This Dark Night Separates Us - SCP Foundation

+ Transcription

- stars are faintly flickering

They must know I’m out here. Someone must see me down there.

I cannot die while I’m up here. I’ve given up on that possibility. As long as I’m stuck here, I will live. That much I do know.

I do not know what happens if I ever escape orbit. If I fly off into space, or if I manage to crash back down to earth. Will I be alive? Will I turn to dust? Will I change?

I do not know how long it has been. I’ve given up hoping to see my comrades. Wherever they went, I cannot see.

I do not know where our ship went, whatever is left of it. I can only barely remember what it looked like to begin with. Perhaps it is all gone, maybe it is only gone to me.

What I know is that I’ve seen the world change beneath me. Oceans rise, a thousand storms come and go. The lights I see crop up in the dark have grown in number. I’ve seen the double flash of nuclear tests across the oceans and deserts and tundras of the world. I’ve seen every probe, every station, everything that exited the atmosphere after me. In spite of everything, humanity seems to have grown, life from my eyes has changed. I hope mostly for the better. I dream of the world down there. I know it cannot be perfect, but compared to the cold and empty nightmare I’m in, it seems like a paradise.

What I know is that there is still life down there.

In spite of everything.

There is still life down there.

What I know is that there’s something alive in this suit with me. Pulsating, pulling on every inch of me. Like an array of strings, living and breathing. I’ve fought the string, but I’ve lost every fight.

I’ve faced death many times. Twice during the war, crawling from rubble through the bombings. Once when the being ripped our shuttle apart, when I saw a thousand flashing lights in a single warped face and the screams of unimaginable beasts roared through the nothingness. When I prayed for mercy only for my prayers to be answered. Then again, one hundred times at my own hand, trying and failing to take off or destroy my helmet. Only when it finally shattered did I realize it made no difference. The fleshy strings within me, they give me life. They have made me indestructible.

Whatever this is that crawls in my flesh, it has decided I have a reason to persist. I’ve thought long and hard, as I’ve had nothing else to do. I must be alive for a reason. There must be some purpose for my continued survival. I begged for my life once, and I have been granted it a thousand times over. I’ve pleaded for death a million times, but I’ve only received silence. I may only be a puppet made of flesh, but my mind is preserved for a reason. I have something to give, something to share. Something I must deliver to the life down below. I carry this with me. A certainty growing in my skin. A clarity bubbling in my blood. My life has become something different. A message. A vessel. An answer.

I await my return.