SCP-220: Two's Company

SCP-220: Two's Company SCP-220 lives alone in a condominium building that he believes has other residents. The Foundation has installed a fake bus stop outside. When he wants to leave, he sits on its bench for a while, waits for a bus that never comes, and eventually goes back inside. His telephone connects to a recording service rather than another person. Those arrangements are meant to keep him comfortable without allowing conversation. SCP-220 appears to be one elderly man, but anyone who speaks with him comes away remembering two separate people. Being warned beforehand does not prevent it, and being shown evidence afterward does not correct the memory. During the day, he identifies as Ollie, the name supported by his birth certificate. At night, he becomes Ormond Garibaldi, with different memories and mannerisms. The distinction becomes unclear during a two-hour evening period. The Foundation believes these are two identities expressed by one body, while people who converse with him are certain they have encountered two bodies. Longer contact makes the effect much more disruptive. After five minutes, a person begins losing track of ordinary things such as why they entered a room or what they were discussing. Beyond ten minutes, the duplication spreads to other people, living things, and solid objects. Someone might reach for a real object and then try to use the second one they perceive in empty space. The file describes these changes as irreversible. The Foundation discovers that affected people can also pass the condition along. During an evaluation, an exposed D-class subject begins treating the psychiatrist as both a doctor and a father. Half an hour later, the psychiatrist starts confusing the subject with someone else. Fifteen people are quarantined, and the precautions become much stricter. Recorded observation of SCP-220 is safe as long as it does not become a two-way conversation. That is why the phone lets him leave requests and staff use cameras to monitor his needs. Emotional distress can intensify the effect. When he falls, the person sent to help becomes disoriented, and a second person sent to retrieve her is affected too. Most of his requests are modest. Ormond wants Sherlock Holmes, slippers, coffee, and a chess tournament with the neighbors. Ollie asks for birdwatching equipment, an address book, and contact with family members the records do not show he has. The tournament is politely postponed. A call to his granddaughter cannot be connected. Staff eventually give him a photograph of a researcher's late grandmother to stand in for his wife. The chess set is allowed. During the evening period when his identities overlap, he moves back and forth and plays both sides. It is a quiet ending to an entry built around isolation. He has a home, supplies, and people watching over him, but the Foundation cannot safely give him the company he keeps asking for. Original Entry: https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-220