A/N: All these reviews, favorites and followers! I don't know what to say. I hope this story lives up to your expectations.

Robbie was in bed reading The Other End of Time by Frederik Pohl; lost in the strange adventures of Dan Dannerman, a government agent abducted by aliens. He was imprisoned with other humans, all stripped of their clothing, thinking of how they could escape by befriending one of their captors and learning more about the mysterious race.

It was only 9:15 but Robbie was already beginning to nod off and eventually sleep gave out as his book slipped from his grasp.

Robbie was walking through the park with Cat. He was getting a little apprehensive because they've strayed from the path and it was getting dusk.

"Which way…?" he asked out loud.

The redhead stuck close to Robbie but her eyes lit up and she bounded toward a brick wall.

"This way," she shouted.

"Cat, wait up!" Robbie called back, running after her. He couldn't believe how fast she was going. It seemed like she was running in slow motion but it was getting more and more difficult to keep her in his sights.

He caught up to the big red wall, confused where Cat went. Robbie checked the shrubbery growing around the monolith made of bricks. He brushed past a large bush, revealing a door red from years of rust. Gripping the handle, Robbie opened the heavy metal door with a loud creak.

It was pitch black the whole way down a flight of steps until the very bottom, leading to a corridor. Below was a small lamp.

"Cat!" Robbie called out into the abyss.

Nothing. Even his voice didn't echo back.

"CAAAAAT!" his tone grew more anxious. Swallowing his fear, he descended the metal stairs. "Cat!" He reached the bottom and started down the mildly-lit hallway. "Cat! Answer me!"

"Robbie! Help!"

The curly-haired boy ran frantically until the light vanished again. Then he was startled by a puff of hot steam in his face.

His glasses fogged up, obscuring his vision. He took them off and quickly wiped them clear.

"Cat, where are you?"

"Down here!" Cat called out beneath the catwalk he was standing on. "Hurry!"

Robbie found another flight of stairs and made his way to the bottom. His blood boiled when he could begin to make out Cat's sobs. They got louder the closer he got. When he turned a corner, certain he had found her, Cat wasn't there. Robbie rested his hand on a pipe and burned it, letting out a yelp.

Holding his hand, breathing heavy, Robbie backed up and tripped over a pipe coming out of the floor. He landed on the concrete hard.

A loud screeching made his heart beat fast. He couldn't see where it was coming from but he could start hearing something metal tapping followed by what sounded like a man laughing.

Robbie's body tensed up as he attempted to bring himself to his feet. His brow was pouring sweat, the sweltering flames in the iron cages around him were too much to bear.

He couldn't let that stop him. He had to find Cat and get her out of this horrible place. Robbie was convinced someone was down here with them. And he didn't want to stick around long enough to find out what he wanted. His worse fear was that some creep down here already had Cat in his clutches.

Robbie trudged forward cautiously but with purpose.

"Cat!" he called out yet again. "Can you still hear me?"

"In here."

Robbie made his way to a door that had a big wheel on it. His heart sank when he realized that it was a pressure chamber of some kind. He had to get it open quick to go get Cat.

He pushed the even heavier door with all his might and rushed in.

Nobody.

Robbie, frustrated and scared for Cat, turned around and suddenly a hand of rusted metal and leather gripped his face and surprisingly lifted him off the ground. As he got pinned against the wall, the figure came more out of the shadows. Robbie's jaw dropped.

A badly-burned man beyond description sneered as he regarded the boy.

Robbie tried to say something or at least make an audible sound but he couldn't.

"What's the matter, puppet boy?" the scarred man asked. "Can't make yourself talk?"

The man released his grip and Robbie fell back to the floor.

"That's okay," the guy in the fedora hat pointed with one of his finger knives. "I'll just have to make you scream…"

The instant shock of a phone ringing ripped Robbie from that terrible dungeon.

Robbie answered the phone after letting it ring a few times. He needed a second or two to get his bearings.

"Hello?" he hoarsely greeted.

His whole posture slumped. "No, you cannot talk to Rex."

Robbie furrowed his brow. "Why?" his voice almost climbed to a higher register.

"Because, it's three in the morning."

And with that Robbie tossed the phone aside and couldn't help but notice the hand he was throwing it with. His hairs on the back of his neck stood up when he saw the burn mark on his hand.

"Okay, how did that sound?"

Andre waited patiently for the sound engineer to give the thumbs up.

"Yeah Andre," the scruffy man in the baseball cap responded. "We picked up a little interference on that last take."

The musician huffed and nodded. "Alright, alright. Let's do it again."

He turned back and sat before the black piano. Andre kept his peripheral vision fixed on the little light above the sound proof glass. Once it flashed red, he cracked his knuckles and began to depress the keys.

But there was no music. What Andre heard sent chills up his spine. He couldn't put his finger on what it was. It sounded like screaming. He tried another key.

Then another.

Then another.

It sounded like animals…and they were screaming…like something was killing them.

Andre backed away slowly in his wheeled bench. He fell out of it with what came next.

A man jumped up from behind the piano, looking down on the young musician. His draw dropped at the sight of his badly-burned flesh. Despite his face being partially obscured by a hat, the evil eyes and hungry grin seemed to glow.

Andre ran to the glass and pounded on it.

"Jimmy!" he screamed between his fists slamming on the Plexiglas. "Jimmy! Help!"

He quickly ran to the door leading out of the recording room and it was locked. Andre's heart fell well to his legs and he started smacking the glass again. But no matter how hard Andre knocked or how loud he yellowed for help, Jimmy the engineer didn't so much as look up. The man was absorbed in a magazine and without the P.A., there is no way he could hear.

"Look up, Jimmy" Andre's eyes began to water, his fear overtaking him. "Look up, you son of a bitch!"

As soon as Andre turned around, he found himself being pushed hard to the glass which didn't so much as make a dent. The strange man held up one of his hands which wore a creepy glove made of blades.

"Who are you?" Andre asked, his lip quivering at the knives in front of his face.

The man's tongue jutted out rapidly like a snake's.

Andre swallowed nervously. "What are you?"

"Forever…" he whispered as he grazed one of his fingers across Andre's cheek. The boy fell to the floor, rubbing his bleeding wound. The man then leaned in close to his face. "You know what tonight is?" he asked.

Andre shook his head, pouring sweat.

"When the music…dies…"

"ANDRE!"

The bronze-skinned teen woke up, soaked in his own cold sweat. He clutched his chest, looking over to his bedroom door. His grandmother was standing there, holding a broom.

"ANDRE!" she yelled.

"Wh-whu-what is it, Grandma?"

"ANDRE! I THINK TIME HAS STOPPED! THE DVD PLAYER KEEPS TELLING ME IT'S NOON!"

"Grandma," Andre sighed, catching his breath. "That clock doesn't work. It never has. It's not really noon."

"ARE YOU SURE?" she asked in her lesser panicked tone.

"I'm sure. Go check the time on your phone or computer."

"OKAY, ANDRE!"

He suddenly sucked his teeth at the pain on his left cheek. He touched it and his eyes widened when he saw blood on his hand.

Andre bit his lip and got to a mirror to see it. "Now that wasn't imagined."

A/N: I got the inspiration for the piano scene from two movies: Haxan (1922) and House (1977). If you like Japanese horror, you should really check out House. It is seriously fucked up; worth a rent. One described it as an episode of Scooby Doo made for adults with over-the-top gore. Just watch the trailer on YouTube and you can see some of the weird ways they can make a piano creepy. LOL