Echoes of Light

 Arun stood at the edge of the forest, his camera hanging around his neck. The place hadn’t changed much in the past ten years—dense trees stretching endlessly, the sound of birds filling the air, and the golden sunlight filtering through the leaves like scattered memories.

He was back. After a decade.

The last time he was here, he wasn’t alone.

Sneha.

She had been his best friend, his first love, and the only person who truly understood his obsession with capturing forgotten places. They were in college when they had stumbled upon this forest, spending hours photographing rare birds, abandoned treehouses, and the way the river reflected the evening sky. Sneha always carried an old film camera, while Arun, with his sleek DSLR, teased her about being stuck in the past.

“You'll never understand the magic of waiting for a photo to develop,” she had laughed, clicking a picture of him mid-smile.

That was the last photo she ever took of him.

Life had pulled them apart. Arun left for Mumbai, chasing a career in wildlife photography, while Sneha stayed behind, working as an environmental researcher. They never officially said goodbye, just drifted apart like autumn leaves carried by the wind.

But now, ten years later, he was back. And so was she.

He found her sitting on a fallen tree trunk, staring at the same river they had once photographed. Time had changed her, but her eyes still carried the warmth of all the sunsets they had watched together.

“You came,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“You asked me to,” he replied, pulling out an old envelope from his jacket. Inside it was a faded photograph—him, standing in this exact forest, taken by her years ago. A picture he had carried all these years.

Sneha smiled. “I was hoping you hadn’t forgotten.”

“How could I?”

The forest remained unchanged, but they had grown, matured, lived different lives. And yet, in that moment, standing under the same sky, the years between them faded.

“Do you still have your camera?” she asked.

Arun lifted his DSLR, then hesitated. “What about yours?”

Sneha grinned, pulling out her old film camera. “Some things never change.”

They walked deeper into the woods, capturing the light, the trees, and each other. Maybe they couldn’t go back in time, but for now, the forest had given them a moment—one that would last forever in a photograph.

And that was enough.