A Tortured Life - S01 E06

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A Tortured Life - S01 E06

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 6

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Episode 6: A Tortured Life

The rain was falling very hard on Leo’s head as he sat on his old suitcase. He was wet, cold, and very sad. The black limousine sat in front of him like a giant shadow. The man with the umbrella stood there, looking down at Leo with kind eyes. Leo felt like he was in a dream. Just a few minutes ago, he was alone in the dark. Now, a rich man in a fancy car was calling his name. Leo looked at the golden envelope in the man’s hand. He wondered if this was the moment his life would change forever. He wondered if his breakthrough had finally arrived in the middle of a storm.

The back window of the limousine rolled down very slowly. The glass was dark, but as it moved down, Leo saw a face he recognized. It was the face of the grumpy old man from the silver car. It was Mr. Sterling. Leo felt a cold shiver go down his back. He remembered how Mr. Sterling had yelled at him for denting the hood of the car. He remembered how the man did not care about the children Leo had saved. Leo wanted to run away, but his leg was too bruised to move. He thought Mr. Sterling had come back to shout at him again or to call the police.

But Mr. Sterling was not yelling this time. His face looked different. He did not look angry. He looked like he was thinking very hard about something. He looked at Leo’s wet clothes and the pile of trash on the ground. He saw the graduation medal lying in the mud. For a long time, nobody said a word. The only sound was the pitter-patter of the rain on the roof of the car.

"Get in the car, boy," Mr. Sterling said. His voice was still a bit scratchy, but it was not mean. It was almost soft.

Leo hesitated. He looked at his muddy shoes and his soaked suit. "Sir, I am very dirty. I will ruin your seats. My landlord threw me out, and I have nowhere to go."

Mr. Sterling sighed. "I know you are dirty. I have eyes. And I know you have no home. The man with the umbrella is my assistant. He followed you from the street where you saved those kids. I saw what you did, Leo. I was angry about my car because I am a grumpy old man who likes his things to be perfect. But after I drove away, I realized that those children would be dead if you were not there. I realized that you are a very rare kind of person."

The assistant helped Leo stand up. It was hard because Leo’s leg was very stiff and painful. They put his wet suitcase and his graduation medal into the trunk of the car. Leo sat on the soft leather seat of the limousine. It was the most comfortable thing he had ever felt. It was warm inside the car. Mr. Sterling handed him a dry towel and a bottle of water.

"I have a job for you," Mr. Sterling said as the car began to move.

Leo’s heart jumped with joy. He thought about the big office. He thought about the navy blue suit. He thought about the desk with a computer and a fan. "A job, sir? At the corporation?"

Mr. Sterling looked out the window at the passing city lights. "Yes. At my company. But it is not a job for a manager. It is not an executive role. I need a janitor. I need someone to sweep the floors, empty the trash, and keep the building clean at night. It is hard work. It is dirty work. And people will look down on you. But it is a job, and it comes with a small room to stay in."

Leo felt a sting in his heart. He was the best student in his class. He had a degree that said he was a genius. He had dreamed of being a leader. Now, he was being asked to be a janitor. He was being asked to pick up the trash of the same people who had mocked him in the lobby.

The next day, Leo started his new job. He was given a gray uniform that was thick and heavy. He was given a mop, a bucket, and a large broom. He moved into a tiny room in the basement of the giant office building. It was small and had no windows, but it was dry and safe.

Word soon reached his old friends and the people from his village. They heard that the "Great Leo," the boy who was supposed to be a king, was now a servant in the city. They sent him messages on his old phone that he had finally fixed.

"Leo, why are you doing this?" one friend wrote. "You wasted your education. You spent years reading books just to hold a mop. You are a shame to our school."

"You should come back to the village," another said. "At least here, you can farm. Being a janitor is for people who cannot read. You are a failure."

Leo sat in his basement room and read the messages. He felt the weight of their words. It hurt to know that people were laughing at him. He looked at his degree, which was now wrinkled from the rain. He felt like a fool. But then, he remembered his "readiness." He remembered that a blueprint is not the house itself; it is just the plan. To build the house, you have to start with the dirt.

"I am not a failure," Leo whispered to himself. "I am just starting from the bottom. A king who knows how to clean a floor is a better king than one who has never worked a day in his life."

Leo decided that if he was going to be a janitor, he would be the best janitor the world had ever seen. He didn't just sweep the floors; he polished them until they looked like mirrors. He didn't just empty the trash; he made sure the bins were spotless. He arrived at work earlier than anyone else. He stayed later than anyone else. He worked with a smile on his face, even when the young men in suits walked past him and made fun of his gray uniform.

One afternoon, Leo was cleaning the hallway near the main elevators. A group of rich businessmen walked past him. One of them was the man in the gray suit who had mocked him during the interview. The man saw Leo and stopped.

"Well, look at this!" the man laughed. "It's the boy who wanted to be an assistant. I see you finally found a job that fits your skills. Make sure you get that spot over there. It’s a bit dusty, just like your village."

The other men laughed. Leo did not say anything. He just bowed his head and kept mopping. He remembered Sarah. He wondered if she could see him now. Would she still love a boy who cleaned toilets? Would she still believe in his spark? The thought made him want to cry, but he pushed the mop harder. He was cleaning the floors as if they were made of gold. He was showing "readiness" in every stroke of the mop.

Mr. Sterling watched Leo from the security cameras. He saw how the other employees treated the boy. He saw how Leo never complained. He saw how the building was becoming cleaner than it had ever been. He saw that Leo was not just a boy with a degree; he was a boy with a soul that could not be stained by dirt.

Weeks went by. Leo’s leg healed, though it still ached when it rained. He saved every cent of his small salary. He sent half of it back to Mama Grace in the village. He told her he was working at a "big company," but he did not tell her he was the one holding the broom. He didn't want her to worry.

One Tuesday night, the building was very quiet. It was late, and most of the workers had gone home to their warm beds and their families. Leo was assigned to clean the top floor. This was the floor where the most important people worked. It was the floor where the CEO had his massive office.

Leo pushed his cart onto the 50th floor. The carpets were thick, and the air was very still. He began to vacuum the long hallway. He worked his way toward the CEO’s office. The door was slightly open. Leo knew he was supposed to go inside and empty the bin and wipe the desk.

He pushed the door open quietly. The office was beautiful. It had large windows that looked out over the whole city. The lights of the cars below looked like tiny gold beads. There was a large desk made of black marble. On the desk, there were many papers and a computer that was still humming.

Leo walked to the desk to pick up the trash bin. As he reached for the bin, his eyes fell on a large document lying right in the middle of the desk. It was a financial report for the next year. It had a big red stamp on it that said "CONFIDENTIAL."

Leo knew he should not look. He was just a janitor. He was supposed to clean and leave. But Leo was also the best student in his class. He was a genius with numbers. His brain saw patterns before his eyes could even blink. He caught a glimpse of a long row of numbers at the bottom of the page.

He stopped. He frowned. He looked closer.

In his head, Leo began to do the math. He didn't need a calculator. He didn't need a pen. He added the costs, subtracted the taxes, and multiplied the profits. His heart began to beat very fast. He looked at the total at the bottom of the page. Then he looked at the numbers above it again.

"This is wrong," Leo whispered to the empty room.

He realized that someone had made a massive mistake. A decimal point was in the wrong place. A large sum of money had been counted twice, and a massive debt had been hidden in a corner of the report. To an average person, it looked like the company was making a lot of money. But Leo saw the truth.

The report was a lie. If the CEO signed this paper tomorrow morning, the company would invest all its money into a project that did not exist. By the end of the month, the massive corporation would have no money left. Thousands of people would lose their jobs. Mr. Sterling would be ruined. The company would go bankrupt.

Leo looked at his mop. He looked at his gray uniform. He looked at the paper that held the fate of the whole building.

He was just a janitor. If he touched the paper, he could be fired for snooping. If he spoke up, who would believe a boy who cleans floors? They would think he was trying to be "smart" again. They would tell him to go back to his broom.

But if he stayed silent, the building would fall. The man who had given him a roof over his head would lose everything.

Leo heard a sound in the hallway. It was the sound of heavy footsteps. Someone was coming back to the office.

Leo looked at the report. He saw the error staring back at him like a monster. He had to make a choice. Should he hide and pretend he saw nothing? Or should he risk everything to point out a mistake that no one else had seen?

The footsteps got louder. A shadow appeared on the frosted glass of the door. Leo’s hands were shaking. He wasn't just holding a broom anymore. He was holding the life of the company in his hands.

Was Leo right to take the janitor job, or should he have kept looking for an office role?

Do you think the error in the report was a simple mistake, or is someone trying to ruin the company on purpose?

If the person walking down the hall is the CEO, what should Leo say to him?

How would you feel if your friends mocked you for working a "low" job to survive?

The Clock is Ticking!

Leo has discovered a secret that could destroy everything! Will he be the hero once again, or will he be blamed for touching things that don't belong to him? The breakthrough is closer than ever, but the danger is even closer!