Sam sat in his dimly lit living room, Leena's bag resting on the coffee table in front of him. She had forgotten it in the lobby earlier that day, and Sam had picked it up with the intention of returning it to her the next morning. But as the hours ticked by, the quiet of the night amplified the questions that had been plaguing him for days. Why had Leena been so distant? Why did she seem so lost in her own thoughts, as if haunted by something unspeakable?
Unable to shake the feeling that something was horribly wrong, Sam's gaze drifted to her phone, which had slipped out of her bag. It lay there, innocently enough, but it might hold the answers he needed. He hesitated, knowing it wasn't right to invade her privacy. But the worry gnawing at him wouldn't let go.
Finally, he reached for the phone, feeling a pang of guilt as he did. To his surprise, it didn't have a password. That wasn't like Leena—she was usually so careful about her personal things. He unlocked it, telling himself that he was only looking because he cared.
As he navigated through the apps, nothing unusual stood out at first. Messages, social media, a few missed calls—everything seemed normal. But then he stumbled upon a hidden folder in her gallery. His heart pounded in his chest as he opened it.
The first photo made his breath catch in his throat. It was Leena, but not the Leena he knew. Her face was swollen, bruised, and battered almost beyond recognition. Her eyes were barely open, one more swollen than the other, and her lips were split, blood dried in the corners of her mouth. The horror of what he was seeing took a moment to sink in.
He kept scrolling, each image more horrifying than the last. Her face, once so full of life and light, was now a canvas of pain and suffering. Her teeth were broken, her cheeks were puffed up from the beatings, and her expression in those moments was one of utter defeat. Sam's heart ached as he imagined what she must have gone through.
Then, he found something even more alarming—a document saved on her phone. It was an FIR, a formal report she had filed against Rechi and his friends. The words blurred before his eyes as he read through the detailed account of what they had done to her. They had cornered her, assaulted her, and left her in a state of utter devastation. The raw reality of what Leena had endured hit Sam like a ton of bricks.
Sam's hands trembled as he set the phone down, a storm of emotions swirling inside him—guilt for not being there when she needed him, anger at the monsters who had hurt her, and a deep, overwhelming sadness for the pain she had endured alone. How could he not have known? How had she kept this to herself?
His mind raced. He needed to find her, to hold her, to tell her that she wasn't alone anymore. The thought of Leena suffering in silence tore at him, and he knew he had to do something. But what? How could he help her heal from something so devastating?
Sam leaned back, his heart heavy. He couldn't change what had happened, but he could be there for her now. He could help her find justice, help her find her way back to the light. But first, he needed to be by her side.