Ayaan didn't blink.
Couldn't.
Because the thing in front of him still looked like Rehan… but it wasn't. Not fully.
Those eyes—there was something borrowed in them. Something tired. Something screaming from behind the surface.
"I said," Rehan repeated, "what just happened?"
He looked normal now. Confused. Shaken, even.
But Ayaan wasn't sure what part of him to trust anymore.
"You… looked like Sameer. Just for a second."
Rehan stared at him. "What?"
"I'm not kidding." Ayaan stepped back, his hands trembling. "It was his face. His eyes."
Silence.
Then Rehan exhaled, and the wind carried something hollow with it.
"We need to move."
"But—"
"Now."
They didn't speak after that. The forest had grown quieter than it ever had—too quiet. Not peaceful. Just waiting.
And with each step they took, the trees seemed to shift. Not visibly. But they could feel it. The way the air thickened. The way paths didn't lead to where they should.
The forest was changing them.
---
Back in the city...
Naira stood outside Ayaan's house, her hands balled into fists. She had tried calling—nothing. Messaging—no response. His last location pinged three days ago.
She looked down at the printed photo again. The blurry one that was sent to her with no name.
The trees. The circle of bones. The notebook.
And then she noticed something she hadn't before.
In the corner—barely visible—was a figure. Not Rehan. Not Ayaan.
A shadow standing behind them.
Watching.
She gasped, her mind racing.
It was time to go to the one person who might believe her.
Sameer's mother.
---
Forest, dusk.
Rehan and Ayaan finally stopped when they reached what looked like an old firewatch tower—broken and rusted, hidden behind thick vines. It stood like a skeletal reminder of something that used to protect.
They climbed. Carefully. Silently.
At the top, they looked out—and what they saw made Ayaan's legs go weak.
A forest that never ended. No towns in the distance. No sun setting. Just trees.
Rehan was staring at something scratched into the wood beside him.
Words.
YOU LEFT ONCE.
WHY DID YOU COME BACK?
---
Back in the city…
Naira sat across from Sameer's mother.
"I know this is hard to believe—"
But the woman didn't interrupt. She was listening. Eyes sharp. Jaw tight.
"I don't think he ran away," Naira said, voice cracking. "I think he got stuck."
"I know," Sameer's mother finally said.
Naira blinked.
"I've known. Since the second day."
She reached for a drawer and pulled out a map.
An old one.
With the forest circled in red. Dozens of red pins in the trees.
"Sameer's not the first. And unless we stop it," she looked up, eyes glassy, "he won't be the last."
---