Now this was something different. Melissa and Jhin were standing in the elevator, looking out the open door.
The first thing that had struck them when the door had opened was the light. It wasn't a dim light, it wasn't a harsh neon light, a cold white one, or anything like that. The light was natural. It was sunlight. And lots of it.
The light came from everywhere behind the glass walls and ceiling. Behind these they couldn't perceive much, there definitely was something but they couldn't register what. But that didn't matter, because the inside was full. There were plants everywhere. There were large ones, potted ones, overgrown ones. There were old trees that seemed to be centuries old and springly flowers that could have sprouted the previous day. The yellow concrete of the ground was cracked in more than a few places and various grasses, weeds and wildflower had pierced through. Here and there were pools of water, their insides covered in light blue tiles, although a few had dropped and been replaced with algae. Next to the pools and along alleyways, metallic garden tables and chairs had had their white coat of paint flake away and revealed their rusty nature.
And over all this, was the sunlight. It drew intricate and shifting shapes on the ground, and shimmered lazily on the pools, painting a striped patterned of refracting light on the undersides of the nearby plants.
Melissa stepped out slowly. This floor called for her. She didn't want to leave, not really. It seemed like no matter how much you explored here, there would always be an undiscovered alleyway and untouched pool.
She sat in one of the chairs, for the first time since a while. She breathed in. Took the scenery in once more. Breathed out.
It was peaceful. The only sound was the sound of the leaves whispering in the wind and the water lazily clapping to an unknown rhythm.
Jhin took another garden chair, but tried to lift it and swing it around. Panting, he put it down. The furniture here was too heavy or too fragile to be used as a weapon. Ah well, the defibrillator plates would still hold for a few more hits.
They moved on, not waiting for Melissa. Having closed her eyes, she heard Jhin leaving and suddenly opened her eyes and left.