The Mansion Named Mason - SCP Foundation || ONC2022

Chapter 8 : Mason

Everything hurt.

The last thing Mason remembered was a loud crash followed by blaring sirens in the distance. Then the 7-year-old's world went black. The next time he woke up, he found himself in the blinding white room of a hospital ward. By the feet of his bed was his sleeping brother. His head was buried in his arms with a puddle sized tear stains barely visible. In his hands was Mason's bandage wrapped one, holding on so tight like it was his lifeline.

A freshly woken up Mason just stared at him a couple minutes before he began gently shaking him awake. It didn't take long as the moment his hand brushed Max's shoulder he jolted awake. Frantically looking around, the older twin broke into tears upon seeing his brother's open eyes and comforting smile. He proceeded to pull Mason into a suffocating bear hug as he cried behind his shoulder.

"You're awake!" Max cried while Mason rubbed circles around his back.

"There, there. I'm fine," Mason patted his brother's back.

"I thought I lost you too!" the older twin sobbed louder.

"Too?"

Pulling away from his hug, the twins turned to stared each other in the eyes. As tears threatened to flow down the younger brother's face, Max leaned forward and nuzzled his forehead against Mason's in an attempt to comfort him. It worked for about half a minute before the two boys were reduced to a sobbing mess. The doctors outside dared not to interrupt the family's emotionally charged moment, not again.

-----

"Hey guys! How's the treasure hunt?" Avery waved at the trio coming out from the basement.

"We found it. Wasn't a treasure just an old box," Ian shrugged.

"Well, sorry that was a bust. Where's Max?"

"Still downstairs. Might want to give him a moment. Whatever was inside meant a lot to him," Dominic continued.

"Oh. Thanks for telling me. Finn's making some snacks if guys want some!" Avery pointed to the kitchen.

"Yeah!" the trio of kids ran off.

'I guess it make sense. They are considered as SCPs who need each other to survive. Whatever that means. So, Mason was probably Max's home.' Avery deducted before getting up from the couch and walking up the stairs. 'Ethan's been up there for awhile. Better go check on him.'

"Ethan?" Avery began going through all the kids' room.

Opening the teen's room, nothing. Peaking into Lilith's room, nobody. The twins', Finn's and his room? Still empty. Where was Ethan? Just before Avery could start his search around the house, his ears perk up at a sudden and hard thud on the third floor. Worry quickly consumed the nurse as he rushed up the stairs to spot the commotion. In the middle of the hallway was retractable ladder leading into the antic. From the hole on the ceiling, the nurse caught wind of a couple light coughs prompting him to climb up.

Sticking his head into the attic, Avery silently watched as a hard-working Ethan carefully and yet somehow clumsily stack dusty boxes on top of each other. For what reason? Avery would have to question the teen to find out. Knocking on the wooden floor boards to make his presence known, the caretaker of the mansion proceeded to step foot into the cobweb filled attic.

"Hey. What are you doing up here?" Avery tilted his head curiously.

"Oh nothing. Just checking to see if there's anything we need to fix up here. So far so good!" Ethan explained as he gently placed down the box in his hand.

"I didn't even know we had an attic," Avery muttered to himself before offering his assistance to the teen.

Despite his many protest, the two ended up working on the attic together. Squinting their eyes and trailing their fingers against the walls, he searched for any cracks or holes that needed to be patch up. However as the hour passed, they found none which was odd considering the state of the rest of the mansion. Nonetheless, the two took it as a lucky break and were about to head back down when Ethan dropped a box letting its contents scatter on to the floor. For a split second, the two could have sworn the house shook.