They walked.
The air in the tunnel shifted with every step now — like they weren't moving through space, but through some unfinished memory that still hurt to look at.
Sameer walked just behind Zoya.
He couldn't speak. Not yet.
His throat still felt tight from what he'd seen in the mirrors — what he made himself forget.
Rehan trailed in the back, keeping a hand near the wall like he was afraid the ground would drop away at any moment.
And Ayaan…
Ayaan was listening.
Because the tunnel was whispering now.
Not words.
Sounds.
Familiar ones.
The static of a walkie-talkie.
A match being struck.
A phone ringing once… then stopping.
Each sound a stitch from a night they'd buried.
Each sound proof that the forest didn't forget.
---
Finally, the tunnel sloped upward.
Ayaan felt the floor shift under his boots — dry leaves, brittle and old, not from the trees above but pressed there by decades of footsteps.
They weren't the first here.
And they wouldn't be the last.
Zoya stopped.
"This is the place."
Ahead of them: a wooden ladder. Old, splintered, reaching up into blackness.
Rehan raised a brow. "You're sure?"
Zoya didn't blink. "No."
Sameer exhaled. "Guess that's enough for now."
One by one, they climbed.
---
The top opened into a room.
Dim light. Dust hanging thick in the air.
A cabin.
But not the one from before.
This one was intact.
Old furniture. A fireplace. Books on a rotting shelf.
Everything looked abandoned, but… staged.
Like someone wanted it to look forgotten.
Zoya ran a finger across a table.
"No dust," she muttered.
Rehan opened a drawer.
Inside: Polaroids.
Hundreds of them.
All blank.
Except the last one.
It showed Zoya.
Standing in the same room they were in now.
But she looked younger.
Confused.
Terrified.
And behind her, in the photo's corner—
That same man with the camera.
---
Ayaan held up the photo.
"Who is he?"
Zoya sat down, slowly..
as if her legs couldn't hold her anymore.
"I think he's the one who started watching us."
Sameer stared. "Back then?"
"No."
She looked up at them. Her voice was barely audible.
"Before we even got here."
---
In the city…
Naira printed out everything she could find about Civil Trail 9, the jungle border, missing persons, and one photo that kept popping up.
A man.
Blurry face. Always holding a camera.
No name. No known ID.
Filed under several reports — always from different years.
Different names, different towns… but the same forest.
She circled the photo.
"I think I've seen you before," she whispered.
---
Back in the cabin…
Sameer moved toward the door.
Zoya didn't follow.
He turned. "Aren't you coming?"
She looked down.
"This is as far as I go."
Ayaan stepped closer. "Why?"
"Because I already made my choice. I stayed. I became part of this place."
Rehan's voice cracked. "Then why bring us?"
Zoya looked at them.
Her eyes were calm. Full of something deeper than fear.
"You needed to see that your past didn't forget you."
---
Suddenly, from outside—
Footsteps.
Crisp. Measured.
Crunching across dry leaves.
Coming closer.
Zoya stood slowly.
"He's here."
The boys backed away from the door.
A shadow passed across the window.
Not running.
Not hunting.
Just… arriving.
---