Love Me

01- Prologue

Note- This story went through major editing. You find it different compared to the previous version.

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Sara's POV

I was sitting in a consulting room that’s well furnished. The smell of scented white roses placed on the ivory desk along with some old books caught my attention. I felt anxious about meeting my therapist. I have never done this –this session where I have to blurt out my fears to a stranger. I am afraid of whether I will be judged, but I need this to find what’s wrong with me lately or what’s going wrongly around me.

When I was in my thoughts, an elderly woman who might be in her mid-fifties entered the room with a smile on her face. She dressed formally and looked wise like a therapist. She took a seat across me.

“Good afternoon Ms. Sara, I am Doctor Maureen,” she reaches out her hand.

“Nice to meet you,” I smiled.

After sitting comfortably, “Tell me about you, Sara,” she asked me with a smile.

“Well... I am working as a financial adviser in Aaron's group of companies and I am 24… single,” I gritted, stretching out my lips; I don’t know what she’s expecting from me.

“That’s great and about your parents,” she asked me.

“My parents died when I was sixteen in a car accident. My father was an American and my mom was an Indian. She was adopted when she was young and met my dad in college,” I looked at her expression and she asked me to continue further.

“My grandmother took care of me until high school and then I moved to San Francisco as I got an admission to study finance at San Francisco state university.”

“So you’re good at your academics, I guess.”

I smiled, “Yeah.”

“Are you in a relationship?”

“Nope. After my parent’s death, I mostly lived on my own,” I said.

She nods. “You’re living with your friend?”

“Yes, I am living with my friend Nisha, we have become friends at the university.”

“Okay Sara, now tell me what your problem is,” crossing her legs, she asked me.

“This might sound weird… I feel like I was being watched by someone. I sometimes feel like I am insane to think like this, but I have been feeling this for the past four years. I always console myself that I am delusional, but nowadays I feel Claustrophobic.”

“How did it all start?”

“Four years before, when I came here to live. I worked in a café that was two blocks away from my apartment. One day, after finishing my work, I felt someone was walking behind me. It was dark and no one was there on the street. I looked around to check if that feeling was true. I got terrified when I saw that person moving close to me. I ran towards my apartment without looking back. From that day onwards, I never worked late, and I also moved to another place, but still I think someone is stalking me.”

“As a woman, everyone feels this way at some point in their life. How can you specifically say that you’re being stalked,” she asked.

“Yeah, I know that, but even inside my house, I felt this way. I think I am going crazy over this, so that’s why I enrolled in this counseling.”

“Have you ever talked about this with anyone?”

“No, I don’t want anyone to worry about me.”

“Oh,” she nodded, “You said that now it’s worse. What happened now?” she asked.

“Weeks before, I had a heavy workload in my office. After finishing that, I walked to my apartment. It was silent and I had never walked in that street at that time. I walked as fast as I could, again the same stalking feeling popped into my mind. But this time I saw a person behind me, so close. I turned to see who it was. He was standing ten feet away and I could feel that the person was looking intently at me. After witnessing that, I turned immediately and ran to my apartment. I didn’t sleep that night. I was so scared to be alone and also now I don’t know whether it’s a delusion or really someone is stalking me.”

She’s confused and I can see it in her face. “I can understand what you’re feeling, Sara, and we will talk about the solution in our next session.”

’Thank you, Doctor, for your time,” I stood up.

I went out of the building and looked at my watch. It was past two. I took a deep breath and walked to my office. I don’t know whether this counseling will help me or not, but this is all I can do for now... a small comfort to ease my chaotic mind which is restless to think about that Stalker.