*this story was started days ago*

“I’m first!” Tommy shouted as he rushed past his brother,knocking him to the ground as he ran towards the swings in the small abandoned park that they passed  by on their way too and from school. Tommy was 9 years old with a mop of red hair on top of his head, bouncing with each step and freckles on his sunkissed cheeks while his brother Noah who was 7 looked like his mother with short dark hair and more of a tanned complexion. They told their mother they were going to head to the corner store two blocks away as they had done many times in the past so she trusted them to do so.

“Hey no fair, wait up” Noah yelled as he stood up, brushing dirt and gravel from his now slightly ripped jeans and stumbled after his brother to try and catch up. By the time he reached the playground his brother was already sitting on one of the rusty swings trying to get it to move by pumping his legs. The rusty metal screeched and groaned with bits of orange rust and paint flicking off with each forced movement as he focused on trying to touch the sky with his feet while his brother began to complain. “Look at my ripped pants, we are going to be in so much trouble. Mom is going to know we did not go to the store” He stopped at the edge of the stone border that had bits of grass poking through it as he looked at his brother. “Mom won’t find out if we are fast and we can hide your pants till we can figure out what to tell her. Get on one of the other swings, I bet I can go higher than you.”

Reluctantly Noah climbs onto one of the other swings and for a few minutes they are so lost in the moment they do not realize that their surroundings around them have slowly begun to change and take shape. Tommy glances towards the ground as he makes another pass and notices that the cracks that were in the earth seem to morph back together into a smooth surface, the rocks were no longer flying into the air as their feet brushed against them.Everything beneath them had solidified into a solid smooth surface and they could not longer hear the sound of the chains and the rest of the playground seemed to disappear into enveloping shadows. There wasn’t even the sound of chirping birds or buzzing insects, just a deafening stillness.

Slowly the shadows began to create a circle around them, rising up from the ground to take shape but not anything they could recognize. They stretched and oozed till they became tall and thin, their heads oddly shaped but with no facial features, just solid blackness. Tommy's hands gripped tightly on the chains, his fingers turning white as he cast a frightened glance to his brother who had stopped swinging and sat frozen in fear with his mouth partially open. Finally Tommy let out a choked scream as desperation rose, one of the shadows slowly moving closer, reaching a thinly stretched out arm towards his younger brother not to touch him directly but the ripped hole in his jeans. It did not touch him nor his jeans but darkness bled from its fingertip causing the threads to twist and move till the hole seemed to mend itself completely. It tilted its head more so out of curiosity, pulling its arm back as the circle of shadows drifted back away from the swings. The tallest one moved in close enough to almost be eye level with Tommy before a voice unlike anything the boy had ever heard before spoke “The Mistake is erased” Tommy looked briefly at his brothers now mended pants then back at the shadow figure, its head now tilted in the opposite direction before it spoke again “The balance has been restored but the debt to the playground remains unpaid” Both boys look at each other confused at what debt could they possibly owe. “What debt?” his voice cracked. “We don’t have anything.”

The shadow twitched for a moment as if it was thinking of how to respond then in a quiet almost chilling voice it spoke once more “We do not belong to the light, we are not meant to be disturbed. This playground is our home. You owe us the memory of the stitch..the dark belongs to the dark.” Before either of the boys could respond, the shadow flicked its wrist and within an instant the shadows melted like a liquid into the ground as the earth itself began to tremble. Both boys closed their eyes tight, gripping the chains as if it was the only thing keeping them held to the earth. Their heads began to pound like they might explode before the pain drifted away like a wisp of smoke then there was nothing. When they opened their eyes both boys groaned and looked around. The birds were chirping in the distance, the familiar sound of insects buzzing in the green grass, the bottoms of their shoes brushing against the gravel beneath the swings they still sat on.

They looked at each other as if they had only stopped for a moment to play before remembering their trip to the store. “Mom wanted a can of soup didn’t she?” Noah asked, looking at his brother. “Oh that's right,” Tommy replied. “We better get to the store then head home before mom starts to worry. Both boys jumped off the swings and ran out of the park and towards the store oblivious to anything out of the ordinary in life.You can hear their shoes hitting the pavement as they rush to get to the store before it closed.The shadows receded to the trees and silently watched, waiting for the stitch to inevitably bring them back.They never completely disappeared observing as the boys made their way down the road unaware of what they had awoken.