Peppermill C

Tears of Blood (血の涙)

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Visual media advertising SCP-XX. Discovered online. Creator unknown.

Item #: SCP-XX

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Foundation web crawler Kappa-08 ("NOTEARS") is to seek and suppress any references to SCP-XX in entertainment news and online discussions, as well as identifying individuals who use SCP-XX-related keywords in web searches. A mild memetic amnestic is to remain in circulation on associated websites to suppress memories of SCP-XX screenings.

Description: SCP-XX is a nonexistent Japanese horror film entitled Tears of Blood (血の涙)1 which spontaneously manifests within falsified memories. Discussions and reports of SCP-XX first began appearing online in late 2014 and have continued until present, albeit with declining frequency. Those affected by SCP-XX will fully remember viewing the film even when their presence at the purported location of the screening would contradict empirical evidence.

Reports of SCP-XX's story and characters are frequently inconsistent, and a broad variety of Japanese performers (both living and deceased) have been reported to star in the film's lead roles.2 The only constants appear to be the film's beginning, climax, and ending (see Doc XX-Prime).


Addendum: A typical example of an SCP-XX memory. Taken from testimony by affected subject Scott Schultz.

Okay, so me and my buddies—wait, no, my buddies and I. I think that's more grammatically correct. Sorry. I'm just really rattled. It's like waking up from a dream.

If you'd told me two days ago that I spent Friday evening at the gun range, I would have said you were crazy. But then I saw the camera footage, the testimonies from Callie and the other employees… I mean, it sounds like me, but as far as I remember, that's not what happened.

I have these two friends from college, Eddie Bryant and Lance Heffler. The three of us ended up working for the same company after graduation. We love horror movies, and there's this tiny place, this local theater that does a Midnight Madness thing on weekends in October. They dedicate one screen to just playing a whole bunch of obscure horror movies in a row, and for ten bucks, you can sit there and watch as many as you want until three in the morning. So on Friday, Eddie, Lance and I decide to go do Midnight Madness after work.

Everything was normal at first. We got some drinks, got our tickets. Then we walked into theater number six, and, uh, that's when things started getting kind of weird. There were these two ladies, about my age, standing at the entrance to the theater. They were missing their lower lips. You could see the bottom row of their teeth, and not just the front—all up on one side, too. The scars around their mouths were all puffy and mangled, not surgical at all.

Of course, as far as we knew, these were just two girls with an unfortunate deformity. Like, it was weird that both of them would have the same injury, but who cares, right? We didn't stare. Didn't want to be rude or make them uncomfortable. None of our business. So we just walked past them, and as we did, it was hard to tell, but I could almost swear they were smiling at us.

So we sit down and watch some movies. The first one was real bad, total Mystery Science Theater material. Most of the audience heckled the whole way through, and it was a good time. Then the projector puts up the name of the next film, and it's in Japanese. That got Lance really jazzed; he's real big on Ringu and Ju-on and stuff like that. Out of nowhere, this face leans down from behind me, and it's one of the girls from earlier. Her voice is kind of messed up, but she tells us it's really good, her absolute favorite. I didn't really know how to react, so I was just like, "cool", you know?

The movie started. It was still in Japanese, but subtitled, which I found a little distracting, but whatever. It turns out to be one of those Hostel-style torture porn films. Kind of surprising, since that seems uncommon for J-horror. Still, it's good, and I end up getting pretty into it.

Once we're pretty far into the movie, I notice there's this weird echo to some of the dialogue. Then I realize it's the girls. The ones behind us. They're reciting the lines in total sync with the movie. In Japanese. And these girls didn't look Japanese, either. So I think, "okay, these are some serious fangirls" and kind of tune it out.

And then, uh. I'm sorry. One sec. As soon as I realized that was what was going on, my blood just ran ice cold. I couldn't believe it. Eddie and I exchanged some horrified glances, though Lance just seemed engrossed in the movie. I wanted to get out of their right away, but I sat through the end of the film and bolted as soon as the credits rolled.

I'll be real with you guys—depression runs in my family. I've never self-harmed, but I've known friends and relatives who have. To do something like that, and over a movie? It twists my stomach in knots just thinking about it.

When I got back to the lobby, Lance was there talking to the two girls. He looked really interested, too—maybe a little happy. He called me over to introduce me to them, but I can't remember their names. Just smiled and excused myself as quickly as I could.

I talked to Eddie yesterday. He doesn't remember anything about going to Midnight Madness that night. And I called Lance like eight times, but he never picked up. The thing that's got me really freaked, though? I had to put the number in manually. His contact info wasn't in my phone anymore. I feel like I'm losing my mind. This happened, right?

Afterword: No records of a Lance Heffler were found at Mr. Schultz's alma mater or place of work. Investigations are ongoing.


Addendum XX-Prime: After conducting more than a hundred interviews with existing subjects, researchers have constructed a synopsis of SCP-XX's most consistent story elements.

The film opens with the female protagonist going about mundane activities in her day-to-day life. She is interrupted by a phone call from an unknown party who tells her that a loved one has been hospitalized. When the protagonist leaves her apartment to go to the hospital, she is attacked by a male assailant and loses consciousness.

When the protagonist wakes up, she finds herself in an unfamiliar building with her arms and legs bound. She is surrounded by a number of other female captives, some of whom still remain unconscious. The women briefly discuss the possibility of an escape, but are interrupted when the kidnapper appears. He sees one of the women crying, and promptly kills her. The kidnapper explains that he intends to release the captives after 24 hours, but only under the stipulation that they do not cry.

Throughout the film, the kidnapper exacts various forms of physical and psychological torture on the group. Despite their best efforts, the captives prove unable to hold back their tears, and they are murdered one by one until only the protagonist remains. Frustrated by the protagonist's resolve, the kidnapper gradually escalates her torture; however, the protagonist only responds with rebukes, which angers the kidnapper even further.

At the film's climax, the kidnapper approaches the protagonist with a razor blade and announces that even if she is freed, she will spent the rest of her life horribly disfigured. This instigates an argument between the two regarding the nature of inner and outer beauty, the value of women in society, and the societal stigma against expressions of vulnerability. Eventually, the kidnapper loses patience, throws the protagonist to the floor, and grabs her face.

Using the razor blade, the kidnapper slowly begins to slice off the protagonist's lower lip, starting at the left labial commissure. The kidnapper pauses halfway through the process to verbally abuse the protagonist. She takes advantage of this by quickly grabbing the razor with her teeth, and before the kidnapper can react, she uses it to slice open his left eye.

The kidnapper screams in pain as blood and vitreous humor flow down his face. While he is distracted, the protagonist maneuvers the razor blade to her fingers and uses it to cut through her bindings. Enraged and half blind, the kidnapper grabs the protagonist's partially-severed lower lip and tugs it sharply, tearing it from her face along with a portion of her right cheek. At the same moment, the protagonist frees herself from her bindings and slits the kidnapper's throat with the razor blade.

The protagonist quickly makes her way to the exit as the kidnapper bleeds to death on the floor. Although her speech is impeded by her injuries, she pauses before leaving to mock the kidnapper one last time, calmly telling him that he "cried tears of blood", and therefore had to die according to his own rules.

The film then abruptly cuts to an unspecified point in the future. Now wearing a face mask to hide her disfigured mouth, the protagonist walks down the street to her apartment, ignoring a crowd of paparazzi around her. When she finally reaches her bedroom, the protagonist calmly takes off her mask and looks at herself in the mirror. She stares silently at the missing lower portion of her face and sheds a tear. Over the course of several minutes, her weeping slowly builds into frenzied sobs and shrieks. There is a cut to black, but the protagonist's cries continue with no other audio until the credit reel ends.

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Crit thanks: shaggydredlocks, CadaverCommander, AbsentmindedNihilist

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