Jade Hansen scrolled mindlessly through a news article on her laptop, not taking in the content. Candles glowed in the bathroom, giving off calming scents that did little to soothe her mind. She’d had a stressful day at work, and she was trying to ignore that tomorrow wouldn’t be any better. She could leave early, but that just meant she’d be staying even later in the upcoming days. Frustrated, Jade rid herself of the dreary current news and instead looked for some music that could drown out the events replaying in her head. She didn’t know why she was so anxious. It wasn’t the first time someone under Jade’s watch had died.

***

“Woah. So that’s why you needed all that line for a pool. Where am I? Florida? I’ve always wanted to see the east coast.”

“You’re not here for a vacation, 0201. You were the last person to see SCP-1128, which means you’ve been affected by its properties. We don’t understand how this thing works yet. Could you tell me more about your surroundings?” Jade asked firmly. The class-d subject currently communicating through only audio with Jade sounded oddly upbeat about his situation. He must not know what was coming. She had recently been assigned to study the mysterious sea creature known as SCP-1128. Hansen knew very little about it right now, but Jade did know that its effects were primarily based on sight. If you didn’t see it breaching or have a photo of it, you were okay. If you did, you’d want to keep away from the water. As soon as you were under, you weren’t coming back up. That was about as far as anyone’s knowledge went. All water and coastal traffic near its habitat had been silently moved away to keep the population safe and in the dark. What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.

“It’s… just the ocean. Fish, plants, and water are all I’m seeing.”

“Keep going. Tell me if you see anything out of the ordinary.”

“Am I supposed to be looking for something?” They asked. Dr. Hansen didn’t reply, but that was a foreboding statement on its own. “I get the feeling that this place isn’t safe.”

“Which is why I’d like you to quit talking and start moving. You have a better chance if you’re paying attention.” Jade explained, annoyed by the idle chatter. Tests were no place for sympathy, and she didn’t want to get her hopes up about survival. Even if 0201 made it back, he’d be thrown to the wolves as soon as another test subject was needed. The massive aquatic predator would be here long after 0201, and Dr. Hansen reached their ends, so Jade considered it essential to know about its properties. There was a long silence from the other side, broken by occasional sounds of white noise picked up on either side.

“Oh, that’s weird.”

Those words immediately piqued Dr. Hansen’s interest. She quickly asked, “What did you find?” She picked up a pen and prepared to write down anything important.

“Some sort of drop-off over here. It gets way colder, and it’s dark down there. I don’t see a bottom if there is one,” He replied. Jade nodded to herself, already knowing those details about the surrounding environment. If what she’d read was correct, 1128 was not too far from 0201. “Yeah, it’s very unclear, but I think I see something moving now. It looks small, but I think it’s just far away… oh, wow.”

The response of awe and wonder was not what Dr. Hansen had expected to respond to a giant aquatic beast. She was caught off-guard, but she stayed focused and once again asked for more information.

***

Jade relaxed and listened to the songs, closing her eyes and filling them with images of the places and people she cared about. She would be glad when other researchers could use her work. It wasn’t every day you got to lead a project, and Jade hoped her superiors would be proud. What she’d found out was worth the loss of one subject. She might take on future leadership roles if this works out. That would be wonderful, especially if it had more to do with aquatic creatures. Biology, especially marine biology, was her expertise and the most significant reason she had the title of Dr. Hansen. There were endless possibilities in such a vast world. Even the non-anomalous were intriguing to her. Without a natural curiosity, she never would’ve been working for her foundation in the first place.

Jade now felt much better, and she leaned back, letting her long hair flow out behind her. She took a breath and went under, and something felt off. A crawling sense of dread presented itself, her body felt cold, and her eyes shot open to be greeted by a horrible sting of salt. Jade realized she was no longer back at home, and her heart started to race, using up her already low amounts of oxygen. How was this happening? She’d never seen 1128 in her life. Fear overwhelmed her, and she knew she would never have her questions answered if she drowned here. With nowhere else to go, she started using all her strength to pull herself towards the surface.

***

“It’s a whale! I love whales. I hope the anomaly is a whale. That’d really make up for all the things I’ve been through this month,” Jade almost felt bad after hearing that, and she didn’t have the heart to tell him what was going on. “Wait… why is the water turning red? Oh… oh no! That- that wound is huge! How did that even happen!?” Jade tried to create a mental image of what he was seeing. If there was a wounded whale that close, they were right on top of 1128. It could hunt just about anything, and it needed a lot of food to survive.

“I’m going to need you to focus on where that whale came from. I know it isn’t comforting, but it’s not our focus. Is there anything by the drop-off?” She asked.

“Um, maybe. I think something’s coming a little closer. It’s… I- I don’t know. It looks big.”

“Is that all you can see from where you are?”

“Hang on; I’m trying to see. What is that?” The subject sounded more like he was asking himself what he was seeing than asking Jade for information. “It’s coming this way… Jesus! What is that thing!?” Dr. Hansen knew that he was looking at 1128 now. Sudden terror and stress were the expected reactions to seeing it.

“Remain calm, 0201. We’ll get you out if there’s any danger. Now, could you please tell me what you’re looking at?”

“Okay, um, it’s larger than that whale- That’s so messed up to say out loud- and it’s got huge teeth. And some fins. One, two, three, four in total, I- I think. It’s not like a sh-shark, but it doesn’t look like a whale either. M-maybe an eel? No. Whatever it is, it’s bad… are those eyes?” The fear in 0201’s voice started to give in to complete panic. Even if Jade kept him there, she knew he wouldn’t be able to say much. “Why is it looking at me?! Oh god, it’s coming this way!” As 0201 began to curse and yell unintelligibly, Jade calmly called a nearby room.

“Alright, we have what we need. Bring him up.”

***

The researcher continued to move through the water as quickly as possible. The pressure in her lungs from being so deep was painful enough to make her ignore how badly the saltwater burned her open eyes. The ocean, something she’d admired with such awe when she began studying it, had turned into a place of fear and torment. Her muscles strained as she lost her strength and poured all her adrenaline into reaching the surface. Finally, she broke the surface and immediately gasped for air, almost tossed below immediately by a wave. She quickly brought herself back to the surface and heaved, treading water and looking for the nearest shore.

Dr. Hansen could see the shore in the distance and laughed, just trying to cope with coming so close to drowning. Now, all she had to do was stay afloat and let the waves push her out to the shore. She kicked at the water and kept herself entirely focused on her destination. She didn’t want to break her concentration for a second and lose what energy she had by letting go of her fear. She needed to survive this so she could tell others what she’d seen. She was beginning to put together the pieces on why she was there. Seeing 1128 wasn’t the threat. It was the knowledge that brought her here. Hearing that description was the reason she’d been affected. She needed to warn others before they experienced the same fate.

Jade continued and felt her strength slowly returning as she kept moving. She was still far from reaching the sand, but she knew she could make it. The waves kept up, but she was able to keep herself above them. Then, a thought occurred to Jade. This beach wasn’t known for having waves, and there was no sign of a storm. Feeling a terrible sense of dread crawl up her spine, she looked down into the abyss below.

***

While screams continued to flood the audio, Jade walked into an adjacent room to observe the results. Two other researchers watched an empty pool with glances at each other that betrayed their discomfort at the waste of human life. Jade was a senior researcher no longer disturbed by all that went on at the foundation. She continued writing down notes to review later. If 0201 did manage to come back, his insights would be beneficial. However, he would be providing none.

A few tense moments later, the water began to turn a dark red color. The pulley pulled up a broken line, and traces of the diver’s remains also appeared. Jade didn’t let her revulsion show and wrote down what she was observing. The test was still a success overall. She now had a description of the creature beyond it simply being “large and scary” by those that had seen glimpses of SCP-1128. She could add it to the file. A description is a vital part of any entity. For now, she decided to spare the feelings of the junior researchers and end testing for the day.

***

A dark shadow broken by silver gleams moved below her. A glimpse of huge, unblinking eyes broke through her frozen shock, and she started making a last mad dash for the shore. The cold of the ocean seeped into her skin, but her lungs felt like they were on fire as she continued to keep herself from going under. However, she could feel the creature coming closer with every uncoordinated move she made. Praying that the powerful water that had finally knocked her under was only a freak rogue wave, she looked for the surface. She saw nothing but the maw of the creature. It opened wider, and wider, and wider. Jade sank further, transfixed by the leviathan. She didn’t even notice herself gasp.

***

Dr. Stevens sat down at a computer while re-reading the report the foundation gave him. Another death tied to 1128, but this one was fatal for a researcher. He had started connecting the different incidents in his mind, and he had a good idea of what was causing them. He guessed he’d find once he handed this off to someone else. Logging into the database, he made some changes.

“Description: SCP-1128 is an entity that manifests as a massive aquatic predator to anyone given a full description of the being’s appearance through either spoken/written descriptions or visual depictions of the being.”

Satisfied that no one else would be harmed, he glanced through the rest of the writing for any descriptions. If no one knew what that thing looked like, they’d be safe. Thankfully, there was no one around any longer to spread that kind of information. Who knew what would’ve happened if Dr. Hansen’s notes had made it onto the file. Some things were best left unknown.

Author’s Note: Source material for the SCP foundation belongs to the authors at https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/ SCP-1128 “The Aquatic Horror” was originally created by user MrCobalt on the site.