Chapter -1
"Doctor... I don't want to sleep."
Dr. Aman Mehta looked up from the medical file in front of him.
"I'm sorry?"
Neetu Sharma sat stiffly in the chair, her fingers tightly wrapped around the strap of her handbag.
Dark circles framed her tired eyes, and despite the air-conditioned room, a thin layer of sweat glistened on her forehead.
"I don't want to sleep," she repeated.
A faint frown appeared on the doctor's face.
"That's unusual. Most people come here because they can't sleep."
"I know."
"Then why don't you want to?"
For a moment, Neetu simply stared at the floor.
When she finally spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.
"Every night... I die a little before my alarm saves me."
The doctor's expression changed.
"What do you mean?"
She took a slow, shaky breath.
"The moment I fall asleep... it starts."
"What starts?"
"I wake up somewhere dark."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"Can you see anything?"
She shook her head.
"Not really. It's always too dark."
"And then?"
"I hear footsteps."
The room fell silent.
"They're slow at first," she continued. "But every night... they get closer."
"Do you ever see who's following you?"
"No."
"A man? A woman?"
"I don't know."
"You've never seen a face?"
"No." She swallowed. "Just... a shadow."
Dr. Mehta picked up his pen.
"How long has this been happening?"
"I've stopped counting."
"And every dream is the same?"
She nodded.
"I run."
"It chases me."
"I keep running."
"And just before it reaches me..."
She looked at the clock on the doctor's wall as if it reminded her of something.
"...my alarm goes off."
"You wake up."
"Yes."
"But when I wake up..." Her voice cracked. "...I'm exhausted. My heart won't stop racing. It feels like I've been running for hours."
Dr. Mehta made a few notes on her file.
"Have you been under unusual stress recently? Any traumatic incident? Anxiety? Panic attacks?"
Neetu's eyes flickered for the briefest second.
"No."
It was a lie.
The doctor closed the file.
"It sounds like severe sleep deprivation combined with recurring nightmares. Lack of proper sleep can make these dreams feel frighteningly real."
He scribbled something on his prescription pad.
"I'm prescribing a few medicines to help with the exhaustion. I also want you to get some blood tests done. If the nightmares continue, I'd recommend seeing a psychiatrist."
Neetu looked at the prescription without really seeing it.
"Will they stop the dreams?"
"They should help you sleep better."
A hollow smile crossed her lips.
"That's exactly what I'm afraid of."
11:57 PM.
The apartment was silent.
The prescription lay untouched on the bedside table.
Neetu checked the front door.
Locked.
She checked it again.
Still locked.
She switched on every light in the apartment.
"I won't sleep," she whispered to herself.
Midnight passed.
Then one.
Then two.
Her eyelids grew heavier.
She splashed cold water on her face.
Made another cup of coffee.
Walked around the living room.
Her body begged for rest.
Her mind refused.
At 3:17 a.m., exhaustion finally won.
She lay down for what she promised herself would be just a minute.
The moment sleep took over...
...she heard footsteps.
The chase had begun.
Chapter -2
Darkness.
Not the kind that filled a room when the lights went out.
This darkness felt... alive.
Cold air scraped against Neetu's skin.
She couldn't remember how she'd gotten there.
Or where "there" even was.
The ground beneath her feet was damp.
The smell of wet earth mixed with something metallic.
Blood?
No...
She didn't want to know.
Then...
Tap.
A single footstep echoed somewhere behind her.
She froze.
Silence.
Maybe she had imagined it.
Another step.
Tap.
Closer.
Her pulse hammered against her ribs.
Slowly...
Very slowly...
She turned her head.
Nothing.
Only darkness.
A shaky breath escaped her lips.
"It's just a dream," she whispered.
Then...
Another footstep.
This time...
Much closer.
Every instinct screamed at her to run.
So she did.
Her feet pounded against the cold ground.
She didn't know where she was running.
She only knew she couldn't stop.
Because the footsteps behind her never did.
They never became faster.
They never became slower.
They simply matched her pace.
Always.
As if whoever was behind her already knew...
...she wasn't going to escape.
Neetu dared one quick glance over her shoulder.
Nothing.
No face.
No body.
Just a darker patch of darkness.
Watching.
Following.
Waiting.
Her lungs burned.
Her legs felt heavier with every step.
No matter how hard she tried...
She wasn't getting any farther.
The footsteps were right behind her now.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer.
A cold breath brushed against the back of her neck.
Someone whispered...
"You should have stopped."
Neetu screamed.
A loud alarm shattered the silence.
She bolted upright in bed, gasping for air.
Chapter -3
Neetu woke up with a gasp.
For a few seconds, she couldn't understand where she was.
The darkness.
The footsteps.
That voice.
Everything felt painfully real.
Her hand reached for the bedside lamp. The room filled with warm light, but the fear didn't disappear.
Her heart was still racing.
Her breathing was still uneven.
Again.
She looked at the medicine strip lying on the bedside table.
Maybe Dr. Aman Mehta was right.
Maybe she just needed help sleeping.
She swallowed the tablet with a glass of water before getting ready for work.
By noon, Neetu knew something was wrong.
She had always been careful with her work.
But today, she made mistakes she would never normally make.
A wrong file was sent to a client.
A report had incorrect figures.
She even missed a meeting reminder she had set herself.
"Neetu."
She looked up.
Her manager stood beside her desk with the report in his hand.
"Can you explain this?"
She stared at the pages.
"I... I don't know how I missed it."
His expression softened.
"Are you okay?"
She forced a small smile.
"Just tired."
"Then take some rest."
The word made her uncomfortable.
Rest.
Sleep.
Both had become things she feared.
"I'm fine," she replied.
But she wasn't.
During lunch break, Neetu walked into the washroom.
She splashed cold water on her face and looked up.
The woman staring back at her looked exhausted.
Dark circles.
Pale skin.
A face that hadn't slept peacefully in months.
She gripped the sink.
"Get yourself together."
She closed her eyes for a second.
When she opened them...
Her breath stopped.
A dark figure stood behind her reflection.
Tall.
Still.
Watching.
Neetu turned around instantly.
Nothing.
The washroom was empty.
Her breathing became heavier.
Slowly, she looked back at the mirror.
Only her own reflection stared back.
She stepped away.
She returned to her desk, but the exhaustion followed her.
The noise around her slowly faded.
The voices.
The ringing phones.
The clicking keyboards.
Everything became distant.
Just for a minute...
She rested her head on the desk.
Darkness.
Cold air touched her skin.
No.
Not again.
She knew this place.
She didn't know where she was...
But she knew she had to run.
A footstep echoed behind her.
Then another.
She tried to move.
But her body wouldn't listen.
The footsteps came closer.
Closer.
Until they stopped.
Right behind her.
A cold breath brushed against her ear.
And then...
A whisper.
"You left."
"Neetu!"
Her eyes opened suddenly.
Her colleague was standing beside her.
"You were having a nightmare."
Neetu sat up, trying to control her breathing.
"I'm okay."
But she wasn't.
Then her phone vibrated.
She looked down.
The name on the screen made her freeze.
Aarav.
She hadn't heard from him in three months.
For a moment, she just stared.
Then she opened the message.
I shouldn't have stopped you that night.
Her fingers went cold.
The world around her faded.
Her fingers went cold.
Her grip loosened around the phone.
The office around her disappeared.
And for a second...
She was somewhere else.
Rain.
A flash of headlights.
The sound of brakes.
A scream.
Neetu's breath caught.
She blinked, and the memory vanished.
But the fear remained.
Chapter - 4
"I need to go home."
Her colleague looked at her worried face but didn't ask any questions.
Neetu was grateful.
Because she didn't have an answer.
How could she explain something she couldn't even explain to herself?
She packed her things and left.
The rain had started by the time she left the office.
The sound of water hitting the car window made her grip the steering wheel tighter.
She hated rain.
She hadn't always hated it.
But now...
It reminded her of a night she had spent months trying to forget.
Every signal.
Every wet road.
Every flash of headlights.
Something inside her screamed.
Neetu tightened her grip on the steering wheel.
"Not now."
She whispered.
"Please.”
The moment she reached home, she threw her bag on the couch and sat down.
Her eyes went straight to her phone.
The message was still there.
"I shouldn't have stopped you that night."
She read it again.
And again.
The words stayed on the screen.
That night.
The night she had tried so hard not to revisit.
She closed her eyes.
For months, she had tried not to think about that night.
But maybe some things didn't disappear.
Maybe they waited.
She didn't realize when sleep took over.
But this time, she wasn't running blindly.
She was back there.
The road.
The rain.
The darkness.
Her footsteps echoed as she stood alone.
Then she heard it.
The footsteps behind her.
Slow.
Steady.
The same footsteps that followed her every night.
The shadow appeared.
Watching her.
Waiting.
Neetu looked around.
"Who are you?"
Her voice trembled.
The shadow moved closer.
The whisper came.
"You left."
Neetu closed her eyes.
The words that haunted her every night.
The words she had been trying to escape.
But this time...
Something felt different.
A memory surfaced.
Her own voice.
"We need to help them."
Another memory.
Aarav.
"Neetu, wait."
Another flash.
The rain.
The road.
The fear.
She looked at the shadow.
And slowly, she understood.
It wasn't chasing her.
It was reminding her.
The voice she heard every night...
Was the voice she had silenced that night.
The part of herself that wanted to do the right thing.
The shadow whispered again.
"You left."
And for the first time...
Neetu didn't run.
Chapter - 5
The shadow whispered again.
"You left."
The words echoed around her.
But this time...
Neetu didn't run.
The rain grew heavier.
The road in front of her blurred.
And slowly, the memory she had buried for months pulled her back.
Three months ago
That night.
The rain was pouring just as heavily.
Neetu sat in the passenger seat, watching the drops slide down the window.
Aarav was driving quietly.
Neither of them knew that a few minutes later, everything would change.
A sudden sound cut through the silence.
A loud crash.
The screech of brakes.
Both of them froze.
"What was that?"
Neetu looked ahead.
Aarav slowed the car.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then they saw it.
Someone was lying on the road.
Neetu's breath caught.
"Aarav..."
Her voice trembled.
"We need to help them."
She immediately reached for the door.
But Aarav stopped her.
"Neetu, wait."
She looked at him.
"Wait? Someone needs help."
His face was filled with fear.
Not because he didn't care.
Because he understood what this could mean.
"Neetu..."
The rain hit the windshield harder.
She looked back at the person lying there.
Every part of her wanted to run towards them.
Every part of her was screaming to do something.
But then fear arrived.
What if they got blamed?
What if everything changed?
What if one decision ruined their lives?
Aarav's voice broke through her thoughts.
"Let's go."
And for a moment...
Neetu stayed silent.
That moment haunted her more than anything else.
Because she knew what she wanted to do.
She knew what was right.
But she was afraid.
The memory shifted.
She was back on the same road.
The shadow stood in front of her.
Not angry.
Not threatening.
Just waiting.
Neetu looked at it with tears in her eyes.
"I didn't want to leave..."
Her voice broke.
"I was scared."
The shadow remained silent.
And somehow, that silence hurt more.
Because deep inside, Neetu knew...
Fear could explain her choice.
But it could never erase it.
The footsteps faded.
The rain stopped.
And for the first time in months...
Neetu stopped running from the truth.
Chapter - 6
Neetu's eyes opened slowly.
The room was dark.
The rain outside had stopped.
For a moment, she stayed still, remembering everything.
The road.
The rain.
The fear.
The shadow.
But this time...
She wasn't afraid.
She looked at her phone.
Aarav's message was still there.
"I shouldn't have stopped you that night."
She stared at it for a long moment.
Then she typed.
We need to talk.
They met that evening.
Neither of them knew how to start.
Some memories were easier to carry than to speak about.
Finally, Aarav broke the silence.
"The accident report came out that week."
Neetu looked at him.
"It was ruled as an accident."
He continued.
"The rain was heavy. Visibility was almost zero. The car came from the wrong side suddenly. There was nothing we could have done."
Neetu looked down.
She knew that.
She had always known.
She wasn't haunted because she caused it.
She was haunted because she didn't stay.
"Then why does it feel like I did something wrong?" she whispered.
Aarav looked at her.
"Because we both know what happened after."
The silence between them said everything.
A few days later, Neetu found the family.
The wife.
The little child.
A life that had changed in a single night.
She stood far away, watching them.
She wanted to walk forward.
To tell them everything.
But she couldn't.
Not yet.
Instead, she made a decision.
A decision that wasn't about forgiveness.
Or forgetting.
It was about doing something right this time.
She created an education fund for the child.
Anonymous.
No name.
No explanation.
Just help.
That night, Neetu went to sleep.
For months, she had feared closing her eyes.
But tonight...
She let herself rest.
No footsteps.
No shadow.
No voice.
Just silence.
And somewhere between sleep and dreams...
she saw the shadow one last time.
It wasn't standing behind her anymore.
It was standing in front of her.
Waiting.
Neetu looked at it.
"I'm sorry."
The shadow slowly disappeared.
Because it was never there to punish her.
It was there to remind her.
You can run from the world.
You can run from people.
But you can never run from yourself.
And finally...
Neetu stopped running.
