the shattered

The soft hum of fluorescent lights echoed down the sterile hallways of the mental hospital, where Ethan had spent the past two months. He never thought he'd end up here, but life had a way of throwing curveballs, and he had learned to keep his head down, stay out of trouble, and just get through the days.

But then there was her.

Lena. She had a quiet beauty, the kind you had to look for beneath the layers of guarded silence she wore. Ethan first noticed her on his second day, sitting by the window, staring out with that far-off look that made the world outside seem so distant. She never looked his way, never spoke to him. But the way she moved, the way she would tilt her head when she heard someone laugh down the hall, made something stir in his chest.

Ethan tried to talk to her once, but she just smiled softly and walked away, her eyes never fully meeting his. It stung, but something about her pulled him in deeper.

Then one morning, she was gone.

Her bed was empty. Her things-books, a blanket she always carried-had vanished. No one in the ward seemed to know where she'd gone. The doctors were evasive. The nurses were distracted. No one would tell him anything.

A note appeared on his pillow that night, written in a messy, hurried script: I didn't want to go, but they made me. Find me. Please.

With that, everything changed. Nothing in this sterile, cold place mattered anymore-only Lena. The girl who had been so out of reach, yet had unknowingly ignited something inside him, now had disappeared. Ethan's heart raced with the urge to find her, no matter the cost.

He was determined to uncover the truth behind her sudden departure. What had happened? Why was she taken? And why had she left him that note?

The mystery of Lena had become his new purpose, his only purpose