~~~~~~
Zeno opened his eyes and found Himself in an unfamiliar environment. This wasn't his room. There was light coming from the window and he never opened his window drapes. His room was dark themed. This room was vintage themed.
He got down from the bed and went towards the doors in the room. He found the door that led to the hallway and walked out. Before he could to anything else, a dialogue box hologram popped up. It told him to find his partner at the square and gave him a route to follow. He wanted to find out more about the dialogue box but he was unable to. He started his journey while observing his surroundings.
He had been walking for a while now but he noticed that there was no one in the area, not a single soul. He thought this might be a dream, so he dug his nails on the cuts he had made on his hands. But he cuts stung a little and started bleeding. He left his wounds untreated and started thinking about who could be the partner that the system was talking about.
He wasn't worried about getting lost. His dad often told him to get lost.So if he got lost or died by accident then it would be better. Then he wouldn't have to worry about anything anymore and would be able to see his mom. He really wanted to ask his mom why she left his dad.
~~ ~~ ~~
Natasha was feeling a bit scared now. This was neither her area nor her city. She didn't know this place at all. Everything here was novel to her. She never saw these houses or these streets.
She was following the map to go to the square. She just hoped that her partner would be someone she knows. She was wondering who her partner might be. This place was totally unknown to her.
She almost reached the square when she saw someone walking from another street. That person was looking here and there while walking. It was a boy. He looked a little familiar but she couldn't recognise who he was.
"Hello!" She called out to him.
The boy raised his head and Natasha recognised him from school. He was the boy she bumped with today at school. According to the girls, he was a senior this year. She seemed to forget his name. He was the same boy she had eye contact with at the cafeteria.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
"Hello!" Zeno heard someone call him. He raised his head and saw the girl from school staring at him. He nodded his head.
"Are you the one who made me come here?" the girl asked.
"I don't know you" Zeno replied coldly.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
'Yeah, he doesn't know me. How would he call me! Silly me'
"Do know you this place?" Natasha asked Zeno. Zeno shook his head negatively. "What is this place? Why are we here? Are we the only ones here? Did you see someone while coming here?" Zeno just stared at Natasha for some time before shaking his head again.
Suddenly the holographic dialogue box popped up again. It said 'CONGRATULATIONS! YOU FOUND YOUR PARTNER. NOW FIND THE EXIT'
Natasha and Zeno looked at each other and then at the dialogue box looking for some clue. But they couldn't find any.
"Oh, my name is Natasha. It seems like we are the only ones here. We are partners and are supposed to look for the exit together" Zeno just nodded and started walking. Natasha followed him.
Natashas dialogue box came up and said to go to the nearby mall and visit the food court. Seeing this, she looked and Zeno.
"Hey!" Zeno turned around and looked at her.
"My pop up says we need to go to the food court at the nearby mall"
Zeno looked for his pop up and saw it glow in front of him. He searched for the map and located the nearby mall. He glanced at Natasha and signed her to follow him with his eyes and started walking again.
Natasha followed him silently.
They went to the nearby mall. It was a huge building. There were almost 7 huge floors and 2 basements. All the floors had beautiful shops and everything looked expensive and exquisite. She followed Zeno to the food court and looked for something that would tell them where or what the exit is.
The pop up glowed again and showed them a message. It said "THE EMERGENCY EXIT LEADS TO THE ROOFTOP. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS AND FIND THE EXIT"
Zeno saw the emergency exit to their right and walked towards the stairs. Natasha hurriedly followed him. They climbed the stairs and reached the rooftop. There was a beautiful Infinity Pool on the rooftop.
"Who builds a pool on top of a mall? Shouldn't there be a helipad here?" Natasha said.
Zeno ignored her and looked here and there. Natasha walked towards the pool. She was standing on the edge of the pool when suddenly-
*splash*
"Ahh-"
Zeno turned quickly and saw Natasha in the pool. It looked like she was struggling in there. Zeno jumped into the pool without even thinking about anything else and swan towards Natasha. Then he held her waist and dragged her towards the pool stairs. He pulled Natasha up and laid her face down on the floor. Natasha kept coughing and was trying to breathe.
After few moments her breathing stabilised and Zeno helped her sit.
"Why did you go in the pool if you don't know how to swim?"
"I hah- didn't- hah- go -hah-hah- in there. I got pushed"
"Except for you and me there is no one else here. Who pushed you?"
"I --don't know"
Zeno looked annoyed but said nothing else. He just removed his hand from Natasha and stood up.
"Hey! Thank you" Natasha said.
"Zeno"
"Huh?" Natasha made some confused noise.
"My name is Zeno. Don't keep saying 'hey' to me"
"Oh, okay" Natasha nodded affirmatively.