Ivy sat perched on her skateboard, watching the sun slowly appear on the horizon. Her notepad sat waiting in her lap, Ivy touched the pencil to the paper, her eyes fixed on the trees around her. It was October 3, the Day of German Unity. All her friends were already up and getting ready for the festivities- her friend Lara was arranging a food booth for the downtown party. All the stores and banks were closed, but Ivy wasn't ready to head back yet.

The sun finally reached the circle of trees, and the clearing with the spiral shaped floor. Ivy readied her pencil and searched the trees, willing the symbol to appear. At last, a faint glowing came from a different cluster of trees. She ran over to see a large German flag being etched onto the front of the tree. Ivy snorted in amusement and jotted the image down, where it joined countless others that had appeared on the trees.

She had found this place four months ago when she'd gotten lost skating through the woods. On the day of a holiday, the symbol would appear on one of the trees. But after a few days, once the festive spirit died down, the symbol would fade away.

Her cell rang suddenly, causing her to draw a large line through her drawing. She swore and answered, practically growling at the caller.

"Hello?!"

"Hey Ivy! Man, you've gotta get down here. Dodgers is keeping the skate park open today, remember? We need to practice!"

Ivy sighed. It was Ben, one of her friends at the skate park where she spent her whole life. Ben was a few years older than her, and Dodgers was the skate parks' owner. They were putting on a special performance today for the town today.

"Crap! You're right! Sorry, man, be there in a flash…" Ivy shoved her notebook deep into her pocket and jumped on her skateboard. Within minutes she was zooming through the woods and onto the streets, where passerby's instinctively turned away from her. The pavement rattled against her wheels and the wind whipped through her blue and black hair.

She finally arrived at the park, where Ben was cleaning out roller skates. He looked at her and sighed.

"Iv, you're allowed to do whatever stupid thing you want outside the park, but in here…"

"…helmet is law. I got it, Ben." She grabbed her favorite helmet from behind Ben and clicked the straps under her chin. "I don't do tricks outside the park, Ben. Not the dangerous ones, anyway."

"That's BS and we both know it." Ben sighed. "All right, get to it. I want to see some sharper stuff then what we had yesterday, got it?"

"I got it." Ivy yelled over her shoulder as she pushed herself towards the Dip.

The Dip was your typical U-shaped ramp, but Hazel viewed it as one of her oldest friends. Her uncle had brought her to the skate park when she was younger and rented her a pair of skates, and she'd never looked back. As she gained speed rolling down the Dip, she wondered about the trees for the thousandth time. Where did the symbols come from? Why were they there? She'd noticed, last Easter, that the egg appeared to be a door. She knew it must be, but she could never bring herself to touch one of the doors. Where would they lead?

"IVY! Get your head out of the clouds! Let me see that turn again."

Ivy nodded and pushed off. When she reached the top of the Dip, she held her skateboard in one hand and the edge of the Dip with another. She straightened her whole body, banishing thoughts of strange symbols and magic doors. She effortlessly turned inward and landed sharply on the ramp, speeding down the Dip once more.

Ben looked impressed when she'd finally rolled up to him, kicking her board up and placing a hand on her hip. "I think I'm ready to try the stairs again." Ignoring Ben's bit lip, she rolled her neck and headed across the park.

The stairs were a long series of ramps that a skater would have to jump to reach the next one. Ivy hated the course but constantly pushed herself through it.

Ben sucked his teeth as she pushed towards the stairs. Ivy steadied herself and then leaped for the first set.

CRASH!

Ivy blinked stars out of her eyes and glared up at Ben, who was shaking his head pityingly.

"You hesitated. It's always the same. You always wait a half second too long or go too soon. Your body knows what it's doing, trust it." He pointed a thumb towards the streets. "Forget the fancy footwork for today, Iv. Let's just do something you are actually capable of doing."

Ivy glared but nodded in defeat.

….

When the crowd showed up for the show, Ivy stood backstage with the others, with her heartbeat thudding in her throat. The park always put on a show, displaying their best skaters. While Ivy wasn't a member of the park, she had been there so long and so often that the staff considered her to be like family.

"…and to celebrate the day our Great Country formed, let's welcome our first skater!"

The crowd roared as Ivy's nemesis, Bezata, pushed away from Ivy with a smirk. She rolled down the Dip and the crowd roared it's approval.

Ivy ground her teeth in frustration. Bezata was stuck-up, rude, rich, and an incredibly good skater. She and her red long board had won many medals and ribbons, and it was based solely on skill. She'd insisted that her rich mother never interfered. She should be a nice girl, but when Ivy had tried to be her friend, things went sour.

Ben patted her hand, startling her. "Go get 'em, Ivy. Show Dodgers that you're worthy to be here."

Ivy's eyebrow shot up. "So, no pressure?" she joked.

Ben nodded as the announcer called out Ivy's name. "No pressure."

Ivy rolled out, and the crowd went wild. She rolled to the edge of the Dip, looked out at the crowd, and rolled her neck before-

"WAIT! STOP HER!" A women, short with blond hair, picked her way through the crowd.

Ivy and the staff groaned simultaneously. The women was Bezata's mother. Even though Bezata insisted that her mother stay out of her business, she had no issue with her mother badgering Ivy and making her life difficult. The women hated Ivy with a fiery passion. She was convinced that Ivy was holding her daughter back from 'reaching her full potential'.

The woman glared at Ivy over her red Gucci reading glasses. "If my memory serves me correctly, this girl is not a member of the skate park, and this performance is for members of the park. You understand," she said, leaning close to Ben, "...good skates. Like my little girl."

Ben remained professional, glaring at Ivy, who was turning red from anger. "With all due respect, ma'am, if my memory serves me correctly, this is the park's show, and our owner can decide who he wants in the show or not."

No, Ben! Ivy mentally screamed. Dodgers hates me! Don't let him decide!

Ben realized what he'd said and looked over at Ivy, his brown eyes wide and desperate for forgiveness.

…...…..

Long story short, Ivy spent the rest of the month avoiding the park. Dodgers had thrown her out, furious that she had 'caused a scene', and Bezata's smirk had followed her home, silently taunting.

In vengeance, she had been steadily practicing, but without a proper ramp, Ivy suffered more falls than usual.

Halloween rolled around and found Ivy heading back to the forest. The staff always had matching costumes, and Ivy had no desire to see them.

It's not like there's going to be a surprise about the trees tonight, she thought. If it's not a pumpkin or skeleton-creature, I'm calling this whole thing a waste of time.

She headed into the main clearing, expecting the symbol to be somewhere around there.

She stopped short when the noticed that there was a door, in the shape of a pumpkin ( go figure) and it was open.

Ivy whipped around, eyes scanning every nook and cranny of the trees around her. Had somebody else discovered the doors? Had somebody...fallen in?

Hesitantly, Ivy approached the Halloween door. The smell of pumpkins and rotting flesh came from the hole and she gagged. One hand on the tree, the other holding her shirt over her nose, Ivy peered down the hole, which went deeper than should be allowed.

"Hello?" She shouted, straining to hear any response from somebody on the bottom. When only silence came, she tried again. "This isn't Alice in Wonderland, so if you can hear me, answer!"

Again nothing happened. The smell making her eyes water, Ivy stumbled away from the tree, slamming the door shut. As she was mentally planning her next move, the door swung open yet again.

Ivy sat down in shock. Had the wind blown open the door? No...it had opened from the inside.

Ivy chewed her lip and looked around. A primal instinct was telling her to run, to run away from the strange door with a smiling pumpkin. Duct Tape. She thought, picking up her skateboard. I'll duct tape the tree so that the door stays shut.

Ivy gave one last yell down the void. "LAST CALL! OR YOU'RE GETTING SHUT IN!"

This time she swore she heard creepy laughter, but convinced herself it was just other trick-or-treaters.

Ivy turned to go ride and get the tape, but an eerie feeling crept up her spine, and she suddenly had a deep fear of turning her back to the door. An intense desire to close it burned through her. She reached and shut it with her foot, but it swung open again immediately. Ivy chewed her lip, thinking. Then the she shut the door and wedged her skateboard under the knob.

The door shook, but the skateboard held it firmly.

"That's better. Now stay!" She commanded, turning to go. She hadn't gotten more than 10 paces when the smell of rotting pumpkins hit her.

Ivy froze. She hadn't heard her board hit the ground, so...

She turned just in time toss the board slip down the hole.

"NO!" Ivy yelled, racing to the tree. She stuck her head down and watched it fall, barely noticing the smell, or the wind blowing from the hole.

Ivy slammed her fist against the tree. "I did NOT waste a year and a half of my life saving up for that only for it to fall down a TREE!"

And so she made a split decision. Without looking around for others, Ivy took a breath and she dove into the hole.

...…...

Ivy instantly twisted around so that she could see the bottom of the tree, but all she saw was darkness. Desperately she flailed her hands, searching for something, anything, to grab hold of.

All of a sudden something sticky brushed her cheek. Ivy shrieked and slapped herself, wincing as her skin stung. But then another one came, getting her ear. She was falling through something sticky, and only until it hit her face did she realize what it was.

Spider webs. She was falling through enormous spider webs.

Revulsion crawled through her as she clawed the webs out of her face, her hair, her clothes.

Still falling, Ivy became aware that the webs were growing thicker. So much so that she was starting to slow down, bouncing and bending the webs before falling through. The air suddenly took on a strange feel, like how is gets before a storm. It grew colder and colder, but Ivy couldn't get to her jacket around her waist.

Clicking noises, soft at first, came from around her. Red eyes peered from the darkness, and Ivy held her breath as she heard something scatter along the wall.

Shouldn't I have hit bottom by now? Surely there's a limit as to how deep a hole can be...

One web was stronger than most and Ivy stopped, taking deep breaths of the foul air.

Squinting, she stared upwards, but there wasn't the faintest hint of light. It was completely pitch black.

Remembering trick she had learned in Girl Scouts, Ivy put one hand over her eye and counted to fifteen, trying to ignore the sounds that seemed to grow louder every passing moment.

When she removed her hand, Ivy could see shapes moving around her. Then the web lurched and she was falling again.

This time however, the fall seemed shorter. When she stopped on the next web, Ivy noticed that the air seemed...clearer. The smell still hung around, but there seemed to be a breeze whistling through her hair.

Ivy tried to roll out of the web, but her feet were caught. You've got to be kidding me! Ivy thought angrily. First I lose my board, then I fall down this twisted tree, and now I'm stuck in a spider web? No way!

Beyond irritated, Ivy yanked in the webs that held her feet. Then the web broke and Ivy screamed as she dangled by her feet.

After a few desperate tries, Ivy groaned and stopped grabbing at her feet.

This is insane, she thought. What on Earth is going on right now? I can't even- wait, is that light?

Ivy flopped around, squinting to see a faint light far off in the distance. As her eyesight adjusted even more, she realized that the dark tunnel she'd been falling down was gone- she was dangling just outside the mouth of it, the ground around 6 feet below her.

Ivy was so focused trying to see better that at first, she didn't notice the slow, cautious spider that hovered by her shoulder. The spider slowly spun the webs tighter and further up Ivy's body.

Ivy took a deep breath to clear her lungs of the tunnel's scent- thank God it wasn't as strong here- but found it was hard to.

She frowned and tried again, only to notice that her chest felt tight and restricted. She wiggled her fingers only to find that they were tightly bound.

No way. This is not happening. I just hit my head at the park or something, that's all. There's no way I'm TIED UP WITH-

Ivy twisted but couldn't finish the thought as she came face-to- face with an enormous spider.

Ivy did what any person would do in that scenario. She screamed (loudly and shrilly, so that the spider winced,) and jerked away from it.

The spider scuttled away, terrified by the noise Ivy had made. His ears were ringing and he was suddenly very glad he wasn't allowed to go to the human world on Halloween.

"Hold up!" Ivy yelled after it. She didn't really want it to come back, but she also didn't want to be left alone in the dark.

The spider only scuttled off faster, leaving Ivy tied and dangling. She huffed and glanced around, shaking as the wind chilled her to the core.

A sudden whistling sound drew her attention upwards. Something small was spiraling towards her, and Ivy stared in horror as she recognized the object.

More clicking sounds surrounded her and red eyes began to glow from the darkened as Ivy had depressing thought. Isn't that a funny cause of death- eaten by spiders after being knocked out by your own skateboard.

And then: this is really going to hurt.

And it did. The board struck her head and Ivy immediately fell unconscious.