The new tunnel was colder.
Not the kind of cold that stings the skin — but the kind that creeps inside your bones and settles there like it belongs.
Ayaan ran his hand along the wall as they walked. The surface was smoother here. Not stone. Not wood.
Just… something in between.
Like it had been formed by thought, not tools.
Zoya walked ahead, silent.
Sameer wanted to ask her where they were going — but something about her posture told him she wouldn't answer even if she knew.
They walked for minutes. Or hours.
Time had stopped trying to be useful.
And then…
The tunnel opened.
Into a room.
---
It wasn't large.
Just wide enough for four.
No furniture.
Just mirrors.
Dozens of them.
Lining every inch of the walls.
Some cracked. Some smeared. Some spotless.
Rehan whispered, "What is this?"
Zoya stepped forward. "It's where the forest listens."
Sameer stared at his reflection. It didn't match him.
His face was younger.
And behind him — in the mirror — was Zoya.
But she wasn't looking at him.
She was staring into a different mirror. And crying.
---
Ayaan looked into another one.
At first, it showed nothing.
Then — flicker.
A vision.
He was arguing with his father.
He had just broken something in anger.
He stepped out of the house, fists clenched, teeth grinding...
He didn't even look back when his father called his name.
He hadn't remembered this in years.
He stepped away.
Rehan was watching his own mirror.
He saw… himself. Younger. Holding a torn page.
The same page from the banned journal in that library — the one with the symbol.
In the memory, Rehan smiled. He wanted to show it to the group.
But he didn't think it would go this far.
---
Zoya turned to them.
"This place doesn't judge. It just makes you remember the things you forgot on purpose."
Sameer walked to the center of the room.
"There has to be a way out."
Zoya stepped closer. "There is."
Rehan turned sharply. "What?"
Zoya pointed to the one mirror — in the farthest corner.
The only one covered by a white sheet.
"That one shows what happens next."
---
Sameer stared.
"What if we don't want to know?!"
Zoya tilted her head...-"Then you stay."
No one moved.
The forest didn't make a sound — but something was breathing behind the glass.
Ayaan stepped forward.
He reached out.
And pulled the sheet off.
---
The mirror was blank.
Black.
And then…
A figure appeared.
Not one of them.
Someone else.
Older. Watching them from across a tree line. Holding something heavy in their hand.
A camera.
---
Sameer whispered, "Who is that?"
Zoya didn't answer.
Because she was already turning toward the entrance again.
The tunnel was closing behind them.
They didn't hear a slam.
Just… the slow, permanent silence of a door that would never open again.
"Let's go," Zoya said. "We're almost there."
Rehan looked back at the mirrors.
They were all empty now.
Except one.
His own reflection stayed behind — and smiled.
But he hadn't.
---