We went into the woods. Silas swung in the treetops, branch by branch with those long arms of his. I heard the call of a sparrow from somewhere of in the distance, perhaps hunting for food. “Hey Tobi, do you think mimes and clowns should rule the world?” Not this again. Silas and I have been debating on whether the world would be better of being ruled by clowns and mimes. We always argue about this, bringing up points for each end. I, personally, do not think the world should be ruled by a bunch of people with makeup worse than Barbie’s and hair that should be made illegal in all states. “Of course the world should not be run by clowns and mimes! What sort of government would that be? Do you want Pennywise to be the president and have a palace in the sewers, or what?” Silas scoffed, a sign that he did not agree with me. I could practically see the gears in his head turning as he tried to make a comeback. “Well,” he started, “ People would be able to wear anything without being judged, because chances are, everyone else would be wearing something similar! The palace could be like, a circus tent on a mountaintop or something, with weekly, no daily, shows. Everyone could have clown cars with a clown nose at the front and a backup pair of clown shoes! There would also be new holidays, like wear your shiniest clown nose to work day or be silent for a day like a mime!” He smiled, perhaps imagining a world such as he described it. “But,” I said, “People would just goof off, and no work would be done, since citizens would be busy being a clown or a mime. People would trip when walking with clown shoes (After all, they are quite hard to walk with), resulting in more and more injuries. What if, on “being silent for a day like a mime,” someone is about to die and can not call for help, because oh no! They can not talk! What if on “wear your shiniest clown nose to work day,” a horse comes and eats a person’s clown nose, thinking it is an apple, and accidentally also eats the person’s real nose underneath! I dunno, it feels as if a world ruled by clowns and mimes would be quite chaotic and that no one would be productive.” “Silas opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly, a dark shape loomed near us. It came in our direction, closer and closer. I heard a thump, thump, like heavy footsteps on steel flooring, piercing every nerve in me. I knew I was in danger. I tried to run, but it was as if I was glued in one piece, too frozen to move. This new stranger quickly came towards us, but before I could get a glimpse of his’/her’s face, its shadow covered us, engulfing us in unbelievable darkness. It was as if someone turned of the sun’s light! “I can not see!” I yelled, feeling around with my hands. “Silas, where are you?!” “Over here,” came the distant cry of my friend. “Stay where you are!” I shouted, panic creeping in. It felt cold. I normally do not mind the cold, for it does feel nice, but this was a much colder cold. The kind that made you shiver uncontrollably, as if you were being electrocuted. It was so cold, that it felt like heat. I hugged myself and wrapped my coat around me. Then, out of nowhere, a shrieking shriek full of grief and despair stabbed my ears. It came in all directions, no exact location on where the source was. It was horrible, so sad and painful to hear! I tried to cover my ears, but was unable to, due to the fact that my hands were currently holding on to my jacket, so that I do not turn into a Tobi-popsicle. “Tobi!” I heard, looking around in all directions, squinting. “Ye-es Si-Sila-s?!” (I was so cold I stuttered, something I typically do not do. Doesn’t help that I was scared too). “H-Help. Th-The Th-Th-Thing is re-reac-reaching to grab me! I can feel cold hands gripping my arm!” Shoot. I walked towards where I thought Silas was. My foot hooked onto what must have been a branch, and I tripped, falling to the ground. Cursing, I got up, dusted off my knees, and continued walking. I barely walked what must have been around 5 feet, when the chaos was lifted. I looked around, confused that it was not dark anymore, that I actually felt warm and was able to hear the birds chirping. Where were the piercing shrieks, the despairing darkness, the bitter cold temperatures? While my eyes adjusted to the new light, I frantically looked around, trying to catch sight of Silas. Did that terrible monster that caused that chaotic event take him, or was Silas able to fend off? “Silas!” I shouted, panic creeping into my voice. What if he was taken away while it was dark? What if that thing ate him? What if…. What if….”Over here Tobi! Sheesh, help me out will ya?” I looked over and saw a monkey version of Rudolph (My family calls Silas Rudolph because of his nose, and we even go as far as dressing him up as Rudolph for Christmas) sitting on a branch, weakly smiling at me. “Silas!” I stumbled over to where he was and stood underneath the branch he was sitting on. He had what looked like a smirk plastered on his face, but I knew better. I saw how he was shaking of fear, saw the terror in his blue eyes. I felt sorry for him, since I myself was still shaken up about the whole ordeal. I decided to not mention to him the fact that he looked frightened. You must understand that Silas values his dignity. He hates showing even the smallest hint of weakness. Even now, he tries to hide his fear with a smile. “Silas! Are you alright?” I looked up to where he was. “Can you come down here? So we can talk.” Silas slid down the trunk of the tree until his feet touched the ground. I rubbed my hands together. Bad idea. When I fell on the ground, my hands got scraped on the forest floor, and I had a few splinters here and there. “Ouch!” I exclaimed, looking at my hands. There was a small trickle of blood coming out of the open little gashes that were on my hands. Silas looked at me, concern written on his face (Not literally, obviously). “What is it? Are you hurt?” “Just a bit of a scrape and a few splinters,” I answered. I turned towards Silas. “Nothing to worry about, or at least compared to what you went through! What happened? Did that, thing, really try to grab you?” I looked at him with my hands in my coat pockets. Silas quickly looked down at the ground, yet not fast enough for me not to see the single teardrop that fell from his face. My expression, which was stern as a mother hen’s, softened a bit. “Oh Silas. It is fine, you do not need to tell me what happened. I can see that you are still quite shaken up.” He looked up and wiped away his tears with his hand. “No no, I wanna tell you. Ok, so after I felt those cold hands grip my arms, I flailed around. I was trying to get Mr. Shadow to let go of me. It worked, for like, a minute, and then I felt what I guess were the fingers brush across my left elbow, trying to grip me again. Before I could flail around like a headless chicken, it all just stopped. I didn’t see Mr. Shadow anywhere.” “Hmmm,” was all I managed to say. I paced around, thinking. Who was that stranger, or as Silas called him, Mr. Shadow? Certainly he was not very nice. Was he trying to get just Silas, or was he then going to get me? Where did he come from? How did he find us? All these questions and much more swiveled around my head, teasing me to try to find the answers to them. “There has to be a logical explanation,” I muttered under my breath. I gave up thinking and stopped pacing. “Welp, as much as I would like to know what just happened, we should probably start heading to Wonder Branches. After all, maybe there is a book there that can help us. Come now.” I motioned to Silas to follow me. This time, instead of swinging around, he walked and stayed close to me. “Wanna play truth or dare?” “Sure,” I answered, kicking aside a rock. “Ok then, I’ll start.” Silas looked up to me and asked, “Truth or dare?” I stumbled a bit, tripping on my own foot. Why am I such a klutz? “Dare,” I responded while I stepped over a rotting branch. “Kay then. I dare you to…… start a food fight in the North Pole with Santa and his penguins. Bonus points if you include elves.” I stopped walking and looked at Silas. I laughed. “Now what sort of challenge is that Silas? How will I get to the North Pole? I mean, do you perhaps have an airplane I can use or….” Silas looked at me, amusement in his eyes. “One day we’re gonna go to the North Pole. Then, you can start a food fight.” I laughed again. “How random! Well, I suppose it is my turn to ask you. Truth or da-.” My words faded in my mouth as I looked up at the sign that read “Subway Station 348.” “We’re here Tobi! Let’s go inside.” Silas bounded down the stairs. “Wait up,” I called after him. I ran down the stairs as well, holding on to the banister. This was an abandoned subway station in the woods. Years ago, it was closed down by order of The President. Now, it was basically forgotten. The first time Silas and I explored it, we stumbled across a little opening into a tunnel. When we crawled through the tunnel, both of us saw a room. It had a brown, oak table, with chairs surrounding it. But that wasn’t the best part about the room. The best, most enchanting part were the crisscrossing branches that covered the walls. In the little openings the branches made, there were books. Hundreds upon thousands of books full of knowledge. On the ceiling, there was a little light, something mankind could not ever hope to make. The light itself filled the room with a greenish, soft light. The whole room was unbelievable, and, quite frankly, magical. It was like something from a fairy tail! From then on, Silas and I always enjoyed going to our little hideout, going there whenever we had the chance. I got to the bottom step of the stairs and looked at the interior of the subway station. I gasped. I could tell Silas was surprised as well. Why the reactions?
Because right smack dab in the middle of the subway station was a crashed subway. And that subway was on fire.
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