Sameer didn't move.
His lips moved, but no sound came.
That voice — that whisper from the tunnel — it didn't just speak her name...
It pulled it from his chest.
Like something he'd been trying to bury for years had finally clawed its way up.
Rehan turned to him.
"You know who she is."
Sameer shook his head slowly.
"I… I thought I forgot."
Ayaan stepped forward, shining the flashlight into the tunnel. The light only reached a few feet in...before the shadows swallowed it.
No bugs. No dust.
Just cold, and quiet.
Sameer said her name aloud, almost in a whisper.
"Zoya."
The air shifted.
Not dramatically — no supernatural crack or gust of wind.
Just a subtle drop. Like the room itself held its breath.
---
Rehan backed away from the tunnel.
"Sameer… who was she?"
Sameer sat down slowly, leaning against the wall.
He looked at both of them — then down at his hands.
"She was with us. Years ago. Not all of us — just me and a few others. We were kids. We came here one summer — I don't even remember who planned it. It was stupid. A dare."
He exhaled.
"Zoya was the youngest. She was scared. She didn't want to go near the trees."
Ayaan stayed silent.
Sameer's eyes were distant now.
"She said she saw something. Or someone. No one believed her. I… I teased her. I told her if she was that scared, she should stay behind."
He closed his eyes.
"And she did. I thought she'd gone back to the road. But when we returned… she wasn't anywhere."
---
There was silence for a long moment.
Rehan asked softly, "Did anyone report her missing?"
Sameer looked up. "No one knew she was with us. Her parents thought she was at her cousin's. We… we never said anything."
He laughed bitterly.
"Who would believe us anyway? We were kids. Kids who went somewhere we weren't supposed to."
Ayaan knelt in front of him.
"So the forest… it remembers her?"
Sameer nodded.
"It remembers everything."
---
Back in the city…
Naira printed the missing persons file she found on the hospital's old system. The girl's name was there.
Zoya Ameen.
Disappeared at age 13.
Last seen: Civil Trail 9, edge of border forest.
Unconfirmed by a group of teenagers. Case never pursued.
At the bottom, one more detail:
Note filed anonymously — from a phone booth. "She never left the trees."
Naira dropped the file.
Her chest felt tight.
Sameer… had been hiding this all along.
---
Back in the cabin…
The tunnel waited.
Sameer stood up.
He looked more certain now. Tired, but steady.
"I have to go in."
Ayaan blocked him gently. "Not alone."
Rehan nodded. "We all go. Together."
They stepped into the tunnel.
No lights.
No sound.
But they weren't afraid in the same way anymore.
Not because it wasn't terrifying — but because they owed someone the truth.
The tunnel grew colder the deeper they walked. The walls felt carved, not natural — like someone built it with their hands.
Far ahead, a faint flicker of blue light.
Sameer's voice was tight.
"She used to hum when she was nervous. A tune from some cartoon. I still hear it sometimes."
Ayaan said quietly, "You didn't forget her."
Sameer didn't answer.
But the humming had started again.
From inside the light.
---