The world of Darkness.

The darkness. It filled every hope with worries. Every smile turned dark. Raindrops became silent in fear of being seen. And the shadows awakened.

When I asked my mother why the night was dangerous, she would reply to me with a shake of her head, "There is a reason why children are afraid of the dark. A reason why monsters hide in closets during the day." I'd always wondered why people hid in their homes when the sun began to set. I always wanted to know. It had been a law in our state to not stay past 9:00 pm. The ones who did were never the same. I personally didn't know anyone who had, but I did know that one of my friend's uncle had done it. I wanted to know what had happened to her uncle, but I didn't get the chance. They moved away the day after it happed. And for her uncle. He was never seen again. 

I would normally go to the library and look for books that spoke about the shadows. I never found them. I did notice, that there was a restricted section of the library. Nobody was allowed there, but it might have been my only chance to ever find out what really happened after dark. After school that day, I snuck out to the library and once I had made sure no one had noticed where I was, I crept into the section and looked around. The smell was ghastly. It was as if the books had never been taken out of there. And the room looked uncared for and dirty. Had nobody entered this room ever? Why did it even exist if not even the janitor was allowed in there? I scrunched my nose and began my search for books. After searching for about 15 minutes, I found a small box underneath some costumes used for the library festivals. I pulled it out and oped the dirty object. Coughing at the dust, I wiped the cover of a book peeking out from there with my sleeve. I tried to read the cover but it seemed to be in another language. I tried to decipher it but failed. Looking inside, I noticed a strange drawing. It was a moon with small people around it. I looked inside the box and to my luck, I found more books that seemed about the same topic in Engish. Putting them under y coat. I crawled out the building through the back window. That day I ran home to hide my books. I would make a discovery that night. I knew I would be successful and would find the answer to the rules and the shadows. I could possibly be hurt. I was ready. 

That one night when I decided to break the rules. I had stayed up reading about the darkness. I'd stumbled upon an article named The world between 3:00 am to 3:15 am. Curiosity had taken over me, so I decided to stay awake, waiting patiently for 3:00 am to come.

I had been awake for 2 hours. Nothing had happened. The shadows? Still there. The creaking in the house was nonexistent. And what about the monsters? Where were they?

The wind blew against my window causing a shiver to run down my back. The clock struck the hour. It was 3 already. I looked around slowly. The moonlight caught my attention. I had never noticed how bright and big it was. It seemed to only get brighter. To grow a little more every second. As if it was coming for me. As if it was going to swallow me whole. I smiled. There was nothing scary about the dark. Maybe this was the world between 3:00 am to 3:15 am. A world filled with beauty. I looked back up at the moon noticing it looked different. It wasn't just white now. No. It was many different colors. Colors which I had never seen before. I heard a sound behind me and quickly turned to see my closet. The doors were opened. I knew for certain they had just been closed a second ago. I shook it off and closed the door. Looking back out my window, I couldn't see anything. Only colors. Many colors. Where were the farm animals sleeping outside my room? Where was the neighboring farm? Where was the rest of my house? I tried to take deep breaths. It must be a dream. All of these things couldn't have just disappeared into thin air. It was impossible! I threw my door open and ran out of my room. I soon stepped onto the grass. Very green grass filled with flowers. All types of plants that I was sure had never been discovered. I looked up only to find myself in a field. My bedroom door had vanished. The colors on the ground and sky ever so bright. It was a beautiful sight. I soon noticed a tall person with a black cape. Trying to ignore them and look for a way to run, I felt a tap on my back. I took a deep breath in and tried to seem as if I hadn't just arrived here. I smiled and said introduced myself. The person just motioned for me and started walking away. I supposed they wanted me to follow them. I knew it was wrong, I could die if I kept going, but I couldn't turn around now. It wasn't that I didn't try, I did. It was that my feet would stop going after them. It was like having no control over my body. 

The person soon stopped and so did I. They got closer to me. Soon they were an inch from my face, and everything went black. 

I woke up. But there was something different. I was back in my room, and everything was back to normal except for one thing. I wasn't myself anymore. I looked like myself but I wasn't me. I felt controlled. I wasn't in charge of what my body did anymore. I wasn't alone.