The Roman Project: The Wronged

Chapter 3

Jeen 's knuckles racked harder on the door.

"Hello! Anyone home?" Jeen finally yelled, not stopping herself from adding some sarcasm to her voice - Roman would be proud.

The door ripped open and the angriest old woman Jeen had ever seen glared up at her.

"Oh, so there is someone home." The words slipped out before she could stop them. Ms. Duong's glare somehow deepened.

"Get out of here or I'll call Enforcement."

"You're kidding right? You can't arrest someone for knocking on your door. This isn't a private residence, people who live here are allowed to have visitors-" Jeen had a lot more to say but Ms. Duong slammed the door in her face, right before yelling "Don't come back. That's a warning!"

Jeen stood on the crumbling and damp porch for a few more minutes, glaring at the door as she thought of what to do. Ms. Duong's footsteps eventually faded away from the entrance and Jeen walked down the porch steps and around to the side of the house.

There were four windows on this side of the orphanage, and Jeen had to stare at them for a while to make sure she knew which one was Bosma's. She looked around the yellowing yard until she spotted a rock by the rusted chain link fence. Walking over and picking it up, she looked back up at the window on the far left and threw. The rock landed with a loud thump. She stood and waited, staring up at the dirty window, suddenly noticing how hot it was becoming as sweat began to build on her brow. The figure of a girl approached the window, she pulled it open a second later, a screeching noise following from the rusty window.

She looked around the age of fourteen and had curly brown hair and slight acne across her cheeks.

"Who are you?" She yelled down with a frown.

"Oh, sorry about the window. I'm Jeen, hi. Um - what's your name?" Jeen said, suddenly feeling bad about nearly cracking someone's window.

"Sue - " The girl answered, still sounding confused.

"Well, Sue, do you think you could tell me where Bosma is?" She asked, reaching up and putting a hand to her head when she felt a headache growing.

The girl's eyes widened and she looked around.

"I don't know what happened with Bosma, but I didn't have anything to do with it. I don't want to get in trouble if Ms. Duong finds out you're still here, and that I'm talking to you." The girl said in a rushed a worried tone.

"Wait, what? What d'you mean?" Jeen tried asking, but the girl slammed the window shut.

A hundred questions ran through her head as she stood there, but she knew she wouldn't be getting in this way.

She looked back to the street, biting her her lip as she thought. Her eyes wandered to a city bum sitting on a bench across the street.

Jeen couldn't help smirking as she turned ran across the yard, walking through the gate and up to the bum.

"Hey, can you do something for me?" She asked, reaching for her back pocket for her wallet, pulling out a pile of money.

The old man looked at the money, an unimpressed expression on his wrinkled face.

"What if I'm already rich?" His voice was like gravel.
Jeen's face scrunched up in confusion, she wasn't in the mood for a joke.

"Do you want the money or not?" She asked impatiently, holding it back.

He stood to his feet with a struggle, snatching the money. Proceeding to count it slowly with all the time in the world.

"Alright, now can you pretend that your staying the night in that yard." She pointed to the orphanage. "I mean don't actually, but just for a minute."