Now You See Me, Now You Don't 

In a quiet little neighborhood recently built against the edge of the woods lived five friends. Logan, Josh, Anna, Mary, and Mat, this is the order they always introduced themselves because they were very respectful of the laws of "I'm older." Logan was the leader of the group, he was almost ten and thus he was the oldest. Today he declared they would travel the tortuous path to the kingdom! 

This meant they were going to play behind his house today. There was an old playground tucked away in the woods within eyesight of his back porch. It had a jungle gym, slides, swings, a seesaw, a teacup spinner, and a fort connected to a tower by a rope bridge. Logan's Dad checked it out and said it was old but still safe so they were allowed to play on it. Before they ran out the back door Logan and Mat's Mom reminded them to not go any further into the woods than the playground. They all agreed and then hurried off to the playground. They played tag and ran around the fort, then they drew in the sand and played on the seesaw. The sun was starting to set and they were all exhausted after playing all day. Pretending the jungle gym was an island they all laid on it recovering their energy. 

"Kids, it is time to come inside." Logan's mom was standing next to the playground. 

"No!" Pleaded Logan

Anna rolled over onto her belly looking at Logan's Mom. "Just five more minutes."

Mat, the youngest, put on his most pleading face and then put his hands together. "Pleeeaaassse." 

Logan's mom sighed. "Ok, five minutes. Don't make me come back out and get you. Come when I call." 

"Yess Mamm!" Called out Mary. 

They talked and joked for a little. Mat looked around the playground in the dim light of the fading day. The forest was so dark and soon the path to the house would be completely hidden in the shadows of the forest. Mat felt the cold of the dark forest around him making him uncomfortable. It was making his skin feel tingly as his nervousness grew. Suddenly a crow flew off the top of the lookout tower. Mat jumped making the others laugh, his bravery was shattered now and he just wanted to be back inside the safe and warm house.. 

"I want to go home?." Said Mat giving a pleading look to his brother Logan. 

"Ha ha, oh don't be such a scaredy cat. I don't want to leave yet." Mat scooted to the top of the jungle gym so he was in the middle of the group making him feel a little bit safer. Anna watched him do this and felt sorry for him. It was not that long ago that she was afraid of the basement in her house. She was still afraid of the dark when she was alone.

Anna tapped Mat on the foot, "I will take you into the house if you want." Mat smiled nervously.

"Thank you Anna."

Mat did his best to ignore everyone else as they teased him. "Scaredy cat, scaredy cat, Mat is a scaredy cat." They chimed in a musical tone. Until they were interrupted when Anna let out a scream after putting her feet on the ground. She quickly jumped back on the jungle gym and looked back with tears in her eyes.

"Something grabbed my leg!" She pulled up her left leg and rubbed her ankle. Mat had frowned his brow as he looked down where Anna had stepped. 

"Don't be like that! You will make Mat even more scared. It was just a tree root or vine." Logan grumped as he tried to make sense of the shadows cast across the ground. 

"It is not a joke!" Anna protested, as tears started to fall down her cheeks. Mary rubbed Anna's back trying to calm her nerves. "You're ok Anna." she said very calmly even though she was feeling scared to the point she was shivering.

Josh scoffed. "You're all a bunch of babies." As he said this he gracefully jumped down onto the ground opposite from the side Anna tried to exit. "See." Josh picked up his arms on both sides showing off the fact that he was the bravest of them all.

 Matt laughed but only for a moment. The shadows did not hide the movement completely. The ground a little ways away from Josh started to move. It was a little bump no bigger than the top of your head. When it moved under the ground it was fast, as if it was simply under a blanket. Logan noticed this as well, as he took in a breath to shout out his warning it was too late. 

Josh, still laughing, had only a second to realize his friends' faces looked panicked in the shadows of the night. Then he felt a sharp pain around his ankle. Looking down he could see a dirt covered hand holding on to him tightly... It had sprouted from the ground right beside him without making a sound. 

"Aaaaahhhhhhh! Get it off of me!" Josh cried out as he grabbed the jungle gym just before the hand started trying to pull him away from it. Logan scrambled forward putting himself beside Josh without touching the ground. He put one arm around Josh to help pull him away. To his surprise this one hand was very strong. Josh's fingers were slowly losing grip but luckily everyone else had snapped out of their shock and were grabbing Josh's arms. Pulling together Josh was able to lock his arms around one of the bars.

"Let him go!" yelled Logan as he looked down and kicked viciously at the hand. It let go after the third kick. With everyone still pulling they fell backwards roughly. Mat's little upper body went through the bars with one catching him at his waist. He bent his knees up to his chest, then quickly grabbed at the bar in front of him pulling himself up. Looking down under the jungle gym he could see two more bumps rushing in towards the spot he would have fallen if he didn't catch himself. Mat jumped when he felt a hand grab his arm. Anna was sobbing as she pulled him in and hugged him like he was a teddy bear. 

"I told you!" Anna sobbed.

"What was that?" asked Mary as she clung to the bars so tight her knuckles were turning white. Josh was looking around as he tried to not hyperventilate. 

Logan was breathing hard but had a level head as he made a quick check on his friends to make sure they were ok. "We need to get to the house." He said as he looked at the now completely dark path. 

"There are two under us, Logan." Mat pointed down and everyone looked as a silence fell over the grup. Logan listened to the quiet woods. Even the crickets were hiding, not daring to make a sound. The little bumps were nowhere to be seen at this time as well. "We can't let mom walk out here without knowing what's going on." Everyone nodded in agreement. 

"How are we supposed to get away? They are too strong to pull away from by ourselves if they catch us." Josh said this while trying to investigate the dark bruises on his leg. Mary scooted down the jungle gym a little closer to the ground.

"Mary! Be careful!" cried out Logan.

"Shhhh. I want to try something." she said as she perched herself on the lowest bar. Everyone watched in suspense. Logan got closer to Mary and whispered. "What are you planning?"

"I want to see when they show up and how fast they are." Holding on with one hand she reached out towards the ground with the other. Logan locked an arm on a bar and grabbed Mary's belt hoping he could pull her away from any danger. Mary reached down and grabbed a branch, she sat on the edge of the jungle gym and sighed. There was no movement throughout the playground. Mary then took the branch and smacked it at the ground with all of her might. Making Mat and Anna squeal in surprise. Logan tightened his grip even more on Mary's belt as he watched with bated breath. 

Josh made a nervous humm as they all watched the little bumps rush towards the spot where Mary hit the ground with the branch. A few bumps came from under the seesaw and other various pieces of playground equipment. There had to be dozens of them! Mary screamed and dropped the branch as they rushed over towards her. Mary crawled up a little closer to Logan as the group watched the hands spring out of the ground grabbing the branch and breaking it to pieces and then pulling it back into the ground.

Mary looked to Logan "We can't outrun those things." Logan looked worried but shook his head.

"No, I think I can if we can get them to go after something further away. Everyone take off your shoes."

Josh didn't hesitate and everyone did as they were told. Logan took Josh's shoes and threw one as far as he could and watched the bumps go after it. He wanted to know if they would leave a target if they heard another one hit the ground. He gently tossed the other one a little way off to the side near the woods. The bumps continued after the first shoe before they turned their attention to the other one. However they seemed confused where it might be until one bumped into it and quickly pulled it under the ground.

Logan smiled, "I have a plan, but all of you need to do exactly as I say ok?" Everyone nodded in eager agreement. Logan explained that he planned to throw one shoe as far as he could. Then when the bumps were almost about to get it he would run for the house. And when they saw any bumps come after him they were supposed to throw their shoes one at a time to distract the bumps from Logan.

Logan stood on top of the jungle gym with one shoe in his right hand. The bumps were all hiding again. "Here we go." He said as he pulled his arm back and threw the shoe as hard as he possibly could. The bumps appeared again all over the playground and hurried after the shoe. Logan slid off of the jungle gym as quiet as he could and took off at top speed.

Back on the jungle gym the others could see some of the bumps were turning around. They started throwing their shoes all over the place trying to make the strange things stay in the playground. Logan could see the house now as the wind blew by him he heard something disturbing. "You wanted to stay." Said a young girl's voice. "You lied!" yelled a little boy's voice. Logan tried to ignore the voices as he leaped onto the first step of the back porch. 

A few minutes later from the jungle gym a light could be seen shining down the path. Logan's Dad came running into view with a metal shovel in his hand. "Are you alright? He asked, looking around. Logan's Mom showed up right after. "Quick get on!" called out Josh. Mat reached out and pulled on his mom's arm hoping to save her. "What are you doing?" asked Logan's Dad with a chuckle. 

"They will get you!!!" Cried out Mat.

"What will?" Asked his mom as she shined the flashlight around the playground. There sitting scattered all around the playground were their shoes. Speechless the group looked at them unable to explain what had happened. Logan and Mat's parents figured the kids were scared by a wild animal or something. Once they all collected their shoes they quickly made their way down the path back to the house, vowing to never go back there again.