“Shh,” I hissed angrily at the little rascal that was my brother. He grinned back, prancing around my heels. “She might hear us,”

I glanced over my shoulder at her, perched on the very edge of the mossy park bench, as if ready to leap into flight. Her back was turned, but beyond the mane of glossy bleach-blonde hair I knew exactly what expression she’d be wearing; one of disgust, and also of significant longing for the days when children just weren’t her problem.

“So what if she does?" My twin swept his dark hair out of his electric blue eyes, all too similar to mine. “India’s scared, India’s scared! Scaredy cat!” He called in a ringing, singsong voice. I grabbed his wrist and dragged him behind a tree.

“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” I muttered angrily.

We inched forward onto yellowing withered grass. No sunlight ventured this far through the thicket of trees, and despite the warm July day I felt a little shudder dance down my back. An ancient brick wall towered ahead of us, riddled with illegible monochromatic graffiti. The unmistakable sounds of the park- toddlers laughing and the barking of dogs- seemed to fade into the distance. It was like we had stepped into another world.

And not in a good way.

As we tiptoed further away from the mundane, I thought I heard distant voices, gruff and unintelligible, but when I spun on my heel the only moving thing in sight was the gentle, almost entrancing, sway of the sycamore trees. Even that was queer; I could have sworn that there wasn’t a breeze two minutes ago.

I gripped his hand. “Joe, we need to get out of here,” He smirked. “Told you that you were scared. Don’t be a wuss, India, it’s fine,”

With my free hand, I tugged nervously at the end of my raven-hued braid. I shivered yet more violently, the sounds only growing in amplitude. The lush greens of the park seemed like miles away, and my voice began to sound high-pitched and squeaky, panicked, even to me. “Seriously, I’m not joking, Joe, I-“

I felt a coarse hand wrap around my bare upper arm, and my frail body stiffened in shock. My vision blurred.

As my limp form crumpled soundlessly to the floor, the gruff voices echoing incomprehensibly inside my brain, bouncing off my skull, I dropped his pale wrist.

I dropped his pale wrist as the scene cut to black.

     Left to play by themselves two twins decided to explore the dark side of the park. Their parents and all the other neighborhood kids warned them about this side of the park. It was the side of the park that was closest to the woods. Where the trees stood so tall that it blocked any chance of the sun shedding light to the area. In fact, Listening to the tales about the dark shaded area: the twins had heard stories of how kids where kidnapped, injured in someway or just disappeared out of plain sight. 

    Stephanie, who was the oldest by 2 minutes and also the rebel twin decided to make a dare. She dared the other neighborhood kids that her and her sister Stella could not only go to the dark side of the playground, but also stay there for 5 minutes with out anything happening to them. Stella, who was the youngest twin and the shyest one did not want to do the dare at all. In fact she did not know why her sister would even volunteered her to go! 
    After the bet had been done she knew she couldn’t back out because Stephanie and the other kids would make her into the neighborhood laughing stock. “Stephanie only made that bet to impress Nick,” Stella thought to herself. Nick was the cutest guy in the neighborhood. He and Stephanie would playfully flirt all the time but both of them were too shy to admit their admirations for each other. 
 “How could she put our lives in danger for some boy, this whole thing is stupid,” Stella continued to think to herself as she turned red. 
    After finalizing the bet with the neighborhood kids, Stephanie and Stella walked their path to the park but later wished they never stepped foot into the dark side. 

They observe a portal like circle On goes in and looks back to the other
The other stays out Little did they know that She was just with her shadow A reflection know only to herself She was taken away by that wormhole She’s left shocked Takes a step back And left the grave of her long lost sister

There were two sides. Mother always told us to remain on the one where the sun shown and was visible to the eye. We always played there, but harm can come from stepping over the lines. We didn’t pay attention. Maybe we did but was to curious or entranced by the dark. My twin, he was the first brave soul to trespass. “Wait mother told us to stay where the sun is, “ he didn’t listen. Taking one step over he was gone. No trace left of my brother. “Brother! Come back, brother?” A shadowy figure was pushed out from the dark. Pale white and cold. “Brother?” I still don’t know what happened, just an explanation from mother as, “daughter I warned you, I remember what it was like to lose someone from all the fun and curiosity. But it’s what killer her that eats all the fun out of the games.” Now I have a funeral to attend, my twin brothers funeral, and a park that’s haunting.

Alix’s POV: Alix could feel the wind on her face and the excitement bubbling from inside her. She had no desire to stop running were it not for her twin’s persistent calls.

“Alix, slow down!,” Amaya panted, as she finally caught up with her sister.

“But I can’t wait to finally explore the woods!,” I complained, gesturing to the area of the park consumed by shadows.

“You know that those who go in the woods, never come back, right?”

“Yes, Amaya, I know. Don’t you want to know what truly goes on in these woods though?”

Amaya began to shift nervously. “Well yes, but what if something happens? What if we never return?”

“We’ll be fine. Those stories are just myths you know.” And with that final word, I entered the woods with Amaya close behind. Little did we know, disaster would soon strike and one of us would never be the same.

Amaya’s POV: Five minutes in, I began hearing whispers and had the feeling someone was following us. I looked over my shoulder but couldn’t see anyone and when I turned back to warn Alix, she was gone.

I was terrified now. I was lost in the dark woods and I no longer had my fearless sister by my side. I frantically began whispering my sister’s name which quickly became screaming.

“Alix! Alix! Where are you?!” I stopped yelling to listen for a response. I opened my mouth to call again when I heard another frantic scream echo my own. This time the scream was calling my name. It was Alix!

I sprinted in the direction of Alix’s screams but I knew it was a trap immediately. Alix was lying motionless on the ground and a gnarly creature stood over her. The creature opened its mouth but instead the sound of Alix’s screams came out.

A feeling of dread settled into the pit of my stomach. I knew it was too late for Alix. I knew she was one of those who would never return. The creature lunged at me before I had the chance to even think about Alix. I turned on my heel and ran.

I could feel the creature gaining and I focused on my goal, I just had to make it out of the woods. I could see the sun shining through the trees and felt a feeling of relief begin to bubble up. Until I heard a large crack and tried over a tree root. The creature pounced and was bearing down on me, when his head popped up and he retreated. I immediately rose and moved to escape the woods while I still could. I had sprained my ankle but I managed to hobble out of the woods.

I collapsed immediately after stepping out of the forest and sobbed. I knew that Alix was gone and I would never know what had become of her. I didn’t know how I could go on without my best friend and better half.

Alone. We were all alone at this point. Mom and dad said to go to the park and play. We never thought this would’ve happened. As we creeped over the creaky gazebo, i had thought i saw something move in my peripheral vision. i looked over and nothing was there

“Molly?” I whispered, afraid to awaken anything that could be lurking in the dark side of the park. No response. I assumed she must’ve not heard me. I reached out in front of me to try and grab the back of her corduroy jacket but nothing was there. Had i lost my sister?

“Molly?!” I whispered a little louder. Again, no answer. Now i was scared. I had just lost my twin in the dark side of the park. Great. I heard footsteps behind me.

“Macy...” said a low voice behind me. That wasn’t Molly.

“Caden come back!” Ava’s heart stammered, echoing after her brothers footsteps. He was nearing the other edge of the slide, leading into the territory of the unknown. It had been almost a hundred years since the bombs came and swept the ground from underneath many cities, destroying the houses and poisoning the lungs of the many inhabitants. There was too much destruction, too much damage for anything to be saved. Even now a hundred year laters there were danger zones that the healthy population was meant to stay away from. Although Ava’s brother didn’t seem to

realize or rather care as he headed straight toward one. “Caden! Do you not hear me, get back!” he turned to face her sneered and kept walking, “Just because we’re twins doesn’t mean I have to listen to you ava.” “no you don’t. but quite frankly you should because so far i’m the only thing that’s stopped you from getting yourself killed!” he didn’t listen instead he kept on walking till he reached the very edge, then he turned on one foot glanced back and winked at ava. “oh not again,” ava sighed and began to follow him. If he was going to cross the line she would too.

Milly and Bre, two twins both 10 years old, had been abandoned at the park with no idea where their mother had gone. Not long after she disappeared they quickly forgot that had been there in the first place. “Milly?...” said Bre, Milly rolled her eyes dramatically and crossed her arms, “Yes, Bre?” “What do you want to do?” Milly walked off with no reply, heading towards the swing set. Bre contently followed behind her, ready to sway in the air next to her identical sister. Life didn’t seem any different. The sun began setting and again Bre called out to her sister, “Milly?” Milly never responded. “Milly where are you? We need to find mommy and go home? ...Milly?” Bre was alone, she stepped off of the swing set and everything around her went black. A few seconds later she woke up, eyes blurry, ears ringing. As soon as everything cleared up she was back where she was supposed to be, with no explanation, and mommy waiting at the bench for her and her sister to be ready to leave.

My sister and I were alone. Our mother had gone to the car to grab something and we were completely by ourselves. The park seemed awfully quiet. Too quiet. We were sitting in a sand pit, on the light side. There was a light and dark side of the park. Not even adults were allowed on the dark side. People had discussed closing the park because of the dangers faced on the dark side, but no one has ever officially done it. I looked over to see my mother rummaging in her purse for the car keys. We had time. I grabbed my sister Sabrina’s hand and pulled her out of the sandbox with me. I whispered my idea to her and she nodded with a smile. “I’ve always wanted to go there Alex! But what if mom catches us?” She questions. “Don’t worry, she won’t,” I reply. We make our way over to where light meets dark and slowly stepped over the border. Instantly my optimism turned to hatred. Toward my sister. I looked over and flared at her. She gave a dirty look. Instantly I wanted nothing but bad for her. I didn’t know why, but I knew that she needed to be hurt. I plunged myself at her, my untrimmed nails cutting into her soft flesh. She bit her teeth into my arm and my eyes filled with tears. We both screamed in agony. Suddenly I felt a hand grab me by the shoulder. I was yanked backwards, out of the darkness. I looked up to see my mother, holding me and my sister. My sister was crying, and I began to weep as well. “Never go to the dark side again, you hear me?” My mother scolded. We both nodded. I then understood why it was so dark.