Deadly Influence: The Social Media Murders 1x2

1. So we just had dinner

2. which means it's time for dessert.

3. And where are we gonna get dessert?

4. An ice cream shop.

5. Sania was a burst of sunshine

6. and positive energy.

7. I did it!

8. Man, it was infectious.

9. She was bold, big and funny. - Baby.

10. Everyone felt like her friend

11. because everyone was.

12. I can't talk right now.

13. I'm doing hot girl

14. She was proud to be a Pakistani woman.

15. She was very proud

16. of how she modernized her culture.

17. She made a lot of women feel

18. safe, seen, and heard.

19. But being a Pakistani Muslim influencer online...

20. it can get very toxic very quickly.

21. Harassment,

22. bullying,

23. death threats.

24. The possibility of online threats stepping over into real life is

25. actually very real.

26. There was only positives

27. until she had that day

28. where her own life was actually at risk.

29. My first introduction

30. into the world of the Internet was

31. through Sania reconfiguring my Myspace layout.

32. Her handle was Geminigirl

33. and mine was Ariesgirl.

34. Mmm.

35. Hi, Sania.

36. I met Sania in the early 2000s.

37. We were between the ages of nine and ten.

38. That's not on. You didn't turn it on.

39. It was New Year's Eve.

40. I was talking to my cousin,

41. and this girl just jumps

42. into the conversation.

43. "Hi, my name's Sania."

44. True Sania Khan style, right?

45. It was just destined. We became friends.

46. Early teens, early 2000s.

47. No, I didn't. - You did—

48. I entered with the front door with Yusra.

49. No, I didn't!

50. This is her family.

51. Sania's the eldest.

52. This is Heider uncle, who is her father.

53. This is Shazia auntie, her mother.

54. They look happy.

55. In Chattanooga,

56. the Muslim community is very conservative,

57. but we are Pakistani-American.

58. We have two identities

59. that are oftentimes in conflicts with each other.

60. We tried to be'acchi bacchis", right,

61. which means good girls...

62. respect your elders,

63. biggest thing, dressing modestly.

64. We don't bring shame to our families.

65. We want to be assimilated

66. into the American community,

67. but our parents did not understand the culture

68. and so I think

69. Sania definitely struggled with that all her life.

70. Stop it!

71. Why?

72. I don't like it when you...

73. I met Sania

74. in homeroom freshman year, ninth grade.

75. Since pretty much the first week she was there,

76. we've been friends.

77. My connection to Sania was a creative one.

78. These were some of the first photos

79. she took of me

80. when she was practicing photography.

81. Sania's relationship with her mother and father was

82. strained and confusing,

83. at least from my perspective

84. as a white teenage boy.

85. They had certain expectations placed on her

86. that didn't mesh with the culture

87. she was exposed to at our school.

88. First semester she met Robert, started dating.

89. That was really like

90. - the formative high school sweet romance.

91. She loved him and vice versa,

92. but stigma of dating a non-South Asian man,

93. I don't know how she managed it,

94. but I don't feel

95. like she would have traded it for the world.

96. While she was in college,

97. her parents went through a horrible divorce

98. that took a toll on her entire family.

99. When it comes to South Asian family norms,

100. we're really good

101. at keeping the facade alive

102. of a happy marriage,

103. but when things go sour,

104. they go down sour real quick.

105. She got to see the other side

106. of the Chattanooga Muslim community.

107. Her mother was ostracized, shunned,

108. for initiating the divorce.

109. She felt for her mom a lot.

110. She hated the authoritarian way

111. that her father may have handled the situation.

112. And so her relationship did become strained

113. with her father.

114. She lived with her mother,

115. and she saw him occasionally.

116. Like most immigrant communities,

117. the Pakistani communities,

118. "Oh, you have to become a doctor, or a lawyer,

119. or an engineer

120. because those are careers

121. that will make you more stable in life."

122. Sania actually did do as her parents wished,

123. and she went to UTC

124. and pursued a education in psychology.

125. But then, after she graduated college,

126. she decided to go down a more creative path,

127. and she picked photography.

128. And that's not normal.

129. She didn't care.

130. She didn't let,"log kya kehenge",

131. "what are people going to say?", dictate that.

132. Sania and I met over social media.

133. We're kind of like rule breakers,

134. and don't let, "What will people say?",

135. like, hold us back.

136. She made up her own rules of what it means

137. to be a Muslim and an American.

138. It's okay for her to make the religion

139. what it means to her,

140. rather than what they say it should be.

141. She told me, "I want to be married.

142. I want to have a big family.

143. And I want my photography to thrive."

144. She was the best photographer ever.

145. She captured moments

146. in such a beautiful way.

147. Sania decided to slide in my DMs.

148. We bonded in the fact that we were sent to college,

149. failure is not an option,

150. you have to graduate, be successful.

151. In 2016,

152. her photography business just started going bonkers.

153. She was out of town every weekend,

154. going to, like, awesome places

155. to shoot people

156. and then she started recording herself,

157. putting her thoughts out there.

158. She became this traveling photographer.

159. She'd use TikTok as a platform

160. and expanded her business.

161. She and I met on a random night.

162. Right from the start,

163. it just felt like we knew each other forever.

164. Before you know it, we're texting each other every day.

165. She was definitely an entrepreneur,

166. because it was like she was doing two jobs in one.

167. And she was utilizing social media

168. to get a following

169. for her photography business.

170. I'm gonna have such a good day today!

171. But we all knew she was a hopeless romantic.

172. She wanted to have a strong relationship

173. with her mother and father.

174. So she needed to find the right person

175. to make them happy,

176. to make them proud.

177. She wanted to be a wife,

178. a mother,

179. have a home, have a full life

180. that she could not keep compartmentalized,

181. but she could not have that with Robert.

182. So her relationship with Robert ended.

183. She decided on dating a South Asian person

184. that she could bring home to mom and dad.

185. Sania met Raheel on Tinder.

186. He was studying to be a physician's assistant.

187. He was very charismatic,

188. and he was very sweet.

189. Like her, he was

190. Pakistani and Muslim.

191. I liked him from the get-go

192. because he knew how to present himself.

193. But she had moved to Dallas.

194. He was in Atlanta.

195. And they were long distance.

196. So there was no real, like, intimacy

197. of living with somebody.

198. Sania and Raheel kept a relationship

199. through weekend getaways.

200. They often did camping trips.

201. She definitely knew

202. that she wanted to marry him.

203. She wanted someone

204. who had her back at the end of the day,

205. that she could kind of show off

206. in the community, too.

207. So part of being an influencer is

208. talking about yourself, right?

209. Being more personable with your audience.

210. And Sania did just that.

211. When you get a following,

212. it brings in more clients, more money,

213. and builds your portfolio.

214. Sania was a self-confessed, hopeless romantic,

215. and she loved to capture couples.

216. Quickly, she became a go-to photographer.

217. She had a blog

218. where she shared about her own relationship

219. and gave relationship advice.

220. She talked about

221. how they supported one another.

222. Raheel was very sweet to her.

223. He would fly in and surprise her,

224. would send her gifts and flowers

225. on Valentine's Day.

226. They were dating for five years

227. before he proposed to her,

228. which is a very long time.

229. "Here's where

230. - your day turns fancy and free." Oh.

231. "Time to get out of your comfort zone

232. and find something naughty

233. or nice for the bride-to-be."

234. The reason why it took the time is

235. because she came from a divorced household.

236. That's still a big stigma.

237. I know that there was some resentment

238. from Raheel's family

239. in the way that they saw Sania.

240. But she can't help

241. that her parents made the choices that they did.

242. Hi.

243. Bride tribe!

244. It was very much "Present the couple,

245. look how perfect they are,

246. look how nice the family is."

247. She had to look like

248. the perfect South-Asian glowing bride.

249. Oh, my God.

250. Raheel's parents were still together,

251. and they painted that perfect picture

252. of the way things were supposed to be.

253. Having everyone together,

254. her mother, her father,

255. both sides of the family, everything coming together,

256. that's what she's wanted since she was a little girl.

257. But during the signing of the papers,

258. there was an event.

259. Just made everybody in the room kind of...

260. pause.

261. It was very calm at the beginning

262. until the energy in the room changed

263. suddenly to being hostile,

264. and just— it was very uncomfortable.

265. I remember the look in Raheel's eyes

266. and they were—

267. it was just scary.

268. Raheel did have a sword,

269. which is traditional.

270. And he was like,

271. "I have a weapon

272. and I'm willing to use it."

273. Was there any conflict at the wedding?

274. Yes, there was some conflict at the wedding.

275. No, I'd rather not get into details of that.

276. The conflict was over something

277. what I thought was very minor.

278. It was like a seating arrangement.

279. He was telling her father

280. to sit in a certain place.

281. But I recalled

282. her father speaking back to him that, you know,

283. "You're not supposed to be telling us,

284. like, what to do."

285. It was a very vocal altercation.

286. Her father was screaming, "I paid for the whole thing,

287. and you— you can get out."

288. Raheel banged the sword

289. on the table.

290. For anyone to do that in front of an elder is

291. a huge sign of disrespect.

292. It's a really big deal.

293. That event set the tone for the rest of the evening.

294. "May Allah bless the earth

295. with your progeny."

296. She's just like,

297. "I have to let it wash over me.

298. I just have to be here and can't say a word and...

299. it'll all be okay."

300. Sorry. I'm just like—

301. I hated that day.

302. There was already tension

303. between the two families.

304. Fallout at the wedding just furthered the divide.

305. She, at that point, was trying to support her husband

306. rather than her family.

307. After their wedding,

308. Sania and Raheel moved to Chicago,

309. where Raheel would go to medical school.

310. And they lived in an apartment building

311. on the 28th floor.

312. Sania was thriving

313. in her business.

314. Her online presence was growing.

315. Everything seemed to be going really well

316. for the couple.

317. On November 7th of 2021,

318. Sania was featured on a podcast—

319. What would you say

320. to the South Asian parents—

321. to talk about the issues

322. faced in her career as a South Asian woman.

323. children entering creative industries?

324. Support your child,

325. motivate them.

326. If you want them to succeed,

327. if you want them to be happy—

328. Sania presented herself and her partner

329. as a power couple, really.

330. Life was wonderful when I got married.

331. I mean, I love my husband.

332. - He's actually in school for medicine - Mm-hmm.

333. and he's gonna be in it for a little bit.

334. - And so I was like, well— Yeah.

335. now I need to be the breadwinner.

336. He's gonna be providing,

337. - you know, in the future. - Yeah.

338. But for the time being,

339. let me be that support.

340. Sania was trying to live

341. between the online world,

342. and the real world.

343. Trying to pick and choose things

344. that would reflect well,

345. when in reality,

346. things weren't going very well in her relationship.

347. He was almost never around.

348. He was either studying for school

349. or with his friends.

350. And she was,

351. in her words, "playing housewife."

352. And just the way he talked to her,

353. especially when it came to her career in photography,

354. he would say, "No, this is not, like, a real income."

355. Sania had expressed to me

356. how much pressure that she felt

357. from their family,

358. because they saw him as being perfect.

359. And the girls in his family were perfect.

360. So they expected Sania to be perfect too.

361. So it was just a lot.

362. We started communicating less and less.

363. She was almost never on social media anymore.

364. I remember,

365. about four or five months after her wedding,

366. I was going to Chicago

367. to see some friends.

368. And of course, I wanted to see her.

369. But she told me she wouldn't be able to,

370. because she had some family stuff going on.

371. And that was kind of a red flag for me,

372. because she would tell me what it was.

373. I just knew that there was something

374. that she wasn't telling me.

375. She literally went off the grid

376. and that was weird.

377. That was so weird.

378. I didn't find out

379. about Raheel's mental-health struggles

380. until she called me crying on the phone one day,

381. told me what he had tried to do.

382. She didn't wanna actually tell the complete truth

383. until she had that day,

384. where her own life was actually at risk.

385. December 7th, 2021,

386. Raheel tried to commit suicide

387. from their high-rise apartment in Chicago.

388. He tried to grab Sania

389. and then jump out of the window.

390. On December 7th, 2021,

391. Raheel tried to kill himself

392. by jumping from the balcony of the 28th floor

393. and taking Sania with him.

394. His mother somehow was able to stop him.

395. Raheel allegedly was going through a mental break,

396. but the fact that your son

397. or son-in-law has tried to kill himself is

398. very shameful and a huge taboo.

399. Unfortunately, Sania's mom told her specifically

400. not to say anything to the police.

401. She, like, divulges everything to me.

402. I was literally in shock.

403. She's like, "My mom just didn't want anyone to know.

404. I honestly didn't know what to do."

405. Her in-laws were refusing to look at the fact

406. that Raheel had a serious problem.

407. They held him on a pedestal.

408. I think she truly felt conflicted

409. and isolated during that time.

410. Like, "how did this happen?

411. How did I contribute to that?"

412. And essentially, she gave this man

413. the benefit of the doubt.

414. There's this other, like,

415. South Asian pressure coming towards him

416. about being that, like, ideal son in a family.

417. She would say that

418. that was contributing

419. to his mental health.

420. His biggest goal, like, in life,

421. is to become a doctor,

422. is to get there,

423. but he was definitely struggling.

424. Something else that came out was his age,

425. that he had lied.

426. He was actually in his mid-30s.

427. That, for her, was a huge turning point as well

428. because she actually doesn't know

429. who the hell she married.

430. Sania was being gaslit from both sides,

431. from her family and her in-laws,

432. about keeping quiet,

433. trying to work on the marriage, etc.

434. Her mother was like, "It's nothing."

435. It happens."

436. And that evolves to,

437. "Maybe you're to blame for it."

438. When she finally told her friends,

439. they helped her realize

440. that she needed to get out.

441. I got a call from her.

442. She was crying.

443. She proceeded to tell me

444. both her family and his family is telling her

445. that it's all in her head.

446. He's sorry and she should move on.

447. He'd never do it again.

448. But she told me she couldn't sleep next to him

449. and feel safe.

450. I told her to pretend

451. that she never called me,

452. and I planned to fly up the next day

453. and grab her myself.

454. I flew from New York to Chicago

455. and arrived at her apartment.

456. Raheel had no idea that I was coming.

457. And she packed a small bag

458. and she brought her camera...

459. like her baby.

460. We ran to the elevator.

461. We were shaking, out of breath.

462. Adrenaline was pumping,

463. thinking that he had followed us.

464. But we made it.

465. Then took a flight back

466. to my apartment in New York.

467. Her getting out made her realize that

468. what had happened between them was not normal.

469. It's not okay.

470. She finally said it out loud.

471. She said, "I'm going to get a divorce."

472. I'm like, you know,

473. maybe I need to stop, like, thinking.

474. I need to stop, like...

475. considering other people's viewpoints

476. and, like, really just, like,

477. listen to my intuition,

478. my heart, and, like, what that's telling me.

479. She went back to their apartment.

480. And he went back to his mother

481. in Alpharetta.

482. A self-entitled boy goes running back to his mom.

483. It caught me off guard.

484. Nothing about their relationship

485. at any point seemed

486. violent or abusive

487. or "you shouldn't be with him."

488. It kind of felt like she was failing at life.

489. I told her, "You're winning

490. because you're not staying."

491. She got to rebuild herself

492. after being broken.

493. And that was the most beautiful thing to watch.

494. Sania had turned to her online community

495. and shared the realities

496. of what she was going through.

497. A lot of people connected with her.

498. In the Western culture, it's quite normalized

499. to talk about your own issues.

500. But in Pakistani culture, it's not.

501. So for Sania to break these barriers and say,

502. "No, I am going to speak on this

503. because there are other women who go through this"

504. was quite incredible.

505. There's a video that she made that went viral

506. where she's clearly visibly upset,

507. talking about how isolating it was for her.

508. That's the video that I first saw

509. about Sania online.

510. I didn't know Sania as a person,

511. but I have family members,

512. women who are going through exactly what she went through.

513. And it just broke my heart.

514. Sania was a pretty funny person.

515. She was quite cheeky.

516. But her responses were always

517. very positive and very supportive.

518. She was rediscovering who she was.

519. She said, "Girl, my DMs are filled with people

520. and I can't believe I'm making a difference.

521. It's great.

522. I want to talk more about it."

523. I'm not surprised that it kicked off.

524. I love this TikTok of hers.

525. Probably one of my favorites.

526. I know she looked like a badass

527. and it looked amazing.

528. Her message was

529. "No matter what religion you come from,

530. you're a woman and you're beautiful

531. and you can achieve anything

532. that you set your mind to."

533. Social media was like her virtual diary.

534. She wanted to be vulnerable

535. so that a few months later, she can be like,

536. "I am totally better off."

537. But going viral online is a double-edged sword.

538. She faced a lot of harassment

539. and a lot of bullying

540. from all over.

541. Just because she decided

542. to openly talk about her experience.

543. A lot of people within the culture were

544. shunning her and...

545. this was the time where she started

546. to get death threats.

547. So being a female Muslim influencer

548. can get pretty scary at times,

549. especially when you talk about taboo subjects.

550. Sania was talking about her divorce.

551. Her family was upset.

552. The South Asian community was upset.

553. The Muslim community was upset.

554. She didn't focus on that.

555. She was like, "Girl, I'm gonna delete, block and move on."

556. She brushed them off.

557. You don't really think someone's gonna, like,

558. lash out like that

559. for just something as silly as something you post online.

560. Mom finding these TikToks, saying,

561. like, "what are you doing?

562. This is bringing so much shame on us."

563. This video really hurts.

564. I don't understand

565. why, in our community,

566. when women act a certain way,

567. dress a certain way,

568. why the reaction is always

569. that "We're going to kill ourselves

570. or we're going to kill you."

571. As long as she's been on social media,

572. there's been people making negative comments about her.

573. But that didn't stop her.

574. And that's

575. one of the bravest things about her.

576. Sania knew how powerful her social media account was.

577. It was her moneymaker.

578. And she would say it often to me. She was like,

579. "I don't know how I'm going to pay my rent,

580. so I'm just going to get on here.

581. I'm going to post every day." And she did.

582. And it worked.

583. I met Sania at a tea shop

584. in Chattanooga, early 2019.

585. We just instantly hit it off.

586. She didn't live in Chattanooga at the time.

587. So we kept tabs on one another.

588. It wasn't until after Raheel,

589. early 2022, that we really, like,

590. fell in love with each other.

591. Soulmate, soul sister, everything.

592. Best friend, twin flame,

593. whatever you want to call all that.

594. She was defining herself

595. as a new way to be within her culture.

596. But to still hold on to the things

597. that mattered with it.

598. I did it!

599. She got the Roman numerals 28.

600. It was her year of waking up.

601. Twenty-eight was also the floor she lived on

602. in her apartment building.

603. She was excited. She was excited to date.

604. She was excited to fall in love again.

605. She didn't really tell me she was, like,

606. thinking of reconnecting him.

607. It was more of a she told me after the fact of, like,

608. "Oh, I didn't tell you."

609. So this is just a lot of my speculation.

610. I mean, it goes back

611. to the two different identities she had

612. between her Pakistani side and her American teenage side.

613. And that was such a...

614. strong, significant relationship for her.

615. It made sense for her to find comfort...

616. in him.

617. We were like, "Absolutely, we have to live together."

618. I found us a house in Chattanooga.

619. And it was happening.

620. We were so, so excited.

621. So excited about it.

622. Yeah.

623. I was just ready to go get her.

624. Sania bought my plane ticket

625. to meet her in Chicago,

626. pack,

627. drive back and have a little adventure.

628. I landed.

629. And I asked her,

630. "What train do I need to get on?"

631. And I hadn't heard from her.

632. So that worried me a little bit.

633. Uh, I still— I called her a lot.

634. I received a phone call on Instagram.

635. They did not know me.

636. They just knew that...

637. Sania was supposed to see me today.

638. They sounded really freaked out

639. because someone had sent them

640. a message on Instagram.

641. At this point, I'm alarmed.

642. It feels really surreal.

643. Two, three minutes later, her dad called me.

644. I'd never seen her family.

645. Um, I'd never talked to them.

646. He said something to me

647. like, "She's gone."

648. In my mind,

649. I already knew what happened.

650. At this point, I'm like freaking out.

651. I'm trying to hold myself together.

652. A minute or two later,

653. her mom called me.

654. And she was hysterical.

655. And her brother took the phone from her mom and...

656. basically calmly told me what happened.

657. I just kept saying to myself, like,

658. "This can't be real. This can't be real.

659. It can't be real."

660. July 18th...

661. At 4:30 p.m.,

662. police were called to Sania's apartment.

663. Upon arrival, they heard a gunshot.

664. They broke in

665. and found Sania's body unresponsive.

666. They then found another body

667. with a gunshot wound to the head.

668. It was Raheel.

669. One of her friends sends me a message.

670. And I ask,

671. "Is Sania all right?"

672. She says...

673. "No".

674. And then I ask her,

675. "Is Sania alive?"

676. She says, "No".

677. Raheel shot her and then shot himself.

678. I wake up.

679. I look at my text messages.

680. I was in reaction mode.

681. I still think, to a certain degree, I am.

682. Immediately, I was angry.

683. And I just fell on the floor

684. and I just could not control myself.

685. It was the absolute worst feeling.

686. The part that hurt the most was just

687. knowing how excited she was

688. for this new chapter.

689. She had just overcome so much in that year.

690. And the way that

691. that just took her life like that.

692. Like this, she was gone.

693. Even when I was coming to talk to you today,

694. I was like, "Oh, we're going to talk about Sania."

695. And in my head, she's very much here.

696. She's very much...

697. in Chicago.

698. Yeah.

699. He knew when I was coming.

700. That's the part of it that really...

701. really bothers me a lot.

702. He took his opportunity to take her away

703. when he could.

704. Let's rewind to what actually happened

705. on that day.

706. Raheel drove over 700 miles

707. from Georgia to Chicago to the apartment

708. that he once shared with Sania.

709. It's been six months since their separation

710. and he was banned from the apartment.

711. But he reached out to a real estate agent

712. and asked for a tour

713. of another apartment in the building.

714. After the tour, he told the real estate agent

715. that he was going to visit a friend.

716. And at 11:00 a.m., he knocked on Sania's door.

717. What happened after that is just speculation.

718. What is believed to have happened

719. is Raheel told her that

720. he had her wedding dress in a garment bag.

721. Sania opened the door

722. and Raheel immediately shot her.

723. Police were called to Sania's apartment

724. for a welfare check

725. that was done by Raheel's family

726. as he had been gone for a day and a night.

727. They reported him as missing.

728. Once the police arrived to the apartment,

729. they heard a second gunshot—

730. and they broke in.

731. Once they were in the apartment,

732. they found Sania unresponsive

733. and declared her dead on the scene.

734. Shortly after, they found Raheel

735. with a gunshot wound to the head

736. and transported him to the hospital.

737. Upon arrival, he was also declared dead.

738. The medical examiner reported

739. Sania's death as a homicide

740. and her estranged husband Raheel's death as a suicide.

741. She separated from the person

742. that was trying to hurt her.

743. She was physically moving to another location.

744. She changed her locks.

745. She did everything right

746. and still...

747. lost her life.

748. "I told her I couldn't live without her

749. and had the gun pointed to my head,

750. but she tried to take it away from me

751. and it went off."

752. The suicide note was a complete fake.

753. "I can't live with myself

754. knowing me being here caused this accident.

755. I am so sorry."

756. No accountability.

757. Whatever mental break he had

758. fueled by failing at school,

759. failure at marriage,

760. his humiliation led him to do what he did.

761. Take it out on the two people he can blame, her and himself.

762. I think the pressure from school,

763. the pressure from the divorce,

764. the pressure from his family,

765. it all got to him and that's why he did it.

766. I don't believe he could stand

767. the thought of her having

768. this incredible life she was certainly

769. and absolutely going to have without him.

770. "If I can't have you, no one will."

771. Here, yet again,

772. we have a South Asian woman going through domestic abuse,

773. who has now been murdered by her estranged husband,

774. and yet the community is absolutely silent.

775. Time and time again, in our communities,

776. we talk about how women need to be complicit

777. to the abuse that they face.

778. So myself and some other social media influencers

779. that I know from our community

780. spoke up about this.

781. In our society, women are seen as commodities

782. for our labor and our childbearing capabilities.

783. We're not seen as human beings at all.

784. The community response was quite interesting.

785. On one hand, you had a lot of people,

786. men mostly,

787. trying to justify what Raheel did.

788. Some people were blaming her murder on her.

789. Mental health is a serious issue

790. in a lot of communities,

791. but that is not an excuse for bad behavior

792. and it's definitely not an excuse to murder somebody.

793. Because lots of folks have mental health issues

794. but lots of folks don't go around murdering people.

795. And on the other hand, you had

796. a lot of South Asian women talking

797. about the realities of domestic violence,

798. the realities of divorce

799. and the realities of the pressures

800. that women go through in these situations.

801. Her platform was one of positivity and hope

802. and she made a lot of women feel safe, seen and heard.

803. We need to let our women know

804. that their safety

805. is above pride, is above religion,

806. is above "what will people say."

807. All of her closest friends

808. came to this idea

809. of getting the exact same tattoo

810. in the exact same spot

811. for the exact same reason.

812. Twenty-eight is the year Sania's life changed.

813. She never wanted to forget it

814. because she overcame it.

815. I did it!

816. It's so good.

817. I love it.

818. Aww. I'm so happy.

819. I just had to mark my body

820. with her memory. I have to.

821. So I actually had it put

822. into my wedding henna.

823. Same spot as her in honor.

824. It's very special

825. because it means that

826. she's always with me.

827. She's still here with me.

828. I keep her here.

829. Not too tightly though

830. because I really want her to be where she is,

831. wherever she is.

832. She had a purpose and that was to help people,

833. but as an influencer, there will be people who

834. hate you for no reason.

835. When the hate steps out of cyberspace into the real world

836. Hey, Bianca?

837. it just becomes 10 times scarier.