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The Basement of Buried Shadows - Scary Paranormal Story · Shallow Nights: Scary Bedtime Stories

• 0:33
  I was sitting on the broken wooden chair.
• 0:36
  The room was dimly lit. Outside, the sun has set and
• 0:41
  darkness was creeping in like the thick velvet curtains of
• 0:44
  theaters. I was used to it.
• 0:46
  The lack of light used to bother me too much, but now it's just
• 0:50
  normal. It embraces me just as how I am,
• 0:54
  and that feeling is comforting. It has been around half an hour
• 0:59
  since Mother left. She made me dress up in a new
• 1:02
  stiff and crisp black suit and went inside the kitchen.
• 1:07
  Mother likes to buy suits for me, and every time she buys a
• 1:10
  new suit she tells me to wear it and play Dance Macabre by
• 1:14
  Camille Sanson for her. When today she walked into my
• 1:18
  room with the suit, I knew I would be playing.
• 1:22
  I looked down on my hands. My hands hurt, and it wouldn't
• 1:25
  be quite comforting to play the piano in this state, but I
• 1:28
  couldn't say no to Mother, knowing the fact that denying
• 1:32
  would fetch worse consequences. I had learned the piece when I
• 1:36
  was a 10th grader, but I could never perfectly play it.
• 1:40
  Undoubtedly, the piece is very difficult to play, but I wanted
• 1:44
  to learn it since childhood because it was my mother's
• 1:47
  favorite. I remember how Mother used to
• 1:50
  shut herself in her room and would spin around in the
• 1:52
  darkness on her own with a wine glass in her hand.
• 1:56
  While the song was being played on the gramophone, Mother
• 2:00
  emerged from the kitchen with a half filled glass of wine in her
• 2:03
  hand. I sat straight, keeping my gaze
• 2:07
  down and my hands folded on my lap.
• 2:10
  She smiled and stood in front of me, caressing my cheek.
• 2:15
  She said. Will you play me my favorite
• 2:17
  song like always, darling? This time do not make a mistake,
• 2:22
  OK? I smiled weakly and nodded.
• 2:26
  The pain in my fingers, which I tried to push away, started
• 2:29
  throbbing. Mother walked back and pulled a
• 2:32
  chair to sit in front of me, swirling the wine in her hand.
• 2:37
  My hands started trembling on my lap.
• 2:40
  My heart started throbbing against my chest as I tried to
• 2:43
  even my breathing and stand up on the cold, damp floor.
• 2:47
  I drifted slowly to the piano and sat down on the stool.
• 2:52
  My hands were still trembling, I could feel the rapid beating of
• 2:56
  my heart. I must have spaced out,
• 2:59
  palpitating. Mother's deep voice broke me
• 3:02
  from my trance. You know, darling, I do not have
• 3:06
  much patience. Start playing now, she said, and
• 3:12
  I knew what that voice meant. Without Much Ado, I lit the
• 3:16
  candle. Standing on the piano, I took
• 3:19
  out the yellowed sheet music from my pocket and placed it on
• 3:22
  the piano. I placed my fingers on the piano
• 3:27
  and started to play adroitly over the ivory keys.
• 3:30
  I knew the chords I had been practicing for almost a year
• 3:34
  now. I was hitting the correct keys.
• 3:38
  As I glanced at Mother, I could see her swaying lightly to the
• 3:41
  tune, a smile on her lips. I remember how she used to be
• 3:46
  before my father died. We were all happy.
• 3:50
  She would sing to me from time to time and even Take Me Out to
• 3:53
  play. I remember when I was around six
• 3:56
  years old how she always told me never to go to the basement.
• 4:00
  I could hear a noise fleeting up to my room from there and was
• 4:03
  always curious to see what was making that noise.
• 4:07
  It kind of used to sound like a wailing dog, and I wanted to see
• 4:10
  that dog because I love dogs and Mother would never allow one in
• 4:15
  our home. Unable to keep my curiosity, I
• 4:18
  opened the door to the basement and tiptoed my way down the
• 4:21
  stairs. As they peeked around, I could
• 4:25
  nowhere see a puppy. Mother came storming down the
• 4:28
  stairs and yanked me out of the basement.
• 4:31
  She yelled at me. She had never yelled at me
• 4:34
  before it. Her voice turned so deep and
• 4:37
  weird that my body began to tremble as I looked up at her
• 4:40
  squarely and cried. I cried hard.
• 4:44
  She told me never to go into the basement again and gave me two
• 4:48
  cookies. Those made me feel better.
• 4:51
  I was feeling way better, so I did not ask why Papa, tied on a
• 4:55
  chair in the basement, was making noises like a wailing dog
• 4:59
  and why he had no hands. I didn't see Papa after that
• 5:03
  day. Later, after some days, the boy
• 5:07
  next door told me that my Papa was dead.
• 5:10
  I didn't know what dead meant, but when I knew I could put the
• 5:13
  pieces together, my bruised fingertips were dancing over the
• 5:18
  keys. A finger slipped and the piano
• 5:22
  groaned. The smile wore off my mother's
• 5:25
  face. Her gaze became cold.
• 5:29
  A chill ran down my spine. I focused on my now bloodied
• 5:34
  fingers as they kept wandering over the ivory keys.
• 5:37
  I missed it again. Darling, you are not focusing.
• 5:42
  She spoke sternly. I could feel the roughness in
• 5:46
  her voice slowly approaching to engulf me.
• 5:49
  I kept my eyes trained on the keys.
• 5:53
  I could feel the sweat trickling down my forehead and down my
• 5:56
  back and the throbbing of my own eyes.
• 5:59
  I missed another note. You are not even trying again.
• 6:06
  She growled, pacing behind me. Your father would be ashamed of
• 6:10
  you. My sight starts getting blurry.
• 6:14
  I shift my eyes from the yellow sheet music to the ivory keys,
• 6:19
  trying to hit the notes correctly.
• 6:21
  I skipped another note, faster again.
• 6:25
  She was roaring now as she banged the table beside the
• 6:29
  piano. I lost my ability to think.
• 6:33
  My mind was in disarray. I start playing even faster.
• 6:38
  My fingers practically ran over the piano.
• 6:41
  Scenes from the past began playing in my head.
• 6:44
  When I saw Father crying in the basement.
• 6:47
  When Mother tried to throw me down the stair, When I found
• 6:50
  dead cats under her bed. When she tried to poison my
• 6:53
  dinner and I ended up vomiting my entire dinner and sleeping
• 6:56
  hungry. I hit the wrong note and the
• 6:59
  piano groaned loudly, echoing through the silent house.
• 7:03
  Worthless. She clicked her tongue, dropping
• 7:06
  her hands on both her side. She sighed loudly and marched
• 7:10
  into the kitchen. I sat there, my head hanging low
• 7:15
  in shame. Tears started streaming down my
• 7:18
  cheeks uncontrollably. All I wanted was to be a good
• 7:22
  child for my mother. Now I just want to scream.
• 7:26
  Scream for help, cry for someone to come and save me.
• 7:30
  I knew nobody would come, nobody would help me.
• 7:34
  They are too scared of her. I messed up like every time, but
• 7:38
  this time was worse. I knew what consequences are
• 7:42
  about to come. The wooden floor creeped loudly
• 7:46
  as mother returned from the kitchen.
• 7:49
  She closed the door behind her, slowly locking it.
• 7:53
  My eyes were focused on the ground.
• 7:56
  I felt her feet approaching me. She stopped in front.
• 8:01
  She lifted my chin with a finger to face her.
• 8:05
  I thought you were worth more, but you have to prove me wrong
• 8:08
  every time. Why is it so, darling?
• 8:12
  My breath hitched. She removed her hand and walked
• 8:16
  back to get her knife from the table.
• 8:19
  It was hard to play with three fingers.
• 8:22
  It'll be harder with two.