"Aren't you going to say anything?", I asked Dr. Mishra.

"Are you finished?"

"No...but"

"Then please continue.", said Dr. Mishra.

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The news on television was continuously broadcasting about the destruction that happened across the valley. The search was still on for recovering the bodies of the deceased. I was trying my best to not think about anything that happened on the road. Tiredness and exhaustion were taking their toll on me. My eyelids closed shut and I slowly drifted into a deep sleep.

I'm not sure when but sometime later there was a power outage. As the room heater scuffled and died without any power, coldness started to creep into my house. It was my feet, which was outside the blanket, that first felt the cold breeze. But that didn't wake me.

What woke me was the sound of slow labored breathing; Someone else was with me; Someone else was inside my house. I was petrified. It was similar to the same rasp that chased me down the road. I jumped from the couch, throwing my blanket away. I got hold of the torch that was beside the television and shined it frantically everywhere. The house was empty.

With a sudden buzz, the power came back on breathing life into the room heater and television. I was almost on the verge of tears. I didn't know what was happening to me. I sat down on the cold wooden floor of my living room and wept like a child. The news was still raving on about the weather.

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I looked at Dr. Mishra.

"And?", he asked.

"What you mean 'and'? Didn't you understand my problem? He's following me. What have I done for him to torture me like this?"

"No. I'm not asking about that. You just told me about one night. What about the other six nights?", clarified Dr. Mishra.

"huh. HELL. That's how my other six days have been. I'm scared to be alone. So I spend my day around people somehow, in public places and what not; Nights, I spend in a hotel reception lobby watching television. The owner there knows me. I haven't had a proper sleep ever since it happened...and you're the third shrink to whom I am telling about all this. Now can you help me or not?". I was yelling at Dr. Mishra, who still sat there with his trademark smile.

"Shrink?", he laughed. "I haven't heard that in a while."

"Doctor please...", I was miserable.

"Arvind... Can you just relax for a second and answer some questions for me?"

"What?"

"Why did you assume it was the man from the accident that was following you ?", asked the doctor.

"Uh...Everything began after that accident. So it ought to be him...right? He's haunting me. Unless his body is recovered and it's given a proper burial, he won't let me go. That's what the priest said."

"Ah. So you went to a priest too?", laughed Dr. Mishra. "Of course you had to, right? This was beyond science...". His mockery was starting to annoy me.

"Anyway... that's not what I asked Arvind. Why did you think it was that man and not the woman following you?"

"uh... that... that breathing in my room. It was of a man. I'm sure of it."

"Exactly Arvind... Exactly.", Dr. Mishra rose from his chair and came near me. I stared at him, bewildered. "Arvind, I want you to take out your phone and search for 'Diplacusis'. Do you want me to spell that out?"

"No. I think I got it.", I said even though I wasn't sure.

"Di-pla-cu-sis... double hearing?", I asked in confusion.

"Yes. Why don't you read that out loud, Arvind?"

"Diplacusis, also known as double hearing occurs when a person hears the same sound differently in each ear. Usually, our brain distinguishes a single auditory stimulus as one sound, but with diplacusis, there is a dissonance in the pitch or timing of a sound, so one ear often hears the correct tone, while the other detects the pitch as either flat (lower) or sharp (higher). Hearing one sound as two often can be disconcerting and frustrating for a person experiencing this.", I looked at Dr. Mishra.

"Everything happened after the accident Arvind. That was the key. All that the Doctors were looking for, was a head injury. But had they looked a little closer, they would've found that there was slight damage to your auditory canal.", said the doctor. "Don't worry. I've already talked to a specialist. It's nothing permanent. All you have to do is stay put and you'll be fine in a week or so. That kind of fixes itself.

When that accident happened, that jolt caused a slight misalignment in your auditory canal. I won't get too technical but what essentially happened was, because of that, both your ears started recognizing auditory signals at a different pace.

Or simply you started to hear things twice.

And before you ask, this isn't like you'll hear everything twice. If that was the case you would have found the problem yourself long before. This would have only happened when you were to focus on a single sound with no other distractions.

You heard your breathing twice, only when the television went off due to power outage. Till then television was acting as an external auditory signal to mask it. Same when you were walking back home. You didn't hear any animal breathing behind you, it was just your own breathing recognised a little late by your ear with a different pitch. I hope everything's starting to make sense for you now."

I sat there without words as Dr. Mishta explained it all to me. All this while I was worried about something that didn't even exist. I was embarrassed.

"Also here's something for your conscience too. That accident of the burning car, I don't think it happened that night", said Dr. Misra.

"What?", I was puzzled.

"Yes. The rescue team reported that they searched the valley area several times and there was no sign of a car, as you described.

While your medical check-up was going on, I tried to dig into your past a little.", Dr.Sharma sat back on his chair. "You lost both your parents at an early age, right?"

"Yes"

"...in an accident, right?"

"Ye...Yes. My mother's sister...My aunt took care of me after that. I was around 3-4 years old I think."

"It was twenty-four years ago Arvind. You were three then. But here's something you don't know.

You too were in that car with your parents that night. You, your father and your mother were on a journey to your Aunt's home when that accident happened. You were the only one that survived. Apparently, the impact threw you out of the vehicle before the vehicle burnt down. You had a memory loss right after that, and when you recovered, you had completely forgotten about the accident.", Dr. Mishra pulled his chair near me and kept his hands on my shoulder.

"A big-red car, that's what you told me about the car that burned down in front of your eyes. It had struck me as odd then itself. Why would a grown man describe a car as 'big', it was a child's words.

Your family drove a red Tata-Sierra, an SUV.

A big red car...

I honestly don't know what made your mind piece together an accident that happened to you now, to something so deeply hidden away in your memory...But then again human brain isn't something we know a lot about. Most of it is still a mystery.", concluded Dr. Mishra as he consolidated me.

I sobbed into his shoulder unceasingly, hands clutching his shirt. He held me in silence. He wanted me to cry it out too. That was probably the best way to deal with it.