The Shadow in the Corner | SCP-017

The first time Ziggy wet himself in public was in middle school dodgeball. Twenty-five sixth graders watched his gym shorts drip onto the polished wood floor of Ulysses S. Grant Middle School's main gym. He was known as Pissball Peters until high school graduation. Now he is known as D-0116798, and the orange jumpsuit he wears alongside every other D-Class at the Foundation site is remote. He prefers Ziggy, but the guards like throwing his assigned number in his face to remind him that he is no different than when he was in prison, county lockup, or rotting away in a mental institution.

Ziggy is standing stock still inside a cell that is supposed to be impossible for shadows to exist in. The room is flooded with light from a bank of spotlights so bright it could illuminate a pro football game in the middle of the night. He and his friend Dominic were sent in to replace a single burned-out bulb. Now Dominic is gone, swallowed by the small shadow still crouched in the far corner. Ziggy is wearing a reflective suit that should repel the monster, but he has just watched it wrap itself around Dominic and vanish him. The guard supervising the operation, Drudgman, is shouting over the comms, demanding Ziggy finish the job.

The Mechanism of the Hunt