Darkness and the Future

The silence in the tunnel was slowly broken. The sound of footsteps grew closer. These were different from their friends' steps. Someone was approaching with the footsteps of another person. But this person was someone they didn't recognize.

The light from the flashlight grew weaker. The whole group nervously stepped back and stood together, filled with fear.

"Who is it?" Ethan whispered quietly.

Emma clenched her hands tightly. Her face had turned pale, and her eyes were wide with fear.

Suddenly, one figure began to emerge among the silhouettes. Slowly, it shaped itself within the beam of the flashlight, but no one could tell who it was. Everyone's spirits trembled in an instant...

The silhouette moved closer, without a word or a sound. Even though the flashlight's light didn't fully reveal it, the coldness in its eyes and the strength in its footsteps were felt. Everyone stepped back, their bodies tense, their eyes filled with fear and confusion. Emma took a deep breath, but it felt as if everything around her was spinning.

A few minutes passed in silence. Then, the silhouette slowly let out a sound.

"Who's there?" The person's voice was quiet like the night, but strong and surprisingly clear.

Everyone turned toward the sound. The flashlight's beam slowly brightened, making everyone's eyes focus sharply. And that person turned out to be someone they all knew very well – it was Emma's mother, who had disappeared years ago.

Emma's eyes widened, and she stepped back as if everything had turned from life to reality in an instant. Her mother had left them years ago, and now, in a way no one expected, she was standing before them.

"My mother…" Emma's voice trembled, a mix of sadness and astonishment. She put her hands over her mouth, as if struggling to believe it.

The woman, the one who had disappeared long ago, the subject of so many questions, slowly stepped forward. "How much time has passed," she said after a silence, her voice eerie and tense. "But you came to me."

Emma's pained eyes waited, motionless in fear. And then, suddenly, the silence was broken – Emma screamed in a strangled voice, "Why… why weren't you here? What happened?"

Her mother's expression changed. There was a strange sense of sorrow, but also the response she had waited for so long.

"Because I had my own path," the woman said, her eyes fixed on Emma's face. "Being with you was too difficult. But now, I had to come."

But Emma, without understanding anything, stepped forward. Slowly, she caressed the woman's cheek.

"What are you talking about?!" Emma's eyes were filled with tears. "Then why weren't you here? I couldn't find any answers!"

The woman simply lowered her head in response. "There isn't enough time. You must accept this now."

The tunnel grew dark again, and silence returned. But the group was aware of a new mystery unfolding before their eyes. Emma's mother was a part of this uncertain situation.

Someone might have wanted to speak, but no one dared to say anything anymore. Emma stood in front of her mother, her eyes filled with pain. Then, slowly lowering her head, she said just one sentence: "Looking at everything, we must find each other."

But her mother, "Yes," she said, feeling that they could not bring the past back, and in this new future, they would walk together.

Slowly, everyone continued forward, but each of them carried many unanswered questions and sorrow inside.