fragment:target-audience-2

Link to article: fragment:target-audience-2.

:root{
--general-border-color: 50, 16, 178;
/*scrollbar*/
    --basalt-dark-element-color: 123, 112, 229;
/*links and highlights*/
    --basalt-bright-element-color: 33, 19, 106;
}
body {
    background-image: url(https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/local--files/target-audience/Mist_bg);
    background-attachment: fixed;
    background-size: cover;
}
body:before {
  content: ' ';
  position: fixed;
  display: block;
  left: 0;
  top: 0;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  background-image: linear-gradient(170deg, transparent, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%);
  z-index: -1;
  color:#EDEDED;
}

/* Link colors */
a:link {
  color: #E0E0E0;
}
a:visited {
  color: #E0E0E0;
}
a:hover {
  color: #E0E0E0;
}
a:active {
  color: #E0E0E0;
}

#page-content .peepoo a {
    color: #870F06;
}
#page-content .peepoo hr {
    border-color: #870F06;
}

#page-content a.collapsible-block-link {
    font-weight: bold;
}
.style05-plaintext {
  padding-right: 0.5ch;
}

color: ##210687; border: solid 3px #210687; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.616); padding:10px; margin: -10px;

```
--content: 'Return to previous page';
```
```
--content: 
```
```
--content: 'I ';
```
```
--content: 'just ';
```
```
--content: 'hoped ';
```
```
--content: 'she ';
```
```
--content: 'was ';
```
```
--content: 'friendly.';
```

```
style01-link
```
```
style01-plaintext
```
```
animation03
```
```
style04-plaintext
```
```
animation01
```
```
style05-link
```
```
style05-plaintext
```
```
animation02
```
```
style05-plaintext
```
```
animation02
```
```
style05-plaintext
```
```
animation02
```
```
style05-plaintext
```
```
animation02
```
```
style05-plaintext
```
```
animation02
```
```
style05-plaintext
```
```
animation02
```

[[include :scp-wiki:theme:basalt darkmode=a|redmode=b|hidetitle=a]]
[[include :scp-wiki:component:glitch-elements]]

[[module CSS]]
:root{
--general-border-color: 50, 16, 178;
/*scrollbar*/
    --basalt-dark-element-color: 123, 112, 229;
/*links and highlights*/
    --basalt-bright-element-color: 33, 19, 106;
}
body {
    background-image: url(https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/local--files/target-audience/Mist_bg);
    background-attachment: fixed;
    background-size: cover;
}
body:before {
  content: ' ';
  position: fixed;
  display: block;
  left: 0;
  top: 0;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
  background-image: linear-gradient(170deg, transparent, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%, rgb(0, 0, 0) 100%);
  z-index: -1;
  color:#EDEDED;
}

/* Link colors */
a:link {
  color: #E0E0E0;
}
a:visited {
  color: #E0E0E0;
}
a:hover {
  color: #E0E0E0;
}
a:active {
  color: #E0E0E0;
}

#page-content .peepoo a {
    color: #870F06;
}
#page-content .peepoo hr {
    border-color: #870F06;
}

#page-content a.collapsible-block-link {
    font-weight: bold;
}
.style05-plaintext {
  padding-right: 0.5ch;
}
[[/module]]

[[div style="color: ##210687; border: solid 3px #210687; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.616); padding:10px; margin: -10px;"]]

[[a class="style01-link" href="https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/target-audience/offset/1" target="_parent"]][[span class="style01-plaintext animation03" style="--content: 'Return to previous page';"]]Return to previous page[[/span]][[/a]]

----

[[=]]
[[span class="style04-plaintext animation01" style="--content: "Chapter 2";"]]Chapter 2[[/span]]
[[/=]]

Over the course of the weekend, I’d continue to receive pictures, and with each one the creature got ever closer to the camera. Eventually, I realized that its white face was in fact a skull, similar to that of a large canine, giving it a kind of permanent wolfish grin. That, coupled with its blank, pure-white eyes and big claws definitely made it look more frightening, but I was surprised by how little it bothered me. I was far too fascinated by what this app was capable of to be afraid. Besides, the pictures weren’t //actually// real.

Though, the image I received late in the afternoon on Sunday definitely gave me pause.

[[=]]
[[include :scp-wiki:component:image-features-source |hover-enlarge=--]
|enlarge-amount=4
|speed=250
|float=true
|align=center
|width=430px
|url=https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/local--files/target-audience/Lovelace_photo_3
|add-caption=false
]]
[[/=]]

It showed my office exactly as I had left it on Friday, with the creature standing next to my chair and waving at me, its eyelids raised in a smile. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say ‘her’? Now that the creature was this close, her body did seem distinctly feminine. In any case, the picture itself posed a very serious question—just who had taken the unedited version of it and how? Only the janitor and I had a key to my office, and I left on Friday evening while the janitor only cleans the office in the morning on weekdays, so then who could’ve taken this picture?

While part of me considered the possibility that it had been the creature herself, I dismissed that idea. After all, things like her weren't real.

The only real possibility I could think of was that Kyle and Jason were playing some kind of prank on me. It was possible that they might’ve realized that I’ve been listening in on their conversations about apps, created and uploaded MalO, and had it use pictures they had taken themselves. It certainly wasn’t unfeasible that they would be able to lift the key from the janitor, or simply pick the lock to my office door.

If this was true, then they had committed one or more crimes just to pull some elaborate prank on me, and while I hated to get my students in trouble, pointing that out should have at the very least gotten them to back off.

I grabbed my phone and called their dormitory.

“Cabot House administration, what can I do for you?”

“Hi Marjorie, it's Huey Bertram. I'm sorry to bother you on a Sunday, but could you give me the number of Kyle Bertenhoff?”

“You need to get in touch with him?”

“Yes, that’s why I ask.”

“Oh dear… I’m afraid he’s been hospitalized.”

“What? Why?”

“Well, he seemed to have suffered from some kind of psychotic break,” Marjorie replied. “He kept screaming that he could see a monster standing behind him or something.”

My blood ran cold upon hearing that. There was no way this creature was real, right?

“You’re not playing some kind of prank on me, are you?” I asked in desperation.

“What? No. Why in the world would you ever think that?”

“Sorry, Marjorie. I just… never mind. When did this happen?”

“Just a couple hours ago. Gave us all a real scare, you know?”

“Do you know where he was taken?”

“Of course. He was taken to McLean.”

“Alright. Thanks, Marjorie.”

I hung up and then called the hospital.

“McLean Hospital, how can I help you?”

“Hi, I’m Professor Bertram,” I briefly introduced myself. “One of my students, Kyle Bertenhoff, was recently hospitalized.”

“Kyle Bertenhoff… Kyle Bertenhoff… Let’s see…” I could hear her type away on her keyboard. “Ah! He’s been transferred to a specialized facility.”

I blinked. “Specialized facility? I thought you guys were the number one mental hospital in America.”

“I’m just as surprised as you are,” the nurse replied. “I’ve never seen a transfer like this before…”

I was horrified. If the pictures were in fact actually real, then was this some attempt to cover it up? If so, what would happen to me if whoever was behind this found out that I had also downloaded the app?

I swallowed and said, “Alright. Thank you for your help.”

Once I had hung up my phone, the first thing I did was to activate airplane mode so that I couldn’t receive any more pictures and to make sure that no one could track my phone.

Imagine my surprise then when I was sent another picture that night, even though it should’ve been impossible. I knew my phone inside and out—I had taken it apart and put it back together on multiple occasions—and I knew for a fact that airplane mode disabled all RF transmitters and receivers. Yet somehow MalO was still able to send me pictures. As much as I hated to admit it, that intrigued me more than it frightened me.

But even if that didn’t scare me, the contents of the picture I had been sent certainly did.

[[=]]
[[include :scp-wiki:component:image-features-source |hover-enlarge=--]
|enlarge-amount=4
|speed=250
|float=true
|align=center
|width=430px
|url=https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/local--files/target-audience/Lovelace_photo_4
|add-caption=false
]]
[[/=]]

It had been taken from inside my kitchen downstairs, with the creature peeking in through the window.

Absolutely terrified, I locked myself in my bedroom, hoping that the creature wouldn’t be able to get to me.

As I sat curled up in bed, I thought long and hard about what to do. If someone was trying to cover this up, then I couldn’t tell the authorities, and I couldn’t go to anyone else about it given that I had no friends or anyone else I could trust. But what else could I do? Wait for the creature to come get me?

I browsed through the pictures I had been sent and carefully gauged her body language in each one. The creature’s frightening appearance aside, she didn’t seem hostile whatsoever. In fact, she didn’t seem to be anything other than friendly and excitable. Of course, that might’ve just been to lull me into a false sense of security, but if that was the case then her appearance didn’t exactly help with that. So maybe, just maybe, she didn’t actually hold any ill intent?

That’s when I realized that I was far more afraid of being alone than I was of the creature.

After a lot of thinking I finally decided to try to keep an open mind and attempt to make contact, and if she ended up killing me, then… then… so be it.

I unlocked my bedroom door and ventured downstairs, turning on the lights in every room as I searched for the creature. However, she was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps she had stayed outside? Or perhaps she was invisible to the naked eye? After all, none of the people in the pictures ever seemed to react to her presence.

Being unable to know for sure either way, I turned off the lights and returned to my bedroom to sleep. I had to go back to work tomorrow, after all, and given the circumstances I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to sleep all that well.

[[=]]
----
@@ @@
++ [[a class="style05-link" href="https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/target-audience/offset/3" target="_parent"]][[span class="style05-plaintext animation02" style="--content: 'I ';"]]I [[/span]][[span class="style05-plaintext animation02" style="--content: 'just ';"]]just [[/span]][[span class="style05-plaintext animation02" style="--content: 'hoped ';"]]hoped [[/span]][[span class="style05-plaintext animation02" style="--content: 'she ';"]]she [[/span]][[span class="style05-plaintext animation02" style="--content: 'was ';"]]was [[/span]][[span class="style05-plaintext animation02" style="--content: 'friendly.';"]]friendly.[[/span]][[/a]]
@@ @@
[[/=]]

[[/div]]

fragment:target-audience-2

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