Parchment Scroll

Item #: SCP-XXXX (Closing Time)

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: At ██:██ on ████████ and █████████, and ██:██ on ███████ and ████████ (45 minutes prior to the scheduled closing time of SCP-XXXX-1), field teams from Site ███ will secure all routes leading to SCP-XXXX-1, redirecting all traffic until SCP-XXXX-1 is confirmed by on-site agents to have been closed and vacated by all staff.

Any civilians still within the confines of SCP-XXXX-1 within five minutes of time first incidence of SCP-XXXX-2 is expected (30 minutes prior to scheduled closure of SCP-XXXX-1) will be assisted by on-site Foundation personnel in locating all items they are seeking as quickly and efficiently as possible. No delays of civilian traffic within SCP-XXXX-1 are to be permitted.

All Foundation personnel not listed within SCP-XXXX-1 payroll and scheduled by ████ █████ local management are to vacate premises prior to first incidence of SCP-XXXX-2, regardless of status of non-staff civilians within the premises.

Due to the memetic nature of the anomalous event, any non-staff personnel or civilians upon first incidence of SCP-XXXX-2 are to be designated Persons of Interest and flagged for future monitoring. Any Foundation personnel so designated are to be subjected to immediate medical retirement in addition to this process, per Drs. ████ and ████████ (see Supplementary Document XXXX-08-A).

████ █████-employed undercover Foundation personnel are to monitor SCP-XXXX-1 daily, monthly, and quarterly financial reports. Any projected shortfalls are to be artificially supplemented by infusion of Foundation discretionary funds to prevent closure of SCP-XXXX-1 by ████ █████ Regional or Corporate management.

████ █████ Corporate financial reports are to be monitored by Site ██ personnel. SCP-XXXX-1 is to be kept in operation by any reasonable means.

Description: SCP-XXXX is the period of time beginning from 30 minutes prior to scheduled daily closing time of SCP-XXXX-1 and continuing until the site has been vacated. The anomaly is, apart from mnemonic effects, confined to the interior of SCP-XXXX-1. Other designations related to SCP-XXXX are as follows:

SCP-XXXX-1-1, previously designated SCP-XXXX, was the ████████ store formerly located in the ██████ neighborhood of ██████, ██. After Incident XXXX-1, identical anomalous activity was reported in the location now designated the current incidence of SCP-XXXX-1, and the site previously believed to be the source of the anomalous activity was redesignated as the first, now inactive, incidence of SCP-XXXX-1
The current incidence of SCP-XXXX-1, to be referred to as SCP-XXXX-1-2 only when comparing to other incidences of SCP-XXXX-1, is the Home Depot located at the intersection of Insterstate ██ and █████████ in the United States city of ██████, ██. Anomalous activity is contained within this location, and is expected to remain so as long as the location remains in business.

SCP-XXXX-2 is a series of announcements made over the store public address system. While anomalous activity occurs regardless of incidences of SCP-XXXX-2 occurring, memetic effects are reportedly amplified by these incidences.

At all times not concurrent with SCP-XXXX, no anomalous behavior is displayed by employees or customers of SCP-XXXX-1, with the exception that anomalous behavior that occurred during prior incidences of SCP-XXXX are not recoverable memories by any means within Foundation's current capabilities. Any customers who were present during a prior incidence of SCP-XXXX will report distaste at the rudeness of other customers, and a severe aversion to being onsite as an incidence of SCP-XXXX approaches, but otherwise have no apparent post-traumatic response to SCP-XXXX-1. Employees will just shrug and express distaste for the "hectic" nature of closing time, claiming to be overburdened by their duties, but with no clear recollection of any anomalous behavior by themselves or customers.

At the beginning of an incidence of SCP-XXXX, the first incidence of SCP-XXXX-2 occurs unless prevented: A seemingly automated announcement over the SCP-XXXX-1 public address system stating, "Attention shoppers. This store will be closing in thirty minutes. Please finish shopping and begin making your way to the front of the store." At this time, regardless of whether SCP-XXXX-2 incidences occur, all customers or off-shift store employees experience an increase in anxiety, relating to a need to finish shopping and leave.

Anyone affected at this time who does not have an itemized list on their person will experience increased anxiety regarding the item or items they are looking for. If they have already picked everything up, they will experience uncertainty whether or not that is the case, and if they have not, they will have difficulty remembering what items remain to be acquired. This difficulty will increase as the incidence of SCP-XXXX continues, amplifying the aforementioned anxiety.

Anyone with an itemized list of items to purchase, if they have acquired all items on their list, will begin making their way towards the front of the store, though they will continue to be emotionally affected by the incidence of SCP-XXXX until they have completed their purchase and left the confines of the building.

Fifteen minutes into the incidence of SCP-XXXX, another incidence of SCP-XXXX-2 will occur, this one stating, "Attention shoppers. This store will close in fifteen minutes. Please collect all of your purchases and proceed to checkout." At this point, if SCP-XXXX-2 has not been prevented, any customers capable of hearing it experience a dramatic increase in anxiety and tension.

At this point, those affected are prone to fits of paranoia and verbal outbursts at sources of frustration - particularly other affected customers. On-the-clock employees begin to show signs of anomalous behavior at this time, spontaneously changing tasks and relocating to other areas of the floor as customers seek them out for assistance. As the incidence of SCP-XXXX continues, customers' ability to locate employees to assist them is noted to decrease rapidly. Any customers who do locate an employee will coincidentally do so at the same time as at least one other customer. At no point will employees be allowed by customers to assist any other customer, ensuring no customer is assisted.

Ten minutes later, another incidence of SCP-XXXX-2 will occur. This one is much more brusque in nature, stating, "Attention shoppers. This store will close in five minutes. Proceed immediately to checkout." At this point, customers will experience a dramatic increase in anxiety, frustration, and paranoia. Customers report being convinced that other customers are trying to prevent them from completing their shopping. It is at this time that anomalous behavior by customers escalates to physical violence. Punching, kicking, and biting are frequently reported. Mobility impaired customers will use mobility aids as weapons at this point, but no other weapons will be deployed.

At the designated closing time of SCP-XXXX-1, the final incidence of SCP-XXXX-2 occurs, regardless of presence or functionality of the public address system. This announcement states, "Attention customers. Closing time. Your time is up. Repeat: Your time is up." At this point, physical altercations begin to escalate. All customers still within the confines of SCP-XXXX-1 will participate in these fights, picking up any item they can conceivably use as a weapon. This includes weapons brought into the store by the customers themselves¹

Customers will abandon all attempts at shopping during this escalation, but any customer who approaches within eight meters of an open register will disengage from any violent activity, take whatever is in their hands to the register, pay for it, and leave, complaining about other customers.

Any customers incapacitated during the escalating violence are quickly processed by affected employees as follows:

1. Items they were previously using as weapons are set aside to be re-shelved.
2. Personal effects of the customer are rapidly searched, unerringly disclosing all legal tender and any alternative means of payment (credit/debit cards, wearable devices with RFID payment apps). These are immediately taken to the nearest register. All legal tender is placed in the cash drawer of the register. Electronic payments are made in the precise available balance remaining in the associated accounts before cards and devices are returned to the customer.
3. Customer is checked for vital signs. If none present, customer is taken to stock area in the back of the store. Due to amnestic effects of SCP-XXXX, Foundation personnel are unable to report on what occurs at this time. (NOTE: ████████ says she's sent three drones into the store, and all of them have been taken out by customers before they could get to the back. Need to talk to R&D about some other way to get remote observation capability of that area. - Dr. █████)
4. If customer is alive but incapacitated, customer is brusquely deposited outside the store exit. Employee doing so will state "Thank you for shopping at Home Depot!" in a falsely cheerful tone before heading back into the store.
5. Customer generally begins recovering within moments of being relocated outside SCP-XXXX-1, returning to their vehicle if applicable and continuing to their planned next destination. At no point will people affected by this anomalous activity make attempts to recover lost funds, regardless of drastic negative consequences of this event. If questioned, customers will angrily deride themselves for not keeping better track of their finances.

Any customers who do not survive the incidence of SCP-XXXX are eventually reported missing, but, apart from Foundation personnel, no known investigative authority has connected disappearances to SCP-XXXX-1 in any way. (Note: We really need to determine what the hell is affecting the police in these cases. Something is protecting this anomaly, and I strongly suspect that the only reason the Foundation is even aware anything anomalous is happening at all is that it benefits [DATA EXPUNGED]! - Dr. ██████)

Addendum: As noted, prior to Incident XXXX-1, anomalous activity was believed to be a function of the prior incidence of SCP-XXXX-1. When that was proven to not be the case, the anomalies were reclassified as shown. It is due to said incident, and the relocation of anomalous behavior to a nearby, but otherwise unconnected retailer, that the containment protocols have shifted to what can be categorized as "appeasement." (See Appendix B: Emergency Meeting Transcript Excerpt)

Incident XXXX-1:
In order to prevent further occurrences of above-reported anomalous behavior, the prior affected retailer was destroyed by Foundation personnel. The building was burned to the ground using materials and techniques consistent with [DATA EXPUNGED], a suspected serial arsonist active in the region at that time. With Foundation influence, the site's zoning was altered to ban future retailers being constructed at that location. Plans were made to monitor the location to ensure that event would not recur. On ██/██/20██, two days after the destruction of the prior incidence of SCP-XXXX-1. Anomaly was reclassified "Neutralized" pending further activity, which recurred at the unaffiliated location now designated SCP-XXXX-1 at that time, necessitating further reclassification.

+ Appendix A: Incident XXXX-1 Dictaphone Recording

The following debriefing took place during routine file update after apparent successful neutralization of SCP-XXXX-1-1.

Dr. █████: Monitoring of former ████████ location designated SCP-XXXX continues. At this time, no anomalous activity has been reported by Foundation personnel monitoring activity around the cleanup of the wreckage of the store. Despite the cleanup crew maintaining regular hours, no unusual emotional states have been reported by crew or visitors during the times anomalous activity occurred prior to the apparently successful cleansing of the site. I'm going to contact ██████ and recommend a commendation to whoever made that call. "Kill it with fire," indeed.
sound of agitated knocking on office door
Dr. █████: Dammit, this better be important, I'm in the middle of a report!
Unknown Voice (muffled): [unintelligible] at the ████████ [unintelligible] happening [unintelligible]
Dr. █████: What? Hang on.
sounds of door being unlocked and opened
Dr. █████: Okay, come in. We'll scrap today's "No Activity Reported" non-report and make it a debrief instead.
Harris: Not sure how helpful I'm going to be, Doc. I'm pretty sure my memory of what happened isn't very reliable. In fact, it's probably nothing. I'm just a bit stressed out - this is a stressful job, you know? It's no big deal. Not even worth complaining about.
Dr. █████: Hm, well, I'll be the judge of that, mister… Harris, was it?
Harris: Okay, if you say so.
Dr. █████: All right, now just a moment ago, you said that the incidents that had been happening at ████████ are happening again, but at the Home Depot you went to this evening?
Harris: Did I say that? I don't know that I'd go that far, Doc. I just had some problems finding what I was looking for, that's all.
Dr. █████: Mister Harris, I need to you tell me exactly what happened while you were there, and spare no details.
Harris: Okay, all right. Well, you know how we've been talking about adding a few things to the break room for poker nights? Well, instead of wasting money getting a flimsy card table or whatever, I could build one. A nice simple job like that would be a great way to relax during downtime, and when it was done, it would be a heck of a lot better than any overpriced crap we could order.
Dr. █████: All right, Mr. Harris. So you went to pick up supplies to build this card table?
Harris: Yeah. So I'm at the place, you know, just getting, like, some wood, and some, uh, thicker wood, and some, like, thin, wide wood for a table top, and some green stuff to cover it…
Dr. █████: Mister Harris, I need you to be very clear with me here. When you say "some wood and some thicker wood" are you referring to different dimensions of wood? Two-by-fours, for example?
Harris: Yeah, like, two-by-fours, and thicker two-by-fours, and stuff.
Dr. █████: Mister Harris, I'm taking a look at your files here, and I don't see anything to indicate any kind of professional experience in construction, or even any idication that you've done so much as a whittling project in your spare time. Your description of the items you set out to acquire is also… unusual.
Harris: What, am I being interrogated here? Or are we just talking?
Dr. █████: Mister Harris, this is a post-incident debriefing related to an active Foundation-monitored anomaly. We are not, as you say, "just talking," nor are you being interrogated. (brief pause, audible exhalation) Let us, for the moment, leave aside the shopping list and move on to what happened while you were picking it up.
Harris: Well, I couldn't find the green stuff to put on the tabletop..
Dr. █████: The felt, yes.
Harris: Yeah, so, it was getting close to closing, and I ran into McBride from Field Team Bravo. We got to talking…
Dr. █████: Good Lord, not shop talk I hope?
Harris: I'm offended, Doc! No! Of course we didn't talk shop out there with the civvies around. We talked about the break room thing. McBride was gonna do the same thing as me, so we decided to just work together on it and just get the hell out of there, because the other customers were being real jerks!
Dr. █████: "Jerks" in what way?
Harris: I mean, you know, just in a general… kind of rude… I don't know. Pushy, like.
Dr. █████: Did any of them strike you?
Harris: (brief pause) What, hit me? Not a chance! I mean, yeah, there was that one kid who blindsided me, but really, he was just lucky is all.
Dr. █████: When was this?
Harris: I dunno, like, ten, fifteen minutes to ███?
Dr. █████: I see. All right, then what happened?
Harris: Well, every time we tried to get to the register and check out, people were blocking the aisles and wouldn't move. McBride kept trying to take the cart away, said I was taking us the wrong way, people were shouting… It was a real hassle, ya know, Doc?
Dr. █████: Mm-hmm. I can imagine. (computer chime) Hmmm… Mister Harris?
Harris: Yeah, Doc?
Dr. █████: I have just a few more questions and we can conclude this interview. Mister Harris, are you aware that at your security check-in on your way back to my office, your personal sidearm was set aside to be checked due to your agitated state?
(agitated breathing, shuffling sounds)
Dr. █████: Security reports that your sidearm has been discharged four times, and recently.
Harris: W-what? No. No, I'd… I'd remember. They've got to have mixed up the serial numbers or something.
Dr. █████: You know perfectly well that that is exceedingly unlikely. Mister Harris?
Harris (agitated): That doesn't mean…
Dr. █████: MISTER HARRIS. Where is Mr. McBride? Did he exit the store with you?

███████ McBride currently listed as MIA, suspected KIA. Benefits package directed to next of kin according to personnel directives. Attempts to locate McBride or his remains will continue at a lower priority.

+ LEVEL 4 OR HIGHER CLEARANCE REQUIRED - Appendix B: Emergency Meeting Transcript Excerpt

On ██/██/20██, containment protocols for SCP-XXXX were updated as noted above. Due to concerns raised by Director █████████ and Doctor █████, and by order of Director █████████, the following excerpt is to be included in the appendices for this anomaly until such time as it is either successfully neutralized or updated containment procedures render these concerns no longer applicable.

[EXCERPT BEGIN]
Director █████████: Okay, okay, now SCP-XXXX… I'm getting pushback from Admin about your proposed containment procedures, Doctor.
Doctor █████: I'd ask what kind of pushback, but I can guess. They don't like that we're bailing out a corporation any time their sales drop?
Director █████████: That's one concern, yes.
Commander ████████: It's not our job to protect corporations from these hazards, Doctor.
Doctor █████: I understand that, but that's not the point of the—
Director █████████: In addition to that, I'm also being taken to task for allowing citizens to enter the affected area during an active event.
Doctor █████: That bothers me too, but if you'll give me a moment, I believe I can explain the logic sufficiently.
Director █████████: Proceed.
Doctor █████: Given that the event takes place from a half hour before closing until everyone leaves, if there are no customers in the store during that time, what do you think will happen?
Director █████████: Ideally, nothing. The store employees will close up shop normally, without an event occurring.
Doctor █████: Yes, and then the next day?
Director █████████: The same, clearly. Doctor, did you forget that the purpose of the Foundation is to contain or prevent these sorts of anomalies, not to enable them?
Commander ████████: No wait, I get where he's going with this. What happens when after a week, or two weeks, nobody comes into the store during the affected time period?
Director █████████: I'm afraid I don't follow. That sounds ideal.
Commander ████████: You never worked in the private sector, have you, Director? No, what happens when people consistently don't show up at the end of the night is that the management will change the store hours. No point in paying employees for a full shift if they're going to get done a half hour sooner. And then, despite our efforts, the whole thing starts up again, only we're caught flat-footed, because it happens a half hour sooner than we expect. Any personnel we have on site get caught up in the event instead of being able to minimize the damage.
Director █████████: Ah, that follows. All right, so what about the financial concern?
Doctor █████: There is a concern of possible escalation. At this time, it's uncertain how far the anomaly might move if it is forced to relocate a second time. Do you recall the situation at the previous center of activity for this anomaly?
Director █████████: It was a ████████, right? Used goods? Mostly clothing, things like that?
Doctor █████: Right. There were some fatalities, especially near the furniture section, but nothing like what we're seeing now.
Director █████████: All the more reason to force another relocation if we can.
Doctor █████: The previous location was a good two miles from the current one. Nearly three. Several other places of business were between the ████████ and the current site, but the anomaly passed them up in favor of a place filled with pieces of lumber, hard steel tools, cutting implements, and so on. When that happened, despite the smaller number of customers in the store at the new site, the number of disappearances - that is to say, fatalities - increased dramatically, due to the sheer variety of items that can be used as effective weapons.
Commander ████████: I'm with the Director on this. None of this sounds like a reason to keep the anomaly in this location.
Doctor █████: Given the fact that the anomaly relocated, and the way in which the Foundation was made aware of the relocation, it is impossible to rule out that both the increase in severity of violence and the first recorded incidence being immediately reported to me were effected deliberately.
Commander ████████: Are you saying that whatever-the-hell is causing this not only became more intense, but that it deliberately let us know as, what, a threat?
Doctor █████: Threat, ransom… If we let that store close or be destroyed, we already know for a fact that the anomaly can continue at another location. Also, less than two blocks from its current location? There's a sporting goods store.
long silence
[EXCERPT END]

Footnotes

1. For this reason, all Foundation personnel must disarm prior to entry of SCP-XXXX-1, regardless of the time remaining before the next incidence of SCP-XXXX.