The silence wasn't just silence anymore. It had weight. Texture. Like it was listening.
Rehan stepped through the underbrush first, his flashlight beam jittering across twisted roots and thick mist. The air was heavy—humid and cold at once, clinging to their skin like wet cloth. Ayaan followed, eyes scanning the woods behind them even when he didn't mean to.
They hadn't spoken in the last ten minutes. Not because there was nothing to say—but because every word felt like it might echo into the wrong ears.
Then something broke the silence.
A creaking sound. Not like a branch… more like wood being stepped on.
They stopped.
Ayaan gripped Rehan's arm. "Wait."
Rehan paused, turning slowly, his lips dry. "You heard it too?"
Another step. Closer. From behind.
But when they looked back—no one.
Ayaan's voice dropped to a whisper. "We need to move. Fast."
But Rehan didn't move. His eyes were fixed on something just behind Ayaan, past the trees. His mouth opened, barely.
"There's someone… standing there."
Ayaan spun around.
Nothing.
Just fog and trees.
But somehow, they both knew. It wasn't nothing.
---
Meanwhile, in the city…
Naira sat on her rooftop, legs pulled to her chest, staring at her phone screen—still no messages from Ayaan. Three missed calls earlier, none answered.
Danish had tried to joke about it: "Maybe they're hunting wild mushrooms."
But her gut said otherwise.
She scrolled through Rehan's last Instagram story. It was two days old. Just a photo of fog… and something odd in the corner. A shadow. Blurry. Wrong-sized. She zoomed in until the pixels broke apart. Her hand trembled slightly.
Below her, her younger brother shouted up, "A dog was found dead behind the school gate!"
Her stomach clenched.
Something was off. Not just in the forest. But here too. Quietly leaking into the city.
---
Back in the forest…
They moved again—quicker now, trying to stay quiet, but twigs snapped beneath their shoes like firecrackers.
Rehan suddenly stopped. "Do you smell that?"
It wasn't decay. Or dirt. Or trees.
It smelled like… electricity. Hot metal. Like something just burned through the air.
A soft hum followed. Faint. Mechanical, almost—but from where?
They turned, and in the trees ahead—a light.
Not bright. But sharp. Unnatural.
Not a lantern. Not a phone.
Something deeper.
Ayaan's throat went dry. "We're close to something."
Rehan just nodded. "Or something's close to us."
And just then… something moved in the light.
---
Ayaan squinted toward the flickering light. It pulsed, slow and uneven, like it was breathing. For a second, it reminded him of the lights in their childhood room—when a storm would hit and the power would die, and the inverter kicked in with that same hum.
But this wasn't home. And that hum wasn't man-made.
Rehan lifted his flashlight again, hands trembling despite the grip. "We need to check what it is."
"Or go the other way," Ayaan muttered, heart pounding. "Sameer's still missing, remember?"
Rehan didn't answer. He was already walking toward it.
And then—just as they reached a clearing—the light vanished.
Gone. Like it had never existed.
What remained was worse: a deep, vibrating silence. Ayaan tried to speak, but the words didn't come.
Rehan turned, eyes wide. "I can't talk."
They looked at each other, panic rising fast and real.
Suddenly, the trees shifted.
Not from wind.
From something between them.
A silhouette passed—tall, thin, impossibly fast.
Not human.
Not animal.
Just wrong.
Rehan grabbed Ayaan's sleeve. "Run."
This time, neither of them argued.
---