Fiction: A social media influencer ends up on a dangerous path but finds an unlikely saviour

Divyansh Ananthar woke up drooling over his half-eaten oatmeal bowl while the warm ring light still blasted at his face. He had forgotten to turn off his camera while shooting one of his weekly rants, and could only look at his hollow dark brown eyes staring back at him from the monitor.

Divyansh had grown accustomed to the influencer life. He could sleep when he wanted, wherever he wanted. And for him … sleep was the most important part of life. He always had vivid dreams. He would see and feel things that he couldn’t in his ordinary life. Dreams allowed him to fly out of his cosy Mumbai bachelor pad and escape his study that was surrounded by thick dusty books, strange art, unopened hampers and a peculiar musky scent that lingered in the air.

Not a night passed by where he didn’t get vivid dreams. He got to his feet while shaking his arm that had fallen asleep. One look at him and you wouldn’t have believed that he was in the middle of an internet storm. For someone who was being abused left, right and centre for almost a week, ever since he posted the honest rant about his...

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