The Roman Project: The Wronged

Chapter 5

The elevator doors opened and they sprinted down same marble staircase and past the malfunctioning robotic receptionist.

They were back on the street.

"Where do we go?" Roman asked quietly, they had both absentmindedly stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, the sudden flurry of of people flooding around them. Jeen thought for a minute.

She looked at all the people, the transfers and loaders on the highway and something clicked in her mind.

A mere spark of hope.

"Do you think there's a back way out of the building?"Jeen asked Roman.

"Maybe? I don't know. Why?" He asked, confused.

"Mom doesn't like crowds. Even for a brief amount of time. Remember when she used to take us to the market?"
"Yeah. She made us leave early 'cause she was getting anxious." Roman said. Jeen nodded.

"C'mon." She waved her hand for him to follow as she turned back to the building, making a beeline for the allway between the manufacturing building and another large skyscraper.

The alleyway was more of a smaller stone path than an alleyway actually. Once both of them were walking down the path everything seemed more peaceful. The sound of traffic and crowded footsteps fading.

Jeen took a look back at the crowded street, people walking this way and that, not giving a bit of notice to each other. She turned her back to the busy street and then she and Roman walked forward, their footsteps silent.

They reached the end of the path and the two large building's walls ending behind them. They were in a park.

A very small one.

No one was here, and not a sound could be heard save the rustling of decorative grass. Which grew in a perfect circles embedded in gray pebbles. The path curved and split into a few smaller paths, separated by circles of pebbles with bamboo and colorful reeds growing through them. Covering the whole garden was a massive arbour with lavender wisteria hanging down.

Shadowing the garden was a black skyscraper. Jeen walked down one of the three paths, Roman taking a different one. They wandered around for a few minutes, Jeen reaching up and stroking the purple petals of the wisteria as she passed. She couldn't help feeling something was off about the place.

The utter silence.

Jeen felt shivers go down her arms as she observed the garden. Almost nothing seemed scary at noon, yet she found herself wanting to run.

She stood, pulling loose thread from her aqua sleeve and looking around nervously. She looked over to Roman who was wandering aimlessly through the garden.

"Does this place seem a little off to you?" She asked, her voice on edge.

"Yeah. Maybe." Roman answered.

She walked down the path until she came to a wooden archway that led down a path back towards the busy street.

"C'mon." She called to Roman when she noticed him standing still, his back turned to her.

"We should keep going." She called again, but he didn't move. She walked over to him feeling suddenly concerned

"Roman?" She came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder, he felt tense. "What's wrong?" She prodded.

Instead of answering he crouched down and reached out and touched his finger tip in something she had somehow overlooked in her worry.

Jeen's stomach tightened when she saw the small puddle of dried blood, or something that look identical to dried blood.