”

“I’ll stop by the apartment to collect my things, then I’m going to my parents’.”

“No!” He grabs my shoulders. “Please. I’m sorry. I’ll take you to the Serpent’s Hand.”

I meet his gaze. “How do I get to them?”

“There’s an Alleyway on Princeton Road, between Sunken City Games & Comics and the Starbucks. Walk up to it, knock on the red brick five times, and yodel.”

“You’re fucking with me.”

“No. I’m not. If you do that, you’ll open a Way into the Wanderer’s Library. Just tell people there that you’re looking for the Serpent’s Hand. There’ll be someone there who can lead you to them.”

“Okay,” I say. I take a deep breath. “Thank you.” His eyes light up with hope. “But that’s still too little, too late. We’re over.”

“Please,” he sobs. “Please, there has to be something I can do to make it up to you.”

“Do you have a time machine?”

“What?”

“Because of all these secrets you’ve kept, I’ve spent months searching fruitlessly while you knew exactly where my brother was. Those months are time I could’ve spent with my brother once I rescued him. Can you give me that time back?”

“Of course not.”

“Then there’s nothing you can do.”

At that, Theo falls to the floor, crying. I leave him like that, get back in the car, and start driving back to the apartment. I’m hoping I can beat him there, so I don’t have to see him again while I’m packing.

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