Silence.
That's the first thing Rehan noticed as he opened his eyes. Not peace. Not quiet.
Silence — the kind that presses on your ears until you hear your own blood moving.
He blinked.
A ceiling fan spun slowly above him. A faint hum of electricity. A ticking clock.
Was he home?
No.
The walls were painted, yes — but not the right color. The clock wasn't theirs. And neither was the soft voice calling his name from outside the room.
"Rehan..."
He sat up too fast. His head throbbed.
The door opened. A girl stepped in — no older than sixteen. Pale. Her eyes were wide with a kind of quiet sadness.
"I've been waiting," she said.
---
Ayaan didn't wake up.
He dropped into the new place.
Literally.
He landed on something soft, but it gave way instantly — like falling into cushions layered with secrets. He scrambled upright and looked around.
A hospital ward. Empty. Flickering lights. Beds lined up but unused. No staff. No monitors. Just the smell — antiseptic and metal.
Then the scream.
It came from a few rooms down, low and sharp, like someone tearing their throat open just to get the sound out.
Ayaan ran toward it.
Not because he wanted to — but because this place wanted him to.
---
Sameer was standing in a kitchen.
His mother was there — or a memory of her. She was cooking. Smiling. Saying something about school and lunch and coming home early.
But she'd been gone for three years.
He knew that.
Still… he couldn't move.
He just watched. Watched her cut the same vegetable over and over and over — except now it wasn't a vegetable anymore.
It was hair.
Long. Black. Wet.
He backed away, hand over his mouth.
He wasn't home.
He was inside it — the thing that looked like a forest, but acted like a mirror. And now it was showing him what he'd never said out loud.
That he never really wanted to come back.
---
Back in the clearing…
The wooden door still stood there. Quiet. Waiting.
But now the forest around it was rearranging itself.
Every tree twisted just slightly. Every shadow leaned just a little further. And if you watched long enough, you could swear the moss was... breathing.
The door had been crossed.
And that meant the rules had changed.
---
Back with Rehan…
"Where am I?" he asked the girl.
She gave a small smile. "That's the wrong question."
He blinked.
"Try again," she said gently.
"…Who are you?"
"Closer."
The girl sat on the bed, her hands was folded on her lap. "You're not stuck. You're chosen."
Rehan frowned. "Chosen for what?"
She turned to him slowly. "To remember. The real reason you came to the forest."
Before he could respond, the wall behind them cracked made both of them jump.
She looked up. "They're getting too close. You have to wake the others. Or none of you leave whole."
Then she was gone.
Not vanished — just replaced.
By the reflection of himself.
But his reflection didn't move like him. It smiled when he didn't. Tilted its head at the wrong time.
And then… it whispered something.
So low, Rehan almost didn't hear it:
"You think this all started when Sameer disappeared.
But you brought it here."
---
Meanwhile...
Ayaan reached the screaming room.
Inside, he found himself.
Not a mirror. Not a reflection.
Him.
Lying on the hospital bed.
Breathing heavily. Eyes wide open, but blind.
And next to him?
Sameer.
Not torn, not broken.
Just… staring.
Ayaan whispered, "Sameer?"
The version on the bed turned its head, cracked its neck once, and said,
"Do you really want the truth?
Because once you know — you'll never know peace again."
---
Far, far away…
The forest watched.
And smiled.
Because now that they'd stepped through...
It didn't have to pretend anymore.
---