Quillweave's Sandbox 1

Item #: XXXX

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX is to be kept in a standard storage locker at Site 23 with clear warnings against usage and to be kept away from any other medical equipment to prevent the possibility of mistaken usage. If SCP-XXXX’s storage locker is at any time found empty a full-scale search of the medical cabinets of all personnel and humanoid SCPs must take place to ensure it is found before usage. It is not currently known whether the effects of SCP-XXXX and diseases caused by it are contagious.

Description: SCP-XXXX appears to be a tube of over-the-counter cream, used to soothe general soreness, aches and discomfort caused by minor ailments. The tube itself is unremarkable in appearance, with white, yellow and blue ‘DOCTOR CURATIVE’S MIRACLE CREAM (™)’ labelling on the tube itself and instructions on the back, but with no other distinctive markers. It should be noted that Doctor Curative as a brand name or the name of a practicing doctor does not and has never existed in known history. The instructions written on the package read as follows:

Are you plagued by earaches, ingrown toenails, sunburns or other painful afflictions the doctors won’t take seriously? Don’t you worry –DOCTOR CURATIVE(™) is here to help! We understand how much these supposedly ‘minor’ ailments hurt, and we’ve got just the thing for you. No matter what your problem, from a simple headache to an itchy rash, smear DOCTOR CURATIVE’S MIRACLE CREAM (™) on the afflicted area, and voila! No more pain! For external use only.

The tube itself holds two anomalous qualities – firstly, it seems to have the ability to detect sufferers of minor ailments, as it will place itself in the bathrooms and bedside tables of persons with such afflictions via seemingly random, instantaneous cases of transportation within five kilometers, ‘hopping’ from place to place. While subjects in experimentation with SCP-XXXX have described a mild compulsion to use it, it appears to be easily redirected and more based in the subject’s discomfort with their affliction and desire for relief rather than any further anomalous properties of SCP-XXXX.

It also appears to hold an endless amount of cream despite the proclaimed amount of 60ml. When squeezed to eject the substance it forms and molds as a typical tube, but when 70% or more of the cream within has been used it will within a 24-hour period regenerate itself, slowly filling once more with the original quantity of cream. It is currently unknown how this process takes place, as SCP-XXXX will not regenerate if the cap is off and other investigative techniques would require destruction of the tube, which it is speculated would destroy the properties of SCP-XXXX.

Contained within the tube is a substance that when tested appears to hold no medicinal ingredients whatsoever, instead consisting entirely of non-medicinal components common to similarly mass-produced over-the-counter creams, including paraffin liquid, glycerin and polysorbate. The substance is off-white, smooth and has a consistency similar to that of butter, with a slight greasiness.

Following instructions on the back of SCP-XXXX’s packaging, the cream is to be applied to any number of minor discomforts including to ingrown toenails, the outer ear for earaches, the temples for headaches, the sites of rashes and ‘other minor ailments’. Within minutes of application the user appears to be free of pain and convinced their condition has been cured, despite all visual and medical signs remaining, and is content with their treatment.

From there on, the affliction that was originally treated will develop at a greatly exaggerated rate, turning from minor health problems to potentially debilitating or even fatal cases of sepsis and cellulitis, severe full-body rashes and other potentially fatal conditions. A full log of known ailments resulting from usage of the cream can be found below. Throughout the progression of their affliction, users of SCP-XXXX will insist they are recovered and may even stubbornly refuse further treatment. At this point victims of SCP-XXXX may need to be forcibly treated to prevent even further progression of the affliction leading to permanent disability or death.

In rare cases, users of SCP-XXXX may develop a sort of addiction to the product, attempting to use it on every minor affliction as unimportant as bug bites in order to imbue their entire bodies with the same sense of painlessness as the originally treated area. At no time are diagnosed hypochondriacs or persons with chronic pain disorders to be exposed to SCP-XXXX.

+ Addendums

Addendum 1: Conditions of patients at ██████ Walk In Clinic and local hospital of ██████, Ontario, Canada according to medical records. [Original users of SCP-XXXX.]

Original Ailment: An elderly male suffering from an ingrown toenail, painful and clearly infected as evidenced by swelling, redness and pus from the site of the embedded nail. The patient was given a round of antibiotics to take before minor surgery to remove the toenail could take place, and at some point in the meantime used SCP-XXXX. His wife claimed that he had found the cream in their bathroom cupboard and used it to try and soothe pain at the site of the injury, though neither of them recalled where it had come from.

Progression: The man was brought to ██████ Hospital by ambulance when they collapsed in class less than nine hours later. A cursory examination made it clear that the infected toe had spread exponentially, resulting in the student entering septic shock despite insistence that he was no longer suffering from any ailment.

Results: Emergency medical intervention via Saline by ICU and antibiotics to fight sepsis saved his life, although the toe had to be amputated as it has progressed further to a gangrenous state. When asked to present the cream used to treat his pain, both the male and his wife were unable to locate it again. The man was quoted as saying; “Damn shame. My foot feels better than it has in years, no matter what the quacks say.”

Original Ailment: A female student of ██████ University was reportedly suffering from a minor earache and used the cream around the temple, jaw and swabbed inside the ear to soothe discomfort.

Progression: Within six hours the student was found collapsed in her dormitory, apparently having been left there to recover when other students suspected she was suffering from a hangover due to vomiting, insistence the blinds be closed and disorientation. She communicated to other students to ‘bring her cream’ when they insisted on calling an ambulance for her before becoming unresponsive again. Upon arrival at ██████ hospital it became clear the minor earache had somehow progressed to bacterial meningitis, discovered through a spinal tap.

Results: By the time treatment began the student was clinically brain-dead, and upon arrival of her family and brief discussion with medical personnel was taken off life support. SCP-XXXX had been placed in the student’s purse, but could not be located.

Original Ailment: A cold-sore on the lower lip, which a teenaged male student reportedly suffered from commonly and had tried multiple creams and treatments to no avail. His mother found the cream in her own cupboard while suffering from eczema, but rather than using it herself gave it to her son to try and soothe his discomfort.

Progression: The student was forcibly brought to the hospital while home 23 hours later after developing a dangerous fever, showing confusion and nausea, falling unconscious on route to ██████ Hospital. When multiple tests for tumours and brain trauma failed to show the cause, it was eventually discovered that the student’s herpes simplex virus had infected the brain and caused encephalitis, leading to severe neurological impairment.

Results: Parents eventually managed to develop a form of crude communication with their now intellectually impaired son and he indicated he would like to have the cream that had ‘fixed his mouth’ in case his coldsores returned. The parents believed there to be a connection and attempted to find and file a lawsuit against the supposed brand, but was unsuccessful.

Final Known Incident: A reported hypochondriac, known to both the local hospital and walk-in-clinics in the area and commonly refused service by general practitioners was found dead in her home, covered in SCP-XXXX that had been used apparently over a period of days, emptying the tube before allowing it to refill. Scrawled on the floor in the same substance were the words ‘HEALTHY NOW’.

It was at this point Foundation personnel were alerted as to goings-on in the city of ██████ and acquired SCP-XXXX as well as all related medical records and reports before administering Class C amnesiacs to all involved.

Addendum 2: Incident within the Foundation. [Most recent usage of SCP-XXXX.]

Incident Overview: An Agent within the facility acquired the cream and gave it to a D-Class personnel with severe hypochondria who had complained of a headache, apparently as a prank or out of annoyance with the D-Class personnel. The D-Class personnel proceeded to use over 50% of the cream on the sites of several perceived ailments, shortly afterwards dying while suffering from Lupus, Fibromyalgia, several forms of cancer, Smallpox – previously believed eradicated from humans – and a disease unrecognized by any known medical definitions. The remains were incinerated, SCP-XXXX was returned to containment and the agent was severely reprimanded.

While this raises some interesting questions as to whether SCP-XXXX acts on imagined illnesses, that doesn’t excuse the severity of this incident. The warnings are everywhere on SCP-XXXX’s storage container – you all know what this stuff can do, and we still don’t know if illnesses it causes are transmittable.

At least the poor bastard died happy. For once, no complaints. - Doctor ████