That guy in a hoodie!

Author’s POV

The evidence of the heavy rain could be seen on the roads of Delhi, with puddles on streets and corners, water dripping down the roofs, trees and plants, animals sitting in the shelter while the carts were covered with plastic sheets to avoid the commodities getting drenched. People were still walking with umbrellas due to the light drizzling and a soft breeze in the air. 

 

It was almost night when Tanya came out from her office building and stood under the shade of the bus stand, waiting for her daily router to arrive at its fixed time. She was fumbling with her jet black umbrella when her phone rang cutting through the shrilly silence. Groaning, she took it out and the number just made her groan louder if that was possible. It was the same unknown number that was pestering her for the last few days. She would pick up the incoming, call out the person until her throat would literally beg her to give up, then shouting some colorful words would cut it. This was the routine for a few months, she has almost blocked a ton of numbers but the calls just wouldn’t stop. Somewhere she even knew who was doing this and having fun at her misery and it made her shiver unconsciously. 

 

Why can’t he just leave her alone! 

 

She thought to herself, gritting her teeth thinking that she would have to encounter him as soon as she hops down the bus near her house. She was busy dreading thinking about the impending encounter she would do, similar to every night. 

 

Her thoughts were brought to a halt with the sound of an engine and the tires screeching, her head snapped towards the automatic gates opening of her daily bus. Deciding to shake away her thoughts, she scrambled up to it and got in quickly. She thanked her stars, seeing the bus almost empty, meaning she would at least get to rest her tired self, till her house. 

 

Sitting on the window seat in extreme front, she rested her stuff on the vacant seat beside her and switching her phone, decided to spend the time till her home hearing her favorite playlist. As the songs buzzed through the earphones, the soft tunes and vocals soothing her, of course, when it’s raining who would want to listen to loud beats and dancing stuff. Rainy nights and slow reverberating music is the best combo according to her. She sighed resting her head on the window as she saw droplets shining on the glass. 

 

She could see her reflection in the mirror, and what she witnesses didn’t make her too happy or ecstatic. She could see the tiredness on her face, fine lines coming along due to all the stress, puffy eyes – a result of sleepless nights – and dark circles underneath them. Unconsciously she raised her hand, and caresses the skin under her eyes, before closing them feeling utterly distressed. 

 

She knew all these weren’t due to everyday stress, hectic schedule, or busy life, the reason was a different one altogether. The reason was him! And she hated that how that one person has managed to pirouette her whole life with his shenanigans. 

 

Raking her hand through her hair she thought,

 

When will this get over? Why can’t he just leave me alone? 

 

But as usual, she didn’t receive any answer from the deadly silence. Sighing, she just waited for her stop, and to her dismay, it didn’t take more than five minutes for her to reach. Paying her charge, she got down and again opened the umbrella shading herself underneath it. 

 

Just as she started walking, she heard the usual sound of footsteps behind her. Her heartbeat rose as she heard the familiar frantic footsteps behind her. Her walk turned to a sprint in a second, trying to look back as discretely as she could. 

 

And there he was, in the usual black hoodie that covered his face too, following behind her. She could feel herself sweating even in the breezy weather and her throat turning dry. She gulped loudly due to fear and shrieked as she collided with someone. 

 

Quickly apologizing, she didn’t even wait for a second and again started sprinting, but she could feel the man hot on her tail. Tears started racing down her face, as the man was just some footsteps behind her. She cried out as her foot collided with a stone there in the middle of the street, but what made her panic more was the shrill laughter behind her, and muttering in the dark,

 

“Careful, love!” 

 

She gasped and ran towards the house crying loudly. Reaching her street, she straight away went to the threshold of her house, and frantically rang her bell looking behind every second. And just like usual, the man stood there on the end of the street looking straight at her. She could feel him piercing holes in her body and again rang the bell. Breathing a sigh of relief as the door finally opened, she saw her concerned mother who was shocked seeing her in this state. 

 

“Tanya! What happened? You look so disheveled!”                                                                    

 

Her mother gasped seeing her daughter looking like she just ran a marathon, gasping for breath. Crying, she came inside and threw herself in her mother’s arms not even acknowledging her father who came there too due to the commotion. 

 

“Mom! Mom! He w….was..aga..again…followi..following me. I told…yo...you both. But you…you guys didn’t listen…..he is stalking me for long.” 

 

Her father looked at his crying daughter sadly, his heartbeat rising in fear for her. Patting her head, he tried to say, 

 

“We believe you, Tanya! Stop crying now, I promise we’ll go tomorrow to the police station and file a complaint. Now stop crying, my dear!” 

 

Tanya nodded, as her father hugged her while her mother just went to the gate to look if the stalker guy was there. Pacifying Tanya, her father sent her to the room before joining his wife on the gate and sighed seeing no one standing there. Her mother said through a heavy throat,

 

“Again? A stalker this time? This is getting serious Mahesh!” 

 

Her father nodded, but replied, voice dripping with agony, “But what can we do Smita? Her hallucinations just won’t end! She is schizophrenic, not some patient suffering through a fever that can be cured in a day or a week.” 

 

Smita closed her eyes, wondering why only her child had to go through all this, when Mahesh kept a hand on her shoulder consoling her, “Still don’t worry, I’ll discuss this with the doctor.” 

 

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Tanya came out of the bath after freshening up and crying for an hour in the shower, dressed in her nightclothes. She sniffed, still feeling discomfort and not able to calm down after her encounter. 

 

Standing in front of the mirror, she was drying her hair when her face paled and eyes went wide seeing the same hoodie guy, her stalker’s reflection in her mirror standing just near the window in her room. She could feel her heart palpating at a high rate, and sweat again dripping down her forehead. 

 

“Who..Who ar..are you? Wh..What do you …want?” 

 

She asked stammering, when she saw him grinning through that hoodie, as he spoke in his husky deadly voice sending tremors down her spine, 

 

“Missed me? Love!” 

 

And as he took a step making a move, she wailed loudly grabbing the first thing she got and banged it into the mirror breaking it into shreds. Her legs felt jelly, as she fell on the floor, near the sharp shreds not even caring about them piercing in her knees and clutched her head before finally passing out due to exhaustion muttering, as his footsteps neared,

 

“Please, leave me alone! Please!”

 

-          By MeeRa  

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Note:- The pictures used in this story does not belong to me but to their rightful owners.

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