The Pendulum

"Should I speak to my family about this person"

"Should I tell this to Riddhima and we solve it without involving my parents."

"Should I tell the security person and inquire about him? Then his entry at least in the IT park will be banned."

"Should I approach the police but they will ask me what he has done? He is just staring. Ok, it's not just staring, it's disturbing me a lot, and I am uncomfortable and not able to carry my routine."

"Should I tell Vikrant? But sitting in Bangalore what can he do?"

"Should I tell all my guy friends? They will go and bash him up. But what if he comes back to take the revenge and ... "

Krittika screamed and said, "Shut up." She was sitting on the bed, sweating and staring into the darkness of her room. She has not shared this incident with anybody. Her parents, her best friend, her boyfriend, nobody is aware of her present state of mind. Nothing could pull Krittika down, and here she is contemplating if she should share about the stalker with her family members or friends. How could she be so scared? She is a confident, successful person who never shied away from speaking her mind. And look what a pair of eyes have done to her. She picked up the phone and dialled Riddhima's number. When it was about to ring, she disconnected. She decided that she will speak to her in the morning. A midnight call will scare her and plus if she doesn't answer the call, then Krittika will become more impatient. She kept her cell phone aside and tried to sleep. She did not want that morning should come.

She did not want to go to the office. But for how long she will avoid her work. Her boss will throw her out of the office. Plus today it was the review. She forced herself to get ready and left the home. Her mother was pestering her to speak up as these days all Krittika used to do was stare, and not even a single word came out of her mouth. Her mother had even threatened that she would call Riddhima.

Krittika reached the bus stand and had a wishful thinking that the stalker should not be there. The stalker was more punctual than her. The stalker was already there. "There are more beautiful girls than me; pls spare me" Krittika thought and then realised that it was so mean to think like this. She had decided that she will speak to Riddhima today and try to find a solution. She reached the office along with the stalker. She was mentally exhausted and after being stalked for straight two weeks, did not have the energy to think about where he lives, is stalking his day job, why his dressing sense is weird, why nobody else notices him, is all this a creation of her mind, etc

Riddhima was all excited and nervous at the same time for the review. She was giving the final touches to the presentation. Krittika had prepared a very lame one which was starkly opposite from the previous presentations which she made for the review. Krittika was not able to find a time to speak to Riddhima. Now the new plan was to open the can of worms after office to Riddhima.

Krittika and Riddhima reached the conference room together. There was no order in which who will present and everybody was hoping that their turn should come last. It was pin drop silence in the board room. The boss came and took the seat and said " Krittika, let's open the floor to you. Go ahead; we are waiting to see the amazing graphs from your side." She trodded silently towards the projector and stood in front of all. All she could see was clones of the stalker occupying every single chair in the room. She uttered good morning and fainted.

When she opened her eyes, Riddhima and female colleagues from the HR team were in the medical room. A doctor was checking her pulse. "Welcome, Krittika. Are you skipping meals? Your haemoglobin levels have dropped to dangerous levels. You better eat and rest, else I will be admitting you to a hospital."

The doctor turned to Riddhima and said," Make sure that she is eating properly. Rest all is good. Don't give me a look where the question which is meandering in your head is, if she is pregnant. She is not pregnant but under high stress" Riddhima nodded like a small school girl.

Admin team arranged for a vehicle to drop Krittika at her residence. Krittika's boss cancelled the review meeting and allowed Riddhima to take a day off and be with Krittika. They both were alone in the cab, and Riddhima wanted to punch her hard.

"You better vomit what is eating your head or else I will knock you off. I do not want to keep guessing what is bothering you, so you better tell me the truth."

The pendulum stopped, and the vibrations went off. Riddhima had just one wish " To kill the stalker "