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The Thing Behind the Curtains | SCP-8816

December 2, 20240 comments♥ 0
00:00Welcome to aboardVia Rai.Embarked and profite.Embarked and relaxes.Cirotay.Bookinay.Oh, that also.And profite.
00:13Via Rai.The voice that we love.There's something else here now.Something new.From, exclusively on Paramount Plus,it's the series Stephen Kingcalls Scary as Hell.Everything here is impossible,
00:26but it's also real.Sci-Fi Visioncalls it the best show.of streaming right now.We're running out of time and we still don't know the rules.Don't miss what the movie blog calls something you need to watch.Saving those children is how we all go home.From Binge All episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus.
00:46The screaming started as I was reading in bed, with my wife Natalie snoring beside me.At first, I tensed, dropping my book to the floor as I sat up.It's hard not to freak out a little when you hear one of your children screaming and crying.But then I remembered what I found my two sons doing little more than two hours ago,and I stopped myself from running down the hall to comfort Charlie.I would go.Of course I would go to my upset child,but I had expected something like this to happen.
01:16Natalie was wide awake now.She turned from her side to her back,looking up at me expectantly in the half-light of the bedside lamp.You're the horror movie guy.It was your Blu-ray they were watching.Oh, so it's my fault, I said, smiling warily and standing up.I see how it is.Turn off the light, will you?
01:38She said, turning and pulling the covers up,so all I could see was her tiny, delicate ear in the back of her brunette head.I clicked the lamp off and was opening the bedroom door when my wife spoke again.He's not sleeping in here tonight.I felt that was a little harsh, but Charlie had been abusing our nighttime osse.hospitality in that regard. As I stepped out into the hall, I saw Charlie backing out of his room,little legs working, plumped face wet with tears, his expression one of pure terror. I immediatelyregretted my lackadaisical response. He still hadn't turned to face me as I rushed over and
02:19picked him up. His gaze was fixed on something in his room. At six years old, he was still smallenough for me to pick him up easily. I propped him on one arm and hugged him with my other.What's wrong, buddy? I asked, as his bawling died down. I heard the door open behind me,and I turned to see Paul poking his face out, curious about what was going on. Our eyes met,and he immediately shut the door. Uh-uh, Paul, I said, come out here. After a moment, Paul's bedroomdoor opened again, and the 11-year-old stepped out with a guilty look on his face.Charlie was still powering down, sounding like a wheezing lawnmower engine as he left behindwhatever had scared him. But he was still staring toward his bedroom, craning his neck to look over
03:10my shoulder as I turned to face Ball. I looked admonishingly at my oldest son. Didn't I say thiswould happen? Ball fidgeted with the hem of his Star Wars pajama shirt, eyes fixed on the carpet.Yeah.Right.That's why I told you no scary movies with your brother, you remember?Yeah.So, what do you say to Charlie?Sorry.
03:35Come on, Paul, I said Neely.Look him in the eye and tell him you're sorry.Say it like you mean it.Paul looked up, but Charlie was still fixated on something in his room.What is it, buddy?Did you see something in there?Charlie nodded and sniffed.Yeah, something.
03:53behind the curtains. Ah, the curtains, I see. Well, let's go check it out after your brother apologizesto you. How about that? I'm afraid he'll come out if I stopped looking, Charlie said. His toneone that suggested I was stupid for not knowing this. Oh, okay. How about we check it out? And thenyour brother can apologize. How about that? Charlie nodded. I moved to stand up without him,but he begged for me to keep holding him. I pulled him up again.and we stepped into his bedroom doorway.Natalie had installed long maroon curtains in every room in the house,and they remained closed at night.
04:32But even when they weren't closed,they bunched up on either side of the windows,theoretically allowing room for someone to hide behind them.They were just the kind of thing that would causean impressionable kid with a vivid imaginationto think a monster or killer was behind them.Charlie's bed was situated in such a waythat it blocked the hem of the curtains from view,
04:53from the bedroom door, so I walked farther in, holding Charlie into like I could see over thebed. Sure enough, there was a pair of scuffed black dress shoes sticking out from under the hem of thecurtain. They were men's shoes, maybe tens or eleven's, but they certainly weren't mine. I had neverseen them before. Charlie wrapped one arm around my neck and leaned into me, releasing a frightenedsound. My teeth clamped together, and I spun around in anger. Paul, do you think this is funny?Paul, who stood in the hallway, flinched at my tone. What? The shoes! I said, angry at my son fortormenting his brother in such a way. What shoes? Dad, I didn't do anything. Those shoes, I said,gesturing with my head toward the window. Come in here. Paul walked stiffly into the room,
05:46and I turned around to look at the shoes.They were gone.My mouth came open as I stared at the spot where they'd been,confusion clouding my mind.Paul looked up at me, still bewildered.Go to bed.I set Charlie down on his bed, despite his protests,and then turned the light on.
06:09He watched while I moved to the curtains,and then looked in the closet and under his bed.I stood up, still struggling to comprehend.what had just happened. Then I saw Charlie reading my expression. I forced a smile under my face.See, nobody in here but us too. It was just a bad dream. But you saw them too, he said.Were we having the same dream? Yeah, I guess we were, buddy. I guess so. Now it's time to get somesleep, don't you think? Can I sleep with you and mommy? I shook my head sadly. Not again.Charlie. I need you to be a big boy and sleep in here, okay? Defeated, Charlie nodded, fighting back tears.
06:57For a moment, I thought about picking him up and bringing him to our bedroom anyway, but I knewNatalie wouldn't be happy. She never slept well with the kid in the bed. I hugged him and reassured himthat there was nothing and nobody in the house that meant him harm. As I beckoned him to get under hiscovers, I noticed he was wearing a pair of fluffy, multi-colored socks his grandmother had given himfor Christmas. I smiled, thinking he was the only kid I'd ever heard of who actually liked thesocks he'd gotten. He almost never took them off, and I had bought him another similar pairso we could wash his favorites every couple of days. It was just a bad dream, I said, tucking him in.Good night, Charlie. As I stood, I glanced at the curtains.
07:46again, seeing no shoes there. I left the room, leaving the door open so the hallway lightcould provide Charlie with some illumination. After searching the rest of the house and finding nounlocked doors, no unlocked windows, and no sign that an intruder had been inside the house,I headed back up to bed. I even stopped in Paul's room to check his window and used theopportunity to ask him calmly if he had put the shoes under the curtains in his brother's room.He denied it once again.I believed him.Maybe I was half asleep.
08:24Maybe I just thought I saw those shoes under the curtains.That's what I tried to convince myself of as I got back in bed with Natalie.She asked what happened, and I gave her an abbreviated rundown.She grunted and turned over to go back to sleep.I got comfortable, but sleep didn't come.come for a long time.I kept lifting my headto look at the curtains
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09:1620 tours gratuys on the machine-assau-baz-bonanza.Depos minimum of $10.Veilersh.Beye to play a fashion responsible.The conditions apply.My bladder woke me up several hours later.My bedside clock said it was 2.14 in the morning.Groggy and half asleep.
09:30I got out of bed and headed for the bathroom.Glancing at the curtains over the nearby window as I went.I released a laughing grunt,shaking my head at my earlier behavior.Of course I hadn't seen shoes under the curtains in Charlie's room.It was silly.I had been dozing off while reading when I heard Charlie screams,so when I got there, I still hadn't been fully awake.
09:53It had to be something like that.To prevent the light in the bathroom from waking me up,I peed in the dark and then headed back to bed.As I moved past the window,I glanced down at the hem of the curtains to find a pair of bare feet sticking out.Ha ha!I said, very funny.Have you been lying awake this whole time,
10:13waiting for me to get up and use the restroom so you could pull this little prank.I shifted my gaze up to where Natalie's head would be under the curtains,knowing it had to be her.The feet were too large to belong to anyone else.And I told her about Charlie's little episode,leaving out the part about me actually seeing the shoes.Now, as my eyes continued to adjust to the darkness,I noticed the curtains were flat above the feet.
10:40There was no bulge where the rest of her body should have been.Who are you talking to?Natalie asked, speaking from the bed behind me.My whole body buzzed with fear, hair standing on end as I looked down at the feet again.They were still there.But now I noticed they couldn't belong to Natalie.They were too big.The toenails were craggy.
11:02The knuckles and tendons were bulky and gnarled, verging on the cusp of deformed.Mitch?Natalie asked.What are you doing?I backed up toward the bed.When I spoke, my voice was little more than a harsh whisper.Turn on the light!There was a click, and Natalie's bedside lamp came on as I touched the foot of the bed with the backs of my thighs.
11:24What's going on?I pointed at the gnarled feet, now seeing that the nails were piss yellow.The tips of the toes were blue, and the rest of the skin was fish-belly white.Do you see them?I felt Natalie shift on the bed to look at where I was pointing.A moment later, she gasped.What the hell?Whose feet are those?
11:45I shook my head, dismay coursing through menow that I knew my wife could see them too.I don't know.Who's there?Natalie said.Come out.There's not even any room.I said.
11:58We would be able to see their shape.Okay, so it's a prank.Maybe something Paul did.Maybe we're being recorded for TikTok or something.Yeah.I said.The feet hadn't moved at all.It was a prank.
12:11I told myself, just a prank, which meant I had to open the curtains.I eased away from the bed, sliding my bare feet along the carpet as I approached.When I got within reaching distance of the curtains, a strange noise arose.A sound like a muffled wood chipper emanated from behind the curtains, like machinery grinding up.Something.What is that?Natalie cried.What's that noise?
12:37I hesitated, hand halfway toward the curtain.eyes still fixed on the feet.After a moment, I extended my hand a few inches closer.The noise grew louder.And then the feet moved.The tendons underneath the pale white skin shifted as some of the toes moved, twitching in place.I darted out of the room, thinking of nothing but getting away.Natalie, who had seen the same thing, lurched off the bed and came after me.
13:05We got into the hall and shut the door to our bedroom.The boys!We darted down the hallway.I turned into Paul's roomwhile Natalie went into Charlie's.I flipped the light on and looked first at the bed,seeing Paul there,eyes blinking against the bright overhead light.
13:22Then my eyes went to the curtains.No feet.What?Come on, Paul.Get up, I said,grabbing my son's arm and yanking him out of bed.What's going on?I pulled him into the hall,
13:35coming face to face with Natalie,who looked even more terrified.than she had when we shut the door to our bedroom.Where's Charlie?She cried.My stomach convulsed.Bile rose into my throat.Were there feet?
13:49I asked.Natalie shook her head.Where's Charlie?Still holding on to Paul's arm, I moved to the stairs.Charlie?Are you down there?There was no answer from the dark first floor.Where's Charlie?
14:02Natalie cried again, growing hysterical.He must be downstairs, I said, nodding.He's downstairs.What about the office?She asked.She was talking about the fourth upstairs bedroom,which we used as a home office.Still nodding, I transferred Paul's arm to Natalie's hand.
14:21Stay here.I stalked down the hall and flipped on the lights to the home office.Feet jutted out from under the curtains there.Different feet.Still belonging to an adult,but smaller and more delicate than the pair we'd seen in our room.But they were still sickly colored,like they belonged to a corpse.
14:40Seeing no sign of Charlie, I backed away, leaving the light on.Back at the top of the stairs, I said,He must be downstairs. Let's go.What happened to Charlie?Paul asked as we headed down.I could tell from his voice he was on the verge of tears.He's downstairs, I said, holding on to the thought for all it was worth.We called out for Charlie but heard no answer.
15:05I told Natalie and Paul to stay put in the kitchen.grabbing two knives, one for myself and one for Natalie.Paul broke down sobbing, and Natalie kept her death grip on his arm, the knife in her other hand.I flipped on the lights in the den, checking the couch for Charlie.He wasn't there.But thankfully, there were no feet under the curtains.Next, I checked the living room, which was right next to the entryway.Charlie wasn't there.
15:33But there was a pair of bare feet under the curtains of the window nearest the front of thefront door. Since there was no dividing wall between the entryway and the living room, the curtainswere only a few feet from the front door. I turned around and rushed back into the kitchen.The last place to look was the dining room, which had a sliding glass door that led out to theback patio. I turned the lights on and saw that there were six pairs of feet lined up under thecurtains over the sliding glass door, six different pairs of feet, all of them looking lifeless.We need to get out of here.I said, backing into the kitchen.
16:11Not without Charlie!Natalie said.Find our son, God damn it!Find our son, Mitchell!I think he's gone.I said.No!Natalie screamed.
16:22Ball was bawling now, and she had to yell to be heard.No! Find him!911!I said, suddenly realizing what we should do.We need to call 911.I grabbed the portable landline phone from the kitchenand hit the night.numbers. But as I went to press send, the power to the house shut off completely. The phone
16:43was fully charged, though, so it shouldn't have mattered. But when I looked down at the phone,it was dead. That's impossible. Find our son! Natalie screamed, tears streaming down her face.Find him! There was only one place left to look. The garage. I ran through the mudroomoff the kitchen and opened the garage door. Our vehicles were parking.inside, but the light didn't work, so I couldn't see. Still, I figured the lights in our carswould work, so I opened the door to Natalie's CRV, but no light came on. The car was completelydead, too. Charlie? I called, looking through the gloom into the back seat and then doing the samewith my forerunner. He wasn't there. No longer able to hold it in, I broke down sobbing as I trudged
17:33back to the kitchen. Natalie looked at me through the darkness and said, and said, and he was not only able to hold it in.said, You hold on to him, you hold on to him no matter what. I'm going to find our son.She shoved Paul into me, and I grabbed him with my free hand.Then I watched Natalie step into the dining room.What the hell are you?She screamed at the feet.What have you done with Charlie?She charged the curtains, knife held ready in her right hand.
17:58The wood chipper sound erupted immediately, but Natalie didn't care.She pulled the curtains aside, ready to thrust with the knife.but there was nothing there, nothing at all, just complete and utter darkness.The sound was so loud it hurt my ears, and the next thing I knew, the curtains were falling backinto place over the feet. My wife was gone. The only sign of her was the knife she'd beencarrying, now lying on the carpet. The feet jutting from under the curtain started moving inplace. Toes wiggled, muscles shifted, tendons jutted. At the same time, the tone and pitch of thewoodchipper sound changed, becoming lower and somehow wetter. Chunky liquid sprayed out from under
18:43the curtains, splattering the six pairs of feet lined up there. Hunks of meat came with the liquid,and I soon realized with sickening certainty that it was blood and flesh. It was Natalie.As the wood chipper sound died down, the feet stopped shifting, going still again.Paul gripped my arm, screaming.Shocked into silence and disbelief, I turned around and dragged Paul toward the front door.We had to get out of this house.We had to, right now.But as we approached the front door, I remembered the feet under the curtains there,
19:20too close to the door for comfort.A sense of relief irked its way into my mind when I saw that the feet at the curtainand were gone. Thinking we would only get one chance, I hustled toward the door with Paul in tow.When we were nearly there, only a yard away, a pair of feet appeared under the curtain,sliding down from under the hem to settle on the floor. These feet were small, a child's feet,and they were clad in familiar socks, fluffy, multicolored socks, Charlie's socks. I came up shortand stared down at those little feet.Charlie?
19:56I said.Is that you?There was no answer.But I couldn't leave the housewithout looking to make sure, could I?Still holding the knife,I eased forward,ignoring Paul's pleas for us to just leave.
20:10There was no woodchipper sound.I took this as a good sign.It's him, I said.It's your brother.We can't leave him.It's not him.Paul cried.Daddy, please.
20:23He tried to pull me away.but he was too small, too weak.I moved ever closer to the curtains, to Charlie's feet.I reached out with the knife hand and gripped the edge of the curtain, and I yanked it open.The scene that greeted me, the scene behind the curtain, was one of unspeakable horror and carnage.Charlie stood there, smiling, blood running down his chubby cheeks,eyes like endless tunnels filled with mangled bodies.It looked like Charlie, but it wasn't.
20:54Not at all.He reached out and gripped my wrist.I dropped the knife involuntarily.I was vaguely aware of Paul screamingas we were pulled behind the curtain by not Charlie.The Natalie was there, and I was screaming.And the screams never ended.Behind the curtains, our screams went on forever.
21:17SEP 8816 is a collective designation for a phenomenonaffecting curtains and the entities accompanying its occurrence.It is primarily characterized by the appearance of a pair of feet sticking out from under the curtain,with footwear and skin tone varying from instance to instance.The absence of any folds or creases in the curtain, consistent with a human body behind the curtain,suggests that the feet are disembodied.But this has not been confirmed.SCP 8816 has been observed in curtains including, but not limited to,
21:51sheer curtains, shower curtains, theater curtains, and door curtains.In cases where the curtain ends a distance above the floor, the feet are observed to be hanging limp.There is no known way to prevent SCP-8816 occurrences beyond the removal of all curtains from a room before the anomaly occurs.