Wanderlust: Part Three

Wanderlust: Part Three

3 mins
21.9K


It has been three years since then. You have long forgotten about that incident. You have too much stuff going on in your life to remember such trivial nonsense. You are even more popular now. Your blog has crossed ten billion hits and the magazines you freelance for have only increased in number and stature. You have been published in a number of web articles and are hailed among the emerging travelers the world should watch out for. That incident wasn’t a major one in your life. It doesn’t even count as an incident per se. There is, however, one person who was affected by this incident. That guy. While you are busy living your rock star-like life in various parts of the world, he thinks about that day. Compared to yours, his life is stiller, calmer. Even a little impact causes a whole lot of ripples in his life. He wonders about that day and keeps on thinking what went wrong. It was a different experience for him. He had never thought that you actually can leave a conversation like that. He is bound by rules. His rulebook says that you cannot end a meeting without a handshake and a heartfelt goodbye. His mind is not the same as before.

He has started following you on all your channels. He keeps up with all updates related to you. He carefully reads all the comments he can on your articles, on your pictures, on your blog and on the articles published about your articles. Basically, he stalks you. He regularly messages you on all your accounts but like countless others, his messages too, are lost in oblivion. To his consolation, on some websites, a bot replies to him with the same generic message as ever- A message that you have set. It is not enough for him. He wants to meet you again. He is frantic, disturbed and becoming obsessed with you. He can’t sleep. He can’t pay attention to his job. He can’t live like before. He is turning into an empty shell with only you in his mind, in his heart and in his soul. You are his goal, you are his motive. He wonders about his life before meeting you and can never remember it clearly. He has obsessed about you so much that every thought of his revolves around you and only you. One day, his madness crosses a threshold. Just like you ended your meeting, suddenly; he too wants to end it all. He goes to the terrace of his apartment building. From the 25th floor, he looks down, thinks about you, says goodbye, and jumps. Almost instantly, he hits the ground.

You wake up. You look around. You are in your bed and it is dark. You feel a weird sensation. You can’t seem to notice where you are. You calm yourself. Even in the cold, air-conditioned room, you are sweating. Some minutes pass and you are calm. You are in your home. You come to your senses and find out it was all a dream. Rather a nightmare. You just had a little too much to drink. Three years haven’t passed. It was just a megalomaniac fantastical delusion you had. You go back to sleep. Why aren’t dreams real? Soon, you are in a deep sleep. No more nightmares for today. The next day, you think about whatever you remember of last night’s dream. It isn’t much, but a sensation remains. You have to leave for a tourist destination today. You think about him as you get ready to leave. You actually feel a little bad for him. You feel that you were unnecessarily harsh, that you over reacted. Because it takes a big heart to apologise, and you do have a big heart, you decide to meet him again. You cancel your flight and call him instead.

contd.


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