SCP-014: The Concrete Man

SCP-014: The Concrete Man Robert Chetford was admitted to an asylum in 1915 after saying he had been cursed to live forever and was slowly turning into concrete. When the Foundation becomes involved, he still looks about thirty. He doesn't eat or drink, shows no apparent metabolism, and breathes only to speak. Apart from his eyes and the movements needed for speech, he remains motionless. His muscles haven't apparently wasted away, despite decades without movement. He can converse normally but shows little interest in events since his confinement. His arrangements include a chair, preferably facing a window, and music from no later than 1937. He still looks like an ordinary man. The file doesn't confirm that his body is literally concrete. A researcher suggests that his belief has somehow shaped his physical condition. That's an interpretation within the story, not a demonstrated explanation. There's very little action here, which makes it a different kind of entry to talk about. A lot of stories approach immortality through what a person could accomplish with enough time. More places to visit, more skills to learn, more opportunities to see history unfold. This premise makes you consider what happens when having time doesn't come with the ability or interest to use it that way. That doesn't tell us what Chetford privately feels. The article doesn't give us access to his thoughts, so describing every moment as unbearable suffering would be adding something it hasn't established. The situation leaves that question open. Even the practical details matter. A chair near a window and familiar music tell you how people are expected to share space with him. You can picture that room much more easily than you can explain what's happening inside his body. For a character study, there's room in the difference between the explanation people give and the person they're trying to explain. Someone can be the subject of an extraordinary theory and still be a person you sit down and have a conversation with. The limited information also stops the reader from settling the cause. Was there a curse? Is the researcher's suggestion correct? The account doesn't demonstrate either answer. Sometimes a short piece of fiction works by presenting a situation clearly enough that you can keep thinking about it afterward. You don't need a confrontation or an escape attempt for the circumstances themselves to leave you with questions. Original entry: https://t.co/qaK3Wiez41