Anyone who holds more than just a passing
knowledge of the SCP Foundation has likely heard the name of one Doctor Jack Bright. Like a lot of the other high-ranking research
staff, his name carries with it a reputation for anomalous expertise far beyond many working
at the Foundation. Having risen through the ranks and achieved
the position of Personnel Director for Sites 17, 19, and 63, Doctor Bright may just seem
like a highly competent and devoted member of the organization. But the history of the man himself is one
that will be forever linked with tragedy and trauma. Jack Bright’s life has been turbulent, to
say the least, with themes of rebirth and regeneration constantly following him and
his family… and all the curses that those ideas bring. Born to Adam and Evelyn Bright, young Jack
has sadly never experienced what many would consider an ‘ordinary’ life. You see, both his parents were also researchers
within the SCP Foundation, meaning that since birth, Jack Bright has never known a life
that wasn’t linked with the Foundation and its many anomalous happenings. And it didn’t stop there either. At some point, Doctor Adam Bright would rise
through the ranks of the Foundation, much like his son would later come to do. Adam progressed from researcher to personnel
director to site director and then eventually even to the high station of O5 Council member. But this career trajectory within the Foundation
was cut short when Jack Bright’s father met an untimely end, assassinated on the orders
of his fellow O5 Council members. But why? What could have led to young Jack suffering
the loss of his Foundation employed father? Well, it had to do with the other Bright children. You see, Jack was far from an only child;
in fact, he had a considerable number of siblings. While you might be forgiven for thinking this
would provide a younger Jack Bright with equals, friends that he would at least endure his
anomalous adjacent childhood with, this was sadly not the case. One of Jack’s brothers, TJ Bright, was born
with his very own anomalous abilities. TJ had something of a gift for healing, possessing
the power to absorb the injuries and illnesses of anyone around him, purely through physical
touch. But the unfortunate side effect is that TJ
also takes on another person’s ailments himself, experiencing their pain and sickness,
so they don’t have to. If you’re Jack Bright, it had to have been
hard to see your younger brother suffering from wounds and diseases passed onto him so
that others don’t suffer. But there’s still the lingering question:
what happened to jack and TJ’s father, Adam? What led to his assassination, and what role
did TJ play in the events leading up to that untimely death? Well, like much of Doctor Bright’s family
life, it began with a tragedy. Trying for another baby, Adam and Evelyn eventually
had a new daughter, giving Jack, TJ, and their other siblings a new sister. However, this was sadly short-lived, as the
newest member of the Bright family was stillborn. Bearing witness to the grief that would have
caused his parents was no doubt hard on Jack. But even more upsetting was what came next. Naturally, having both studied anomalies within
the SCP Foundation, Evelyn and Adam were willing to defy death itself in order to get their
newly born daughter back. And luckily for them, they had been presented
with the perfect anomaly to achieve this goal, in the form of their young son TJ and his
regenerative powers. However, what resulted, was a creature that
later became known as SCP-321. While TJ was able to revive the child, her
body aged at a rapidly accelerated rate. She became devoid of melanin in her hair,
eyes, and skin. Still able to vocalize but unable to intelligibly
speak, SCP-321 is known to have spatial awareness issues, as well as a low level of intelligence. On top of that, SCP-321 seemed to have inherited
some of her brother TJ Bright’s healing abilities, capable of regenerating any injury
she suffers at five times the normal speed, attributed to an overproduction of stem cells. It was this that also caused her body to rapidly
age and grow, with no signs of stopping. Taken in by the SCP Foundation and given a
designation – along with TJ, who became known as SCP-590 – SCP-321 was separated
from the rest of the Bright family. Adam, still a Junior Researcher at the time,
pleaded with his Foundation superiors for his daughter to be released back into the
care of her family. Every time he made the request, it was denied. It didn’t seem to matter how much higher
up the managerial ladder of the SCP Foundation Adam Bright climbed, there always seemed to
be a message from above telling him ‘no’. In time, he was appointed to the O5 Council. It was then that Adam Bright issued a mandate
for SCP-321’s immediate release… and the rest of the Council didn’t take kindly to
that. Trying to get his daughter back cost Adam
his life, and meant that young Jack Bright had lost not only one of his brothers and
a sister, but his father too. Jack Bright assisted the SCP Foundation with
keeping his brother TJ, or SCP-590, contained for his own safety. Unlike his remaining siblings, Jack still
seemed eager to follow in the footsteps of his mom and dad. Another of his sisters, Claire Pierce, was
angered by the Foundation’s actions and how they had treated her family. This caused her to join up with the Serpent’s
Hand, a Group of interest with the goal of one day exposing the SCP Foundation to the
world. Then there was Mikell Bright, who had the
opposite reaction to his sister. He devoted himself to the Foundation, becoming
one of their most skilled and highly efficient field operatives, known to some as Agent Cowboy. Needless to say, there remains plenty of division
between the Bright siblings, something that would undoubtedly exact a heavy toll on Jack,
who, for his part, continued his family’s legacy by joining the Foundation as a Junior
Researcher. This is where his life would once again be
altered forever… To begin with, Jack seemed to have it easier
than most starting out at the SCP Foundation. As previously mentioned, the Bright name already
carried significant pull within the organization, not only allowing him to get his foot through
the proverbial door, but also giving Jack a much-needed win after his past family troubles. After all, he had a considerable amount of
emotional baggage and trauma to deal with, so the up-and-coming Junior Researcher perhaps
deserved to coast by for a while. Although it wouldn’t last long, and Jack
Bright would be irreversibly and irreparably changed on one fateful day. It was a seemingly menial task, a job that
could have been done by anyone else, and things might have turned out completely different
if they had. But yet, in giving it to a certain Junior
Researcher who was in good standing, the Foundation completely reoriented the trajectory of Jack’s
life. He had been assigned to perform research on
SCP-963, an ornate and rather beautiful amulet of unknown origin and purpose. The piece was constructed from elegant white
gold, sporting an oval cut ruby surrounded by thirteen brilliant cut diamonds in a starburst
pattern. It was a truly exquisite and well-crafted
piece of jewelry… with a rather strange property to it. Not yet realizing the active anomalous effects
of the amulet, Doctor Bright made the honest mistake of touching SCP-963 with his bare
hands. It was purely an act of human error, avoidable
and yet carrying consequences that would last a lifetime… or several. You see, as it so happened, the exact same
fateful day that Doctor Bright had made the mistake of allowing SCP-963 to make contact
with his skin, another anomaly had simultaneously managed to breach containment: SCP-076-2,
better known as Able. The immortal warrior tore his way through
the Foundation, pulling his bladed weaponry out of a pocket dimension and cutting down
any personnel in his path as he continued his rampage. When the slaughter was over, the dust clearing
and Able re-contained, Junior Researcher Jack Bright lay dead, tragically slain during the
breach. Or so it first seemed… It was during the clean-up in the aftermath
of Able’s rampage, that a member of D Class personnel named Tom Higly, was assigned to
dispose of the bodies left in the wake of the undying warrior’s massacre. That was when Tom unknowingly picked up the
amulet that Doctor Bright had been holding when he was killed. Instantly, the D Class suffered a peculiar
change, one that would soon become a regular occurrence at the SCP Foundation: Tom Higly
became Doctor Jack Bright. Once again, like with his brother TJ’s anomalous
powers and the tragedy of his stillborn sister SCP-321, the theme of rebirth and regeneration
became a core part of Jack Bright’s life. He was alive once again, and inhabiting a
new body. Now, this might seem like a positive development
for the aspiring Junior Researcher. But, as Jack Bright would soon learn, the
cost of coming back from the dead was a hefty toll to pay. After the Foundation had established that
the D Class now wearing the amulet was indeed the person he claimed to be, they quickly
discovered that removing SCP-963 from the wearer would cause all higher brain functions
to shut down immediately. Replacing the amulet, the body of Tom Higly
was able to move and speak once again, albeit with the voice and consciousness of Jack Bright. Through his continued experimentation with
the artifact, Doctor Bright discovered that it acted as a vessel for his consciousness,
his collected memories, and his personality. They were all seemingly stored within SCP-963
and could be transferred into a new body when the amulet was worn by someone else. However, part of the high cost of Jack’s
newfound immortality was the immediate loss of another person for the sake of his continued
life. Placing the amulet on someone else would erase
everything about who they were, effectively killing them and wiping them clean to make
room for Jack himself. It was only thanks to his mistake of being
the last person to hold the amulet, along with being killed by Able directly afterwards,
that had now led to Jack being unable to die. Of course, the other large part of the cost
Jack had to pay for living forever was that he essentially now had to live as a parasite,
passed on from host to host at a regular rate. He learned that, after thirty days of sustained,
continuous contact with SCP-963, Jack’s consciousness could become permanently affixed
to a new body. If the amulet was removed after this occurred,
then Bright’s consciousness could still be passed on to a new body, meaning he could
– in theory, at least – create multiple copies of himself by transferring into new
host bodies via the amulet, and allowing them to wear it for thirty days at a time to make
the change permanent. Naturally, as they so often tend to do, the
SCP Foundation imposed sanctions and restrictions to prevent this scenario from unfolding, executing
any hosts wearing the amulet before they could reach this thirty-day permanent transfer threshold. Afterwards, SCP-963 and Doctor Bright’s
consciousness would be passed on to a new host, and the cycle would continue. However, after witnessing the immortal researcher’s
continued dedication to their cause, the Foundation eventually relaxed its rules for Doctor Bright. Jack then went on to continue work with the
Foundation, rising through the ranks and achieving promotions to higher stations, eventually
becoming one of the most well-known researchers of SCPs to ever live. But all the while, he did further examination
of SCP-963. You might be fooled into thinking that immortality
would be a gift, but to Jack Bright, it’s a never-ending curse. Moving from host to host, only surviving because
of a simple mistake that changed his circumstances in ways he could never have foreseen, Doctor
Bright lives in frustration and longs to be free from what he views as a curse of eternal
life. He is perpetually aware that he’ll outlive
everyone at the Foundation, have to watch countless people die while he lives on. Just like he had to live on after the death
of his father. This curse of immortality has led Doctor Bright
to long for a permanent death. Ironically, he only became a part of SCP-963
in a moment of trying not to die, and now can’t at all, making the story of Doctor
Jack Bright a truly saddening tale. Now go and check out our “TOP 25 SAD SCPS”
compilation and “DR CLEF SCP FOUNDATION RESEARCHER” for more Foundation inner-workings
and unrelenting misery!
