Hi, I'm Kristen.

And I'm her little brother, William.

We're from the podcast Guide to the Unknown,

where we only talk about scary stuff and have a good time doing it.

Come join the scary fun, everyone.

Wherever you get your podcast, you'll find Guide to the Unknown.

Creepy presents.

Basement Venus.

Written by Joshua Bryant and narrated by Heather Thomas.

They were finally lowering Joey's mother into the grave.

A dry wind was coming up from the south with the scent of the desert in it.

The canvas of the cover that kept the sun off the mourners, whipped and strained against the

poles that fixed it to the ground.

Grains of sand came up to get stuck in lipstick and bring tears to otherwise dry eyes.

I watched them begin flinging dirt on top of the coffin.

Joey couldn't handle watching his mother get buried.

So I was there on his behalf.

I was trying to think of how best to describe it without gutting him.

I wondered if I should call it beautiful.

It wasn't.

There was nothing beautiful about dirt being flung atop a pine box with a dreadful old woman inside.

I shouldn't think of her that way. She'd always taken care of Joey and I appreciated that. And he loved her. I respected that.

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