CHAPTER 11 : THE LAUGHED
1079 Words
VANI - POV
It started in my stomach - a sick, dragging pull that spread until my hands shook so badly the phone nearly slipped.
The screen showed me.
From behind.
My knees buckled.
"No," I whispered. "No, no..."
I spun.
Nothing.
My reflection on the screen tilted its head - slow, curious.
My chest caged itself, ribs squeezing inward.
The phone buzzed once. Sharp.
LIVE VIEWERS: 3
My heart slammed against bone.
"How ...I didn't-" Voice splintered. "I didn't go live."
The reflection smiled.
Full red eyes.
Too slow.
Too wide.
Pulse thundered in my ears.
Fingers numb, prickling.
"Please," I begged - wet, tearing. "Stop."
It lifted a hand.
Tapped the glass from the inside.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The phone scalded.
I cried out, dropped it.
It shattered on rock - but the audio kept going.
Whispers poured out.
My voice.
"wuuuuu" Sobbing.
A long, wet "wuuuuuuu" stretching into something not quite words.
Words I hadn't said yet.
I staggered back.
Spine hit tree - slick, warm, pulsing faintly against my shirt like a heartbeat not mine.
I didn't look down.
I couldn't.
The fog parted like curtains.
Something tall stood there.
Watching.
I clamped a hand over my mouth.
Shoulders shook - silent, choking sobs finally breaking free.
Vihaan would make a stupid joke right now, I thought.
Something about bad lighting and worse dates.
The thought cracked something inside me worse than the phone.
Far away, something ancient roared - deep enough to rattle teeth.
The forest exhaled.
Relaxed.
Like a verdict had been delivered.
Vihaan's POV
"Still running, Vihaan? Just like old times." Kriti's voice - honeyed, lying, familiar.
I froze.
Snow stung my cheeks like tiny knives.
"You ran then too." She stepped closer, boots silent on the frost.
"The day I told you about him. You didn't fight. You just... crumbled. Packed a bag, disappeared. Drinking, smoking, pathetic."
Memory slammed back - her laugh, Sameer's arm around her, me standing in the doorway like a ghost.
"You were never enough," she said. "Cowards like you always run. It's what you do best."
"You... cheated," I rasped. "Cheated and laughed in my face."
She tilted her head, eyes glittering cruel.
"And you let me. You ran to this frozen hell thinking it would fix you? Make you enough?"
She scoffed.
"Please. You're still the same weak boy who couldn't keep me."
The fog pressed in. Branches creaked, heavy with ice.
Her laughter multiplied - sharp, echoing, the whole forest sneering.
"Run again," she urged, waving toward the drop-off. "Run until you fall. Die here. At least then you'll stop embarrassing yourself."
Something inside me snapped.
Not weakness.
Rage.
"No."
The word came out low.
Dangerous.
Her illusion blinked. "What?"
"I said no." I stepped forward, boots crunching ice.
"You don't get to wear her face and tell me I'm not enough. You don't get to twist the worst night of my life and use it to break me."
She laughed - meaner.
"Oh, please. You're shaking-"
"I broke then!" I shouted, voice tearing through the mist.
"I broke when you cheated. I broke when you mocked me for crying. I broke when I ran and wrecked myself trying to forget you."
My chest burned.
Breath fogged white.
"But guess what? I'm still here. I climbed halfway up this goddamn mountain with your poison in my veins. And you know why?"
Her smile faltered.
I smiled - bitter, bloody.
"Because I'm enough. I was enough before you. I was enough when you left. And I'm enough now."
The shout echoed.
Birds scattered from the pines.
"Enough to face this hell, keep walking, and tell you-and this entire mountain-to go to hell."
The fog recoiled.
Her form wavered, edges dissolving into snow.
I laughed - hoarse, triumphant.
"Come on! Throw more at me! Show me every bottle, every night I thought I wasn't worth loving! I carried it all this far-I can carry it to the top and throw it back!"
Silence crashed.
The wind died.
The path ahead shimmered - narrow, upward, grudgingly revealed.
I stood there, chest heaving, tears freezing on my cheeks.
Then the laughter began again.
Wrong.
"Still standing?"
It came from everywhere - inside my skull, under my skin.
The path folded, swallowed by white.
"No," I whispered. "You let me through."
The forest answered with slow, deliberate laughter.
"You screamed at us, Vihaan."
My name in its mouth felt like a blade.
"Did you think your audacity would be forgiven?"
The ground buckled.
Roots burst through snow - thick, black, frozen - coiling around my ankle.
I screamed as they yanked.
Spine slammed ice. Breath exploded out.
Roots snapped around my wrist. Something popped.
Pain lit my arm on fire.
Branches cracked overhead.
One slammed down, ripping shoulder skin.
Blood soaked my jacket - hot against the cold.
"So this is how you answer?" I gasped. "You punish me for surviving?"
Fog surged, wrapping my chest, squeezing.
"Survival is arrogance," it buzzed.
"You refuse your place."
Vines erupted, thorns piercing slow.
I sobbed - raw.
"Please-stop-"
The forest laughed - pleased.
"You begged her too," it whispered.
"You sound the same."
The words cut deeper than thorns.
"Shut up," I panted. "You don't get to use her-"
A branch cracked my ribs.
Sharp snap.
Air gone.
I curled, choking.
"Can't-breathe-"
Vines tightened around my throat.
Darkness bled in.
"I didn't come to fight you," I forced out. "I came because... I was lost."
The pressure adjusted - not gone, just... listening.
"I was scared," I whispered. "I ran because I thought I wasn't worth staying for. Because disappearing would hurt less."
Tears froze on lashes.
"But it followed me. Everywhere."
The vines loosened - just enough.
The ground trembled.
"You faced her," the forest said slowly.
"You screamed at us."
"I did," I coughed, blood on lips.
"Because I'm tired of being crushed."
Silence.
Then - curious laughter.
"Disobedience changes the flavor.
It makes you... interesting."
Vines slammed me against a tree.
Bark tore my back.
I screamed - convulsed.
Wind shrieked.
"Scream louder, Vihaan.
Let the mountain hear how human you are."
I sagged, chest heaving.
"I'm not ashamed," I whispered.
"I'm alive."
The vines released - slow, reluctant.
I collapsed into snow - shaking, bleeding, breathing.
The laughter faded.
Not gone.
Waiting.
The forest withdrew - trees straightening.
But I knew.
The mountain didn't want to stop me.
It wanted to see how much I could take.
- Writer
