"Stay away from that forest!"

     "This is such a beautiful place Todd." Emily said as she jumped to reach for a low-hanging branch from one of the many trees that surrounded her and her brother. As she grabbed the branch, the shadow it cast disturbed the last rays of sunshine that surrounded them and the world seemed to momentarily flicker in between twilight and night. She looked towards her twin brother to see his forehead wrinkle in confusion. "It's so weird isn't it?" he asked as he ran his fingers through his curly hair that had the same texture and reddish tint to it as hers did. "This place is so magical and yet nobody ever comes in here." "Yes it is weird" she said as she continued to study her brothers' face. It was almost like looking into a mirror. The similarities were so striking. They continued to walk through the thick forest brush as the rays of sunshine slowly began to fade from the forest floor. As darkness approached way too quickly, Emily decided that it would be a good time to walk back. After all they were still a good 15 minutes from home. Her brother looked at her and seemed to be tapping into her thoughts as he said "you ready to turn back em?" "There you go again, reading my mind." She replied with a laugh.

     As twins it seemed as if they were always very in tune with each other, a trait that had proven to be valuable more than once. Together they turned and made their way back towards their waiting mother. With every footstep the darkness seemed to thicken, until there was hardly any light left and the twins could barely see the trees that surrounded them. A sudden downpour of off-season rain caused Todd to lose his footing. "Oh Todd!" Emily cried as she reached out a hand to catch her brother. As he slipped out of her grasp and fell to the ground a flash of lighting lit up the sky as well as the forest around them. Emily froze. That brief flash of light had revealed something she wasn't quite sure that she had seen. An eerie feeling ran through her body as her eyes penetrated the darkness searching for a glimpse or confirmation of what she had seen. She couldn't see anything.. the darkness was consuming. "Emily.. Emily!!" She heard her brother shouting as though from a distance. Her eyes finally focused on her brother waving his hands in front of her face. "What's wrong with you Em? you look like you seen a ghost." "I.. I'm fine, you didn't see...?" Todd interrupted her to say "That lightning? Of course I seen it but it's not anything that we haven't seen before!" Emily grabbed Todds sleeve and started to pull him in the direction of their home.

     They continued their journey back through the slippery mud without another incident. Todd noticed his sister was strangely quiet. What was her problem he wondered, "What's your problem Em?" He asked aloud. He watched as she seemed to think about her answer. Four whole seconds later she responded with "I don't know Todd." Todd didn't respond. He wondered what was going on in his sisters' head. One minute he had fallen and the next he had picked himself up and Emily just wasn't herself. They continued their walk in silence. As they finally exited the forest and they could see their house about half a mile away Todd stopped and looked at his sister. "Listen Em, I don't know what it is right now but you're a little off. Now we're late for dinner as you can tell and you know mom's going to have some questions so I'll be the one who answers them, okay?" "I have no problem with that Todd now let's go." She responded. They walked the rest of the way and finally were at their front doorstep. As expected, when they opened the door they were bombarded by their worried mother. Todd looked at the clock. They were 30 minutes late and really in for it. "Where have you guys been?! I've called the Thompsons and the pennys and nobody had heard from you! Where have you two been?!" "Mom relax. We were just at the library no need to get all huffy." Todd said sharply. Their mother looked at them with her sharp dark eyes. Eyes that could obviously see through the wool that was being thrown over them. "The library huh? You mean the library that closed an hour and a half ago? Good one Todd but you'll have to do a little better than that." She flipped her dark black hair over her shoulder angrily and pointed to the kitchen. "Go eat. Now! And then off to bed with the both of you. 15 years old and have all the freedom in the world yet can't even come home for dinner when it's ready."

     The twins avoided their mothers scolding glare as they walked passed her and into the kitchen. They piled their plates high with meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn as their mother watched them. "Todd what on Earth happened to your pants?" She asked pointing at her son's muddy trousers. Remembering his fall, Todd looked down and seen that his outfit looked like the forest itself. He even had some forest tree leaves stuck to his pant leg.  He looked at his sister who nodded her head at him. Time to come clean. They were caught. "Now Mom, you know I could never lie to you.. alls we did was go for a little hike in the forest.. there was nothing to do so we decided to go and get some exercise. When it started to rain I slipped and fell and my pants got all dirty." He looked at his mother as her face softened. But she didn't say anything. Instead she turned around, went into the living room and sat down. The twins sat down at the kitchen table, quietly eating their dinner. Todd's mind was focused on their mother and hoping that they weren't in too much trouble. But Emily's mind was still elsewhere wondering about what she had seen in the forest. Neither of them said a word as they finished their meal at the same time and put their dishes in the sink. As they walked towards their bedroom they heard their mother call for them. "Hey you two, come here please." She patted the cushions on each side of her. As the twins sat down next to her she continued " Listen my loves. I know you two are so adventurous and unafraid of anything but please I need you to promise me that you will stay away from that Forest." "But Mom why? Why do you always say to stay away from the Forest?" Todd said angrily. " It's such a cool place! It's not dangerous at all!" Their mother was quiet. As Emily watched her face she could tell that her mother was thinking hard. "I wish I had a valid reason as to why I'm asking you guys to stay away.. but I don't, I just know that it's not safe so please stay away from that Forest." Emily spoke up for the first time since they had been home. As her brother started to say something in response she cut him off and said "Okay Mom we promise we'll find something else to do in our spare time. " Her mother looked at her with relief. "Thank you Emily. I love you guys and I just want what's best for you two." Her mother's eyes filled with sadness as she looked up on the wall to a picture of a man with red hair. "If anything ever happened to you guys I don't know what I would do..." The kids looked up at that same picture of their late father and immediately felt bad for upsetting their mom. Their dad had passed away when they were to young to remember, but him and their mother had been lifelong lovers. "We're really sorry Mom it won't happen again.." Todd said as he wiped a small tear away from his mother's eye. "Please don't be upset, please don't cry."  "Off to bed both of you. summer vacation does not mean late nights and late mornings. I love you both so much. Sweet dreams." "Goodnight we love you to mom." Both of the twins said in Union As they walked towards their bedroom.

     They opened their bedroom door to see stars and planets glowing in the dark. It looked like a giant solar system. It was the best part about the end of every day. They shut the door quietly. Emily climbed into her bottom bunk as Todd took his top bunk and let out a sigh of relief. "That was a close one huh Em? We almost really got it good" he said peeking over the rail at his sister. "Get serious Todd. We really upset mom tonight. We don't need to be doing that to her we should just stay away from there from now on." She said.  Her brother's upside down face went right side up as he hopped over the railing onto the carpet. He looked into her eyes and said "Are you serious Emily? There's so much we still haven't discovered in that Forest you know. There's got to be a reason why nobody goes in there and I want to find out what it is!" He whispered intensely. He walked over to the bathroom sink that was connected to the bedroom they shared. As he brushed his teeth he watched Emily's dark figure in the mirror. Something was definitely up with her, he thought. It was really bothering him, but he knew that it was best to not say anything to her right now. She would tell him in her own time when she was ready.

     Instead of brushing her teeth with her brother as she usually did, she laid in the dark and stared off in the distance. She was back in the forest in that same spot, in that moment in time when the lightning flashed and she seen what she had seen. Or what she thought that she had seen. As she closed her eyes she could see the pain in the creature's face. Neither human nor animal, the creature had stood there in the Forest in that moment as the lightning flashed and locked his eyes with Emily's. Emily shuddered. His eyes were almost human. A beautiful color of blue decorated with what could have only been the the pain of death. She remembered the rip down the creatures middle. The likes of which she had never seen before. She inhaled deeply as she remembered seeing the blood that was escaping this things grayish flesh. As she exhaled a feeling of sadness filled her heart. The creature, whatever it was, had obviously needed her help. That is if she had really seen the creature at all. She shook her head. Of course she had seen it. She remembered every detail so vividly. As she layed in her bottom bunk she wished with all her heart that she had done more to help the poor little thing. As Emily was lost in thought on her bottom bunk, her brother was above her already snoring peacefully. Emily tossed and turned restlessly for a good hour until she was finally able to drift off into a fitful sleep. A sleep that was plagued with nightmarish cries of help from The unseen, and visions that were whisked away before she could fully grasp what they were. All that night Emily tossed and turned in her blue silk blanket while above her, her brother Todd was snoring softly and peacefully.