The Basement

March 5th, 1972

Families will love each other until the end of days. My family is no different, we all love each other very much. Papa used to beat us, but momma loved us so much that one day she took papa to the basement. Momma tells us to never go down into the basement. Momma knows everything, so I trust her. She's so smart and so strong. A few weeks after papa went to the basement, momma had a brand new leather jacket. It was a light tan color and momma even made sure it had papas tattoo on it, to show just how much she missed him. Momma never wore the jacket outside, only in the house. I'm the youngest of 7 brothers with Tommy being the oldest, he's 10. I'm only 4 but I'm the smartest out of all my brothers.

March 28th, 1972

Momma just took Albert, the second oldest, to the basement today. He broke some of momma's fine china. Albert apologized over and over again, crying his eyes out, but momma just slapped him and dragged him into the basement. We could all hear him screamin' like a rooster in the morning. He was screamin' for 15 straight minutes, then he just stopped. The house went silent, completely silent. Devin, the 5th brother began to cry, but he shut right up when momma told him to.

April 12th, 1972

We haven't seen Albert since momma took him to the basement, and when we ask her about him she just tells us that he's taking a nap. Momma did make some new couch pillows, they looked like the same stuff as her jacket, but much softer. Tommy doesn't seem to care for the pillows, and he even cried when he saw them on the couch.

April 29th, 1972

Momma just made a bone broth soup. It smelled really good, and it had bits of meat in it. Tommy didn't eat any though, he said he didn't feel good. It seemed to upset momma a lot, so she told him to go to his room.

September 12th, 1972

There was a boy outside the house today holding a sign and throwin' things at the house. None of my brothers could read it, but I could. I told momma about the sign, and she asked what it said. I told her what I thought it looked like. She got real mad, grabbed her big knife, and charged out the front door screamin' and yellin' at the boy. He got real scared and started running away. Momma stood in the yard just huffin' away as she watched the boy run down the road.

September 12th, 1972 (12:03am)

I woke up to a sound. It sounded like screams, but they were really quiet, and it sounded like it was comin' from the basement. Tommy was awake too, and he was silently cryin' like a baby. I asked him what was wrong, and all he told me was to go back to sleep. As I was falling asleep he said "Don't trust momma"

October 27th, 1972

We started decorating the house for Halloween today, and momma came up from the basement with a skeleton decoration that she said she was gonna hang up somewhere. It looked so realistic and life like. It's not as big as the skeletons at the store, but this one looks better than all the ones at the store. Tommy doesn't seem to like it though. Whenever he sees it he runs to the bathroom and begins to cry. I happen to think momma did a great job.

November 28th, 1972

It's Thanksgiving today. Happy Thanksgiving! Momma has been working in the basement all day, with the door locked. I hope she's makin' some delicious food.

November 28th, 1972 (6:07pm)

Momma brought a bunch of yummy lookin' food from the basement. She brought meat, sausage, bone broth soup, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. Mother seems proud of her cooking, but Tommy was refusing to eat Mamas cookin' again. He only pushed his food around his plate, which seemed to fool momma.