Someone's Stalking Them

"Hey listen! I think that guy over there is looking at us constantly." She whispered in a low voice to her friend sitting beside her.

Charu and her friend Priya were sitting in the cafe Holiday, which was right at the centre of the Women's Bazaar. They had decided to first have a coffee and then go to the market. They had to purchase a gift for their close friend Ronika. While they were enjoying their coffee, Charu felt a stranger’s eyes looking at them inconspicuously. And she got worried.

"Don't mind that piece of crap." Priya said to her with a smirking look on her face, "I know these people. There are thousands of them whose only job is to gape at pretty young girls and imagine things in their dirty minds. These jerks are not worth minding. Instead, let's focus on the job at hand. Think about the gift we have to buy for our dear Ronie."

"I guess you are right Priya," said Charu, a little relaxing. "Better think about the gift. How about a ‘Party Wear’ dress? I bet she would love it."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Priya jumped from her seat. "Let's go then and buy a sexy dress for our friend."

And the two of them headed straight into the market. There were hundreds of shops. And all of them were selling the products which both of them would like to have in their own wardrobes. There was a complete row dedicated for only cosmetics. Then, there were bracelets, clutches and what not, in another row. There were around 15 rows and each one is dedicated to one specific item. And there were shops of Chaats, Pani Puris and juices and pastries at the end of every row. And all of them were overcrowded with the customers. And the customers were mostly females.

By the time Priya and Charu reached to the particular row of party wears, they were already carrying two to three bags each, which they happened to fill accidentally while window shopping through other rows. After having looked through thousands of dresses at nearly every shop in the row, and having bargained the price satisfactorily (They could only manage to get a discount of 60% on the initial price, which was, apparently, not so good for them), when they were finally off to get going they realized that it’s been too much time and it was already getting dark. Both Charu and Priya were contented for the reason that they have, at the very least, bought a beautiful gift for Ronie. Although, when they were finished they were carrying three bags each.

It had been a lot of time and both of them were feeling hungry. But since it was getting late already, both of them decided to better reach home first. With their eyes still gazing at the shops, wanting to buy more, they moved out of the market reluctantly. It was already 8:45 PM. Their hostel was at a distance of 2.5km from that place. The city bus leaves them at the main road and from there it is a walk of around 200 meters to the society.

It was when they were walking towards the bus stop; they realized that someone was following them. Charu turned around only to find that it was the same stranger who had been gaping at them at the cafe. A streak of horror passed through their hearts. Both looked at each other for a moment and began pacing a little faster towards the bus stop. They felt a sigh of relief when they saw a couple of people standing at the bus stop. They sat there, waiting for the Bus Number – 9, a little relieved when they didn't find the stranger anywhere around, a little tired because of their arduous shopping.

Charu was looking impatiently for the bus to come. After a couple of minutes, she saw a bus approaching the stop. It was when the bus was almost there, she realized that it was not the bus they were waiting for, and she shrugged. When the bus came to a halt, everyone at the stop stood up and boarded the bus. And the two of them were left alone at that bus stop.

"Why that damned bus is not coming?" Charu shouted in anger, but it was because she was now more fearful.

"Relax dear!" said Priya in a comforting tone, wrapping her hand around Charu to hold her tightly. "It's gonna be okay. Nobody is going to harm you. I am here."

After a couple more minutes, they felt relieved when they saw the bus coming towards them with Number -9 flashing on its front. Both of them quickly boarded the bus and took a double seat, second from the front at the left window. There were not many passengers on the bus. Their stop was just at a run of around 8 minutes by the bus, and another 5 minutes walk to the hostel from there.

Although they felt a little safer in the bus, Charu was still fearful: fearful of the sight of that stranger. And she kept looking in every direction, out of the window, into the dark, towards the driver; and she turned around to look at other passengers. Nothing seemed wrong. Everything seemed normal. But something came to her mind, and she turned around urgently once again only to find her worst fear of the night. That same stranger was seated at the last seat in the opposite corner. And he was still gazing at them unblinking. He gave a hideous smile to Charu when she looked at him. 

She tugged impatiently at Priya's lap to gain her attention and to make her aware of the fact that they were being followed. Priya too felt horrified. But she didn't lose her mind. And Instead of feeling worried she took out her phone and started doing something to distract herself.

The bus halted after some time. It was their turn to get down. They were afraid that the two of them would be alone now until they reach their hostel and that the stranger might get down with them. Priya took Charu's hand and moved towards the door. Determined not to look back, they finally de-boarded the bus and instantly began pacing the alley for their home.

They knew that the stranger had also got down from the bus behind them. And they knew that he was still following them, pacing slowly behind. After a minute, when they were far into the street and when there was no one else in sight, they heard the footsteps closing towards them faster. He was muttering something behind them. But they couldn't get the exact words, only they seemed offensive and obscene.

Charu was so much horrified that she was already crying. Priya too was fearful, but she was still vigilant. As they moved faster and faster, she kept looking for something... a sign… just a flicker of some hope. And she found it.

It was only after a while when she finally heard what she wanted, she felt a little confident. And the next instant, to Charu's greatest fear, she did something unexpected which was both bold and stupid. She stopped right there, turned around and glared at the stranger following them. Charu was dead with fear but also surprised, and so was the stalker.

He too was caught with surprise and stopped in his tracks when he found the girls instead of running away were rather facing him boldly. He couldn't understand what exactly had happened. Though he felt a streak of fear down his throat, he thought of the girls as stupid. There was no one to help them.

When he decided to finally catch the girls and raised his right foot to move forward, he dropped it down once again. He heard a faint sound of footsteps approaching there, and the sound growing louder and louder with every passing moment. He looked in time to see that a group of around ten to fifteen girls approaching the sight.

Priya was already aware of the sounds, and Charu too turned around in time to look at the girls approaching them. And she felt relieved finally. When Priya was doing something on her phone on the bus, she actually dropped a group message to all the girls in her hostel- "A stalker behind us! Come fast together!"

The two lonely girls were now an army of fourteen brave girls. Some of them were carrying bamboo rods, some had sweeps, some had got wipers, and some had brought kitchen knives with them. All of them stood there together and were gazing furiously at the bloody stalker. And the stranger, the little piece of filth, had already sat in a run, as fast as he was capable of.

That's the thing about ‘fear’. Anyone can be fearful of anyone; under right conditions. And the deranged army of those girls was already pacing behind that stalker, hunting down the target.