A Stranger is Following Me

By Sunil Vaishnava

This is the story of Jai Dev Vasista. He is one of the most successful and award-winning CEOs of India. He’s a workaholic, and he loves his work more than anything.

Everything is perfect until he starts having nightmares every night. He feels someone is following him in his nightmares. The nightmares are dark and disturbing. They start haunting him when he’s asleep as well as when he’s awake. The nightmares turn his life upside down.

He meets a doctor in an effort to get rid of the problem. In his attempt at solving his problem, he finds an answer to it.

A psychological thriller, tells about the darkest secrets of a perfect man

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9781716594373

Book preview

A STRANGER IS FOLLOWING ME

SUNIL VAISHNAVA

Copyright © 2020 by Sunil Vaishnava

All rights reserved.

ISBN

PAPERBACK: 978-1-63606-518-2

EBOOK: 978-1-71659-437-3

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Contents:

Acknowledgments:

1. The Problem

2. The Passion

3. The Writer

4. The Success

5. Atheetha

6. Valentine’s Day

7. Time to Quit

8. The Mysorians

9. The Breakup

10. The Endless Stairs

11. Meera

12. The Locked Room

13. The Labyrinth

14. The Broken Guitar

15. The Failed Writer

16. Let’s talk about your Son

17. Everything had changed

18. The Mistake

19. The Fight

20. The End of the Era

21. The unexpected

22. The Never-Ending Problem

23. I Found the Stranger

24. Another Stranger

Author Bio

Acknowledgments:

I would like to acknowledge the help and support given to me in writing this book.

I wish to thank my parents, Gopalkrishna and Nagarathna, despite being doubtful about this book; they still supported me.

I wish to thank Sharath G A, my best friend, and ex-roommate, he’s the first person I shared this story with. His reaction made me believe in the story, and that helped me to complete this project.

I wish to thank Jayashree J, Sowmya G, my ex-colleagues, they were the first readers of this story. Their positive feedback made me publish this work.

I wish to thank my brother and my sister-in-law, Sachin and Manjusha, for their constant love.

I wish to thank Shridhara H D, Nuthan C J, Rohit Dilliwala, my good friends, for their support.

I wish to thank Srinidhi P Atri, my childhood friend, he’s not with us today. But I want him here to see this day

1. The Problem

"It was dusk. I woke up on a desk. It was dimly lit. I checked around. I was in my cabin at my office. I tried reaching for the light switch right next to my desk. I couldn’t find it. I couldn’t see the switch with my bare eyes in that near-darkness. I tried to search for it with my hands. Somehow it had vanished. I felt uneasy and tired, I wanted to get away from that place and the surrounding darkness. I couldn’t walk; I felt too weak. So, I rested my head on the desk. I tried to sleep. It was relaxing. I tried to rest for a couple of minutes. It was peaceful.  

"I could hear the sound of the waves. And my office isn’t close to any ocean. In fact, we don’t have any near Bangalore. It sounded suspicious. I stood up and walked towards the sound. I didn’t know where I was trying to reach in the dim light; the view wasn't clear. I walked until I found the glass door of my cabin. I couldn’t open it. There was fog everywhere. The view wasn’t clear, but somehow, I could sense the water behind the glass door. Within a minute, the fog cleared, and I found water all around my cabin. My cabin has glass walls on all four sides. I checked every wall and found no land, just water all around. The dangerous waves were hitting the cabin very hard. Every time the waves hit the cabin, it shook like a building being hit by an earthquake. 

"As the fog cleared, the cabin found light. I stood there, watching the water. It resembled an ocean with a dull-looking sun on the horizon. I didn’t know what to do. I just stayed put. A few minutes later, the sun began to fade. The reflection of the sun on the ocean was dancing with the waves. I looked inside the cabin once again. As the sunlight was fading, the cabin became darker. It started freaking me out. I wanted to escape, but I couldn’t see land at all. I wanted to take a chance; I decided to break the glass door and flee from there. A question arose in my mind whether I could swim out or not. I didn’t know the answer to the question. I wanted to try. I decided to swim out. I can swim, but I’m not an expert. I was searching for a hard metal object to break the glass with when I noticed the door was open. I rushed to the door to jump out. I looked at the water again. It looked creepy. Even though all I wanted to do was jump and swim out, my anxiety held me back. I didn’t jump. I stepped back, and the door closed on its own.

"Someone had trapped me in my cabin. My cabin was in the middle of the water. I couldn’t find a way out. I started to sweat with anxiety. I checked my pocket for my cell phone; It wasn’t there. I reached my desk and checked all the drawers; they were empty. I sat on my chair, feeling dejected. Then, there was a shadow of a human being appearing on the desk. I figured out that someone was standing right behind me. I wanted to turn around and check, but I couldn’t. I have no idea why I couldn’t turn around. I felt scared, my heartbeat was so loud, I could hear it. I looked at the shadow. It was normal, but to my eyes, it looked creepy. I have no idea why it looked creepy. I kept staring at the shadow; rather, I was watching it move, but it remained stable without moving for a while. I couldn't sit there and watch a shadow with anxiety. The person standing right behind me was scaring me. I thought they might hurt me at any moment. I couldn't sit there and wait for that to happen. I decided to jump into the water and swim out. As I stood up to leave, it raised his right hand and kept it on my right shoulder. It was cold, and my shoulder began to freeze. I sat down in fear of that creepy thing.

It was painful as hell, yet, I didn’t turn around. A few minutes later, my right hand was completely frozen. I couldn’t move it. The cold reached my chest and moved towards my heart. The pain increased, but I didn’t turn around. The cold had reached my heart and was slowing down my heartbeat. The pain was extreme. I understood that I was in extreme pain, but I never looked behind to check out the person who was standing there. I was too scared to look at them. Finally, my heartbeat stopped, I guess.

Then? She asked.

I woke up. He said.

Jai Dev Vasista was sitting in an armchair in the centre of the room. He was a middle-aged man. His hair had turned grey, but he didn’t look old. He was fit; anyone could see his chest and muscular arms through his shirt. He wore a formal grey shirt and black pants with black formal shoes.  

Jai Dev Vasista was one of the most successful CEOs in India. Forbes Leadership had presented him with the Best CEO award the previous year. He had been working for Empty Space Private Limited for twenty-five years. He had joined the organisation as an accountant, and twenty-five years later, he was the CEO.  

A beautiful woman was sitting in front of him: Nancy Jacob, she was his shrink. She was in her early thirties. She wore a formal white shirt with blue jeans. She looked adorable. She held a notepad and a pen and was making notes.

The room was wide. The hospital was in the Jayanagar fourth block. It was one of the busiest places in Bangalore. There were two signals close to the hospital. Many vehicles passed through them every day. The place was complete chaos, but the soundproofing treatment didn't allow any noise into the room. The room was quiet.

Did you go back to sleep? She asked.

No, I tried, but I couldn’t sleep. He replied.

He had never been to therapy before; he didn’t know how therapy sessions worked. He was uncomfortable. Nancy noticed that. She was polite, and she was trying to make him feel as comfortable as possible.

How do you remember your every nightmare in such detail? She rested her pen on the notebook.

I don’t know how, but I remember everything. Every nightmare haunts me every minute.

 Have you ever discussed your nightmares with anyone?

 No, I don’t feel comfortable talking about them. In fact, I didn’t even discuss this with my wife. Somehow, she figured out something was wrong with me. She kept questioning me about it. Finally, I told her everything. Moreover, she forced me to see a shrink.

 Do you moan or scream while asleep? Or do you sweat?

 Every night, either I wake up screaming, or I wake up sweating. My wife mentioned that I've been talking in my sleep.

 How long have you been having these kinds of nightmares?

 I don’t remember exactly. It’s been months.

 How has your life been from those couple of months?

 My life has completely turned upside down. I can’t concentrate on my work. I used to work twelve hours a day and go home with a smile on my face. But now I can’t work for even an hour. Sometimes, I can’t sleep due to those nightmares, and later I doze off in the office. I’ve lost interest in doing anything. I don’t have the energy to go to the gym. I’ve started spending my weekends lying on my bed. I wasn’t like this before.

 Do you have any anxiety issues while you are awake?

 In every nightmare, someone is following me, or I can sense that someone is following. I’ve had so many nightmares, I can feel someone’s presence while I am awake. I have anxiety that someone is following me wherever I go. Most of the time, I turn around to check. Once I freaked out when one of my colleagues was standing right behind me. It was terrifying.

 When Jai Dev had his first nightmare, he didn’t bother. He behaved like it never happened. Although he didn’t sleep that night, the next night he had another nightmare. He didn’t sleep that night either, and that made him uneasy at the office. He had another nightmare on the third night that scared him for a bit. A few days later, the nightmares started driving him crazy.

 Over a short time, he had a lot of nightmares. In one of his dreams, he was stuck in an abandoned building. It was old and scary. He was trying to escape from the building, but he couldn’t find any way out. Wherever he went, he ended up at a dead end. Moreover, he had the feeling that someone was following him. He felt that whoever was following him was trying to hurt him. He was trying to escape from the stalker rather than the scary building.

 In another nightmare, he had gotten lost in an empty fish market. He found heaps of dead fish. There was blood everywhere. There wasn’t a single person in the entire fish market, and dead fish seemed to be staring at him. He started running. He was running from the dead fish, and from the person following him.  

 In another, he was running on an empty road. For the entire ordeal, he was running. He didn’t know whether someone was following him or not, but he felt that there was someone. He never looked back to confirm it. He was running. He was running for his life. He was running from his anxiety. He was running from loneliness.

 These nightmares affected his professional life. He couldn’t concentrate on his work. When it came to his job, he was fast. His colleagues had often wondered how he could complete his work so quickly. He was always the first person to learn whatever new things come to the office. When the computer was first introduced to the office, he was the first person who learnt how to use it. When the company first installed the internet, he learned how to use it, and he taught all his colleagues. When they installed new software and applications to make work easier, he learnt, and he conducted training sessions for the entire office to teach them. When he started having his nightmares, he couldn’t work as quickly as he could before. He started feeling tired. Sometimes he fell asleep in the office. He couldn’t bring out his old enthusiasm.  

 Due to the nightmares, he couldn’t sleep at night. He thought that he couldn’t concentrate on work due to a lack of sleep. Later, the nightmares started freaking him out. He had seen so many dreams, and in every one of them, there was a scary person following him from whom he tried to escape. Even when he was awake, he was always scared that someone was following him. Whenever he was alone, he had a fear that someone was standing behind him without his knowledge. He avoided being alone; sometimes he couldn't even go to the washroom by himself.  

 Jai Dev’s wife had been worrying about him since the nightmares started. She was with him every night when he was struggling to sleep. She couldn't sleep whenever he made annoying noises in his sleep. Sometimes, she stayed awake the entire night to watch him. Whenever he woke up in the middle of the night, she sat with him and made him feel comfortable. She noticed that he couldn't stay alone. So, she had always accompanied him whenever he was home. Sometimes she stood outside and talked to him so that he could feel comfortable going to the washroom. When things went out of control, she asked him to seek professional help. He refused at first; he felt it was silly to see a shrink just because of a couple of nightmares. But his wife didn’t give in, and she persisted till he agreed. 

 Let’s talk about your professional life. How many hours do you work in a day?

 I work for nine hours in the office every day. I log in by 9:30 in the morning and log out by 6:30 in the evening.

 Do you work extra hours after you log out?

 I do, but not every day. It depends on the work. Once in a while, we work late at the office.

 How is your work? Do you feel stressed about your work?

No! I’ve never felt that. In fact, my work makes me happy.

 How many hours do you sleep?

 I had been sleeping eight hours every day until I became CEO. Now I hardly get time to sleep.

 You log out by 6:30 in the evening. You have all that time till the next morning.

 Well, we work for US-based clients. We do have a different time zone here. They log in there while we are going to bed here in India. If they have any updates, any queries, or any complaints, they drop us a mail over the night. Someone should be there to attend to them. We have designated employees for that. Yet, I’m awake almost the entire night to check on them from home.

 Jai Dev was a workaholic. When he joined Empty Space twenty-five years ago, he used to work thirteen hours a day. He used to work alternate weekends as well. The company paid him good overtime money. He started earning more money than other employees in the organisation, which made him happy and greedy. He sacrificed his social life for his job.  

 Jai Dev met his wife when he was in college. They hit it off well. They used to hang out a lot; they had never spent a day without seeing each other. In fact, he proposed to her before starting his job, and she accepted. Everything had changed since he joined Empty Space Private limited. He stopped hanging out with her every day. Months later, they used to meet twice a month. She started fighting with him over that. Somehow, they would patch things up after every fight. With all the hurdles, they got married within a year. They had a baby boy the following year.  

 After the birth of his son, he stopped going to the office on weekends. He dedicated his weekends to his son. He hardly spent time with his son on weekdays, which he always regretted. He didn’t stop working extra hours every day even though he was earning enough money for his living.  

 Seven years later, he got promoted to Team Leader. None of his colleagues had ever been promoted to Team Leader in such a short time. He was the first. Even after the promotion he didn’t stop working extra hours. He didn’t stop even after he got promoted to manager, senior manager, and finally CEO.  

 You mentioned that you go to the gym every day. How is that going?

 It was good, but I have not been regular since I became CEO. I hit the gym whenever I get time, though. He looked at his arms and added: my muscles are shrinking.

 They look good, Nancy said, looking at his arms.

 They were better. He smiled.

 How long have you been working as CEO? Nancy was playing with her pen.

 It’s been five years.

 Jai Dev was a fitness freak. He didn’t have any interest in fitness when he was in his twenties. After he got promoted to Team Leader, he felt that he was aging fast. When he was in his early thirties, he looked like a fifty-year-old guy. During that time, whenever he went out with his wife, they looked like an uncle taking his niece out. He decided to take up a gym membership. Even though he was working twelve hours a day, he had always found time to hit the gym.

 As the days passed, he crafted his body very well. Everyone in the office was shocked to witness the transformation. Every girl in the office started hitting on him. He enjoyed it. He never missed the gym for over a decade. Everything changed when he got promoted as the CEO of the company. He wasn't ready to take on such a big responsibility. He invested all his time to prove to everyone that he was worth that position. It was clear that no one doubted him, yet he was worried about his capabilities. His frequent visits to the gym became irregular after that.  

 Tell me about your family.

 I have a wife and a son.

 Tell me about your relationship with the two of them.

 He didn’t speak for a while. He wanted to say something, but he didn’t know how to put it into words. He was uncomfortable. He was thinking about how to start.  

 Nancy was observing him when he was silent. She realised he was uncomfortable. If you want to get rid of the problem, you have to share everything with me. Even if it is embarrassing. It would help me to solve your problem. I would like to promise you that I don’t share any of my clients’ secrets with anyone. You have to trust me.  

It isn’t good. Recently, my son moved out. We fought, and I haven't spoken to him since then. My wife blames me for that. Also, she hasn’t been speaking to me since he moved out. Then the nightmare problem started. She's worried, and she’s started taking care of me, but, I can still see the anger in her eyes.

 What happened? Why did you both fight? she noted everything he said.  

 We had differences in opinion. One thing led to another, and in the end, we were yelling at each other. He never raised his voice at me before. A week later, he moved out. He didn’t say goodbye to me. He was planning to move out and live on his own, though. But it happened so fast.

 How was your relationship with your son before you both fought?

 It was great. We were like buddies.

 Jai Dev was proud of his family. His wife loved him a lot. Even though he never made enough time for her. She had been complaining about him not being around. Later she understood that his work was his passion. She started supporting him. Jai Dev always regretted not being around when she needed him.  

 Jai Dev’s wife did everything on her own. When they started constructing a new house, they built according to her plan. She had always been shopping alone. Whenever she wanted to go to her parents’ house, she went alone. When she was pregnant, she took care of herself. She always wanted him to be with her, but he wasn’t there. Years later, Jai Dev realised he had missed a lot of things in his life.

 When did your son move out?

 A year ago.

 I asked you a question: how long have you had these nightmares?. she said and added, Let me rephrase the question: did you start witnessing these nightmares after your son moved out?

 Not right after he moved out. A month or two later.

 Do you miss him?

 Every day.

 Well, these are the symptoms of ‘Dream Anxiety Disorder’ or ‘Nightmare Disorder’.

 Is it so? His eyes widened, "My wife told me that