00:00Have you ever wondered what happens in the dead of night, on the vast, empty stages where legends perform when the roaring crowds have gone home, the crew has packed up, and a single solitary light remains.
00:10This is a story about one such night, a story whispered backstage.
00:13A chilling tale involving none other than the iconic Lady Gaga, it was the eve of a massive concert.
00:19The arena was a cavern of silence, a stark contrast to the electric energy it would hold in just 24 hours.
00:24The crew had called it a day, heading off for a much-needed break, leaving the entire stage to Gaga herself.
00:30She wasn't one for resting.
00:32The pursuit of perfection is a relentless master, and she wanted to run through her choreography one last time, to feel the space, to own it, but she wasn't entirely alone.
00:41High above, a single spotlight cut through the darkness.
00:44It wasn't the usual brilliant white, but a deep blood-red gel, casting an eerie crimson glow that painted the stage in shades of scarlet and shadow.
00:51It was the kind of light that makes things feel, different, more intense.
00:55It swallowed the empty seats, turning them into a black, gaping void, and made the stage feel like an isolated island in a sea of nothingness.
01:03Gaga stood center stage, basking in the redwash, the silence so profound she could hear the faint hum of the light fixture above.
01:09She took a deep breath, the cool, conditioned air filling her lungs, and began to move.
01:14Her body flowed through the familiar motions, a dance of precision and power she had practiced a thousand times.
01:19Arms snapping into place, feet gliding across the marked floor, a turn, a pose.
01:24But as she moved, a flicker of something in her peripheral vision caught her eye.
01:28It was her own shadow, stretched long and distorted behind her by the angle of the red light.
01:32She paused, holding a dramatic pose, her arm extended high.
01:36But the shadow, the shadow didn't stop.
01:38It continued its fluid motion for a fraction of a second after she had frozen.
01:42A tiny, almost imperceptible delay.
01:44Gaga blinked.
01:45It must be a trick of the light, she thought.
01:47Exhaustion plays games with your mind.
01:49She shook her head, dismissing the strange feeling, and reset.
01:53She started the routine again, this time with more force, more deliberate energy.
01:57Step, turn, kick, hold.
01:59Her eyes were now fixed on the dark silhouette splayed out on the floor behind her.
02:03One minute it was her perfect mirror, a loyal two-dimensional twin.
02:06The next it would lag, or worse, move with a subtle flourish that wasn't hers.
02:10A slight tilt of its head when hers was straight, a curve in its fingers when hers were flat.
02:15A cold, dread, slick and oily began to seep into her veins.
02:19This wasn't a trick of the light, this was wrong.
02:22Every instinct, every nerve ending honed by years of performance, was screaming that something
02:27was fundamentally, terrifyingly wrong.
02:29She stopped moving altogether, standing perfectly still in the center of that crimson circle,
02:34her heart hammering against her ribs.
02:35She stared at the ground, at the inky black shape that should have been her motionless reflection.
02:40And then it happened.
02:41Slowly, impossibly, the shadow's head began to turn.
02:44It swiveled on its dark neck, a grotesque, unnatural movement, separating from her own
02:49stillness.
02:50The shadowed face, a featureless void, twisted around until it was looking directly back at
02:54her.
02:55Gaga was paralyzed, not by stage fright, but by a primal fear she had never known.
03:00She couldn't scream.
03:01She couldn't run.
03:02She could only watch as her own shadow, her very own darkness.
03:05Raised its hand.
03:06The movement was agonizingly slow, the shadowy fingers uncurling one by one.
03:11It formed a twisted, crooked wave, a mocking, possessive gesture.
03:15Just then, the red spotlight above her began to flicker violently, plunging the stage into
03:19strobing flashes of red and absolute black.
03:22In those frantic pulses of light, the shadow seemed to jerk and twitch, growing larger,
03:26more menacing.
03:27And from the silhouette on the floor, a sound emerged.
03:30It wasn't a shout, but a low, guttural whisper that seemed to echo from the very walls of the
03:34arena, a sound that was both inside her head and all around her.
03:37It was a voice made of static and malice, and it spoke five simple words that would haunt her forever.
03:42The stage is mine tonight.
03:43The red light died completely, plunging her into total, suffocating darkness, alone with
03:48a chilling echo of that possessive claim.
03:50Thank you for watching, and don't forget to follow four more stories from the shadows.
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