Mabel Lenora's Guide To Hiding Plurality Through Brain Trauma - SCP Foundation

Mabel Lenora's Guide To Hiding Plurality Through Brain Trauma

Dr. Ezekiah Lenora was proofreading through a stack of addendums that had been submitted by Dr Sage West from Chemistry, when everything went wrong.

It was just after lunch - microwave ramen, which Levi noted with a smirk had been their lunch for the past four days. “Actually,” Ezekiah had replied, lifting their chin. “This time it has some special spicy sauce packet to mix in.”

Levi had raised an eyebrow. “Daring.”

Now they were down in the small room of their office - a single hanging light over a wooden desk, paisley carpeting and file cabinets crowding in behind them. An academic haven of (admittedly claustrophobic) solitude.

Ezekiah chewed their lip, furrowing their brow and shaking a head of auburn hair. “For the love of god… stop keeping your bad puns in the interview logs.” The light above them flickered, and they swore. “State-of-the-art tech for the whole site, and they can’t replace the damn lightbulbs.”

Standing up on their rickety desk chair, they reached up to try and check the bulb- just as a faint shaking began beneath them, compromising Ezekiah’s footing.

And then the ceiling collapsed.

The alarm blared, loud and wailing, and Site 404 Director Emerald Reynolds shouted over the speakers. “Everything is fine. We are experiencing a localised earthquake as a result of testing on Object-”

Mabel Lenora opened her eyes, her chest contracting. She didn’t recognise where she was, other than that her head hurt like a nightmare, and she was covered in ash. Rubbing at her eyes, she felt her temple was wet, and examined her fingers to find them covered in blood. Her mouth tasted like a construction Site, and she coughed, struggling to breathe.

“Ezzy?” Mabel croaked, trying desperately to establish some line of communication inside the headspace. She was met with resounding silence. Ezekiah was cut off from her.

Panic filled her stomach.

This wasn’t her workplace. This wasn’t her disaster. This was someone else’s nightmare, and yet she was taking over their shift.

Standing, she placed her palms on the ground, crawling towards the door. Papers littered the floor, and the carpet was stained grey with plaster chunks. She tried to remember who in the Site she knew - or who even knew she existed at all. What if she was too friendly with the wrong person? What if she acted too formal with the right one? Mabel’s breathing sped up.

Her ankle felt like it had been impaled, and her attempts to stand left her collapsing back to her knees. The shaking had begun to subside, but her heart was still pounding. Fishing through her pocket, she found their phone, struggling to remember Ezekiah’s password and heading to contacts. The battery was almost dead, and the screen looked cracked - or had it always been cracked? When had Mabel last been in front? She checked the date, but the numbers didn’t do anything to her. They just sat there on the screen. Unblinking.

Levi. There. Mabel shakily pressed call, letting it ring the stocky blonde researcher’s line.

It went to voicemail. Howdy-ho! Sorry dude, but I’m busy right now. Drop me a memo and I’ll catch you later, okay? Thanks. Oh yeah, uh, wait for the- Beep.

Mabel opened her mouth, forcing a croaked explanation out. “Levi- It’s Mabel. The collapse- I don’t know where I… Ezzy’s office caved in and- Sorry- I-”

And then she jammed the end call button, feeling helpless and confused. Her phone clattered to the floor.

Maybe there was another system member who could help? Icarus or Ronald, maybe. Mabel closed her eyes, trying to seek out the… glow of one of them. It was like a taste in her mouth, a tint to her eyes, something simply not her. It wasn’t bad. But it wasn’t there. She was alone.

Damn Ezekiah and their refusal to even try at making friends- they were isolating the whole system, not just themselves. Mabel wanted to scream.

Then there were footsteps-

A tall, imposing woman with dark skin and a poufy cloud of hair. Her eyes were sharp and flickering. “Dr. Lenora! Good,” she tapped a com at her ear. “Reynolds! Add Dr. Ezekiah Lenora to the list of people accounted for. Base floor, Central Wing, Sector 1-A.”

Thrusting out a hand, she moved to help Mabel up. “Are you hurt?”

Mabel stared, feeling woozy, and put on edge. “Who are you?” she snapped, then froze, realising her mistake. The woman raised an eyebrow. “Dr. Celeste Novak, Senior Researcher and Head of the Site 404 Chemistry Department. Do you have a concussion?”

Ezekiah had made a chart in one of their journals a while back, with an explanation of the Site hierarchy (contrasted, if Mabel recalled, with the Empire’s hierarchy from Star Wars). She didn’t remember all the details, but Department Head was definitely higher up.

Her gut ached. Had she just outed herself to Ezzy’s boss?

“Maybe,” she mumbled, holding a hand to her head to prove a point. “Also-” she moved her leg out from under her, so Dr. Novak could inspect the swollen flesh. “My ankle-”

Novak winced. “We’ll have Medical take a look. Keep your eyes open.” Mabel did as instructed, too out-of-it to question. Novak produced a small flashlight and shone it in her eyes. She resisted the urge to squint. “No delay in pupil dilation. That’s a good sign. How’s your vision? Any dizziness or nausea?” Her hands were cold as she touched Mabel’s face, scanning for any wounding.

“I-” Mabel’s mouth was clammy. “Kinda. Blurry. Dizzy. I-” she was about to say it was normal for after a sudden switch, then remembered she was supposed to be Ezekiah right now, not herself. Novak nodded. She took off her lab coat, shrugged off the turtleneck sweater underneath, and tossed it to Mabel. Mabel fumbled to catch it, eyes wandering over Novak’s tight muscles and strong shoulders through the tanktop she now wore.

Novak shrugged the lab coat back on, never stopping or losing focus. “Likely a concussion then. Keep your head up and get some pressure on the wound,” she motioned to the sweater. “I’ll get Medical over here soon with some ice and a stretcher. Don’t move for now. Need anything else?”

Mabel wanted to protest, not trusting doctors one bit, and wanting nothing to do with any stretcher. Instead, she just croaked out- “Can you get Levi?”

“Dr. Sam Leviticus?” Novak confirmed, then nodded. “I’ll send for them. Stay here.”

And then she was stalking off, lab coat flapping behind her.

Mabel curled up against the wall, pressing the sweater to her head. Did she have a concussion? She wanted to say no, but she knew it wasn’t completely out of the question. What if the concussion made me confused, and I’m faking this switch? What if I’m faking Ezekiah- or is Ezekiah faking being me- or-

The idea that she’d faked her system status for seven years as a result of a hypothetical concussion she might have sustained half an hour ago was… unlikely. Mabel begrudgingly admitted that. Dutiful in its job as always, her brain searched for an explanation that made sense, and could result in the same end answer - that she was a liar, and crazy, and hurting someone else.

She tried again to communicate with someone - anyone - in headspace. Now that the brain fog of a switch had begun to recede, it was easier to try and picture the innerworld. But she couldn’t find Ezekiah in the created space.

Finally, footsteps pounded again, sending off a shower of agonised sparks in Mabel’s head, and then there was Levi - short blond hair wild, blue eyes wide, round cheeks flushed and large frame something so whole and sturdy it made Mabel want to weep. She did- tears falling down her cheeks.

“Levi!” Mabel yelled, voice hoarse. Levi’s face took on a worried look, like a kicked puppy, as they ran over to Mabel’s side. “Holy shit, Ezzy, are you good? I-” they stopped. “Mabel?”

Mabel nodded, a relieved sigh pushing itself from her lungs at the recognition. “Yeah.”

“Figured. Novak said you didn’t recognise her, and also-” they pointed back at the office door. “You dropped your phone over there. Ezekiah would die before they lost their phone.”

Mabel snorted, then coughed, panic surging back. “I think- I think I outed us to Novak- does she-”

Levi shook their head. “Look. West, Lost, Hemlock and I are still the only people who know. Novak has bigger worries right now- the whole Site is having trouble, and Reynolds is on her tail over coms,” Levi’s lips twisted to a wry smile. “And you know what she’s like.”

Mabel had accidentally met the Site Director once, and the brief exchange had been scarring. The blonde was thin, tightlipped, and looked at you like Ezekiah looked at any document that Security sent them - scanning for errors and judging you ruthlessly.

Levi asked if they could touch her, then brushed Mabel’s hair back inspecting the wound. “Hang on.” A few seconds later, they returned from Ezekiah’s office, holding the brown leather satchel the writer brought to work. Inside was a first aid kit, and two sterilising wipes. “Neat freak,” Mabel judged.

Levi wiped some of the dust from Mabel’s face, causing Mabel to sneeze. “Really? Ezekiah is helping save your life, and you’re calling them a neat freak?”

“You don’t have to live with them in your head. You don’t know what they’re capable of, Levi. They’re one breakdown away from performing a lobotomy on themself and disinfecting their brain.”

“If that worked, it’d be a medical miracle. And in that case, I don’t see the problem,” Levi said good-naturedly. Mabel scowled. “Fuck off.”

“C’mon. Just hang tight until we can get Medical here,” Levi said, squeezing Mabel’s free hand. “Can you talk to anyone right now?”

Mabel knew they meant the headspace, and shook her head in frustration. “No.”

Levi nodded sympathetically. “That’s probably for the best, anyways.” They looked across the hall. “I mean. I’m not exactly thrilled to explain to Ezzy how their office got a free skylight.”

Mabel stilled, eyes blurring, and hands shaking slightly- then slumped, rolling their head back after a long minute. “That’s okay,” Ezekiah said, sighing as they adjusted to being in front. “The lightbulb in there was completely trash, anyway.”

Did you like this? Well then, golly gee, is there more for you!

Dive further into the world of the Twin Sites - Site 403 with Levi and Sycamore's Tale, kick ass with Site Director Emerald Reynolds( by using... Tetris?), or get spooky with Site 404's finest researchers in SCP-7218. Or, just check out my author page! It's right here. And of course - have a lovely day.