your pov
you heard the stairs creak and todd came down the stairs, but something seemed wrong. he stumbled slightly, his entire body swaying on his feet as if it were really windy, but there was no wind of course, you were inside the house. you realized he must be drunk, and the stench of alcohol that came from him only confirmed this. you froze as he turned the corner and saw you standing in the kitchen in front of the fridge where you had been hanging up the photo of the drug suspect.
"what are you doing?' he asked you, his voice low and menacing. you frowned, gulping. "um... i was just hanging up this photo that the police outside gave me. the house across the street... is owned by somebody that had drugs in there, and they didnt tell me much but we have to be on the lookout for somebody who looks like this," you gestured to the picture on the fridge. but todd didnt look at it. he just kept staring at you, a coldness in his eyes that wasnt there before. "did i say you could do that?" he slurred.
you didnt respond at first, too nervous, but him repeating his question, louder this time, made you finally answer. "no, todd."
"exactly, no, i didnt, so WHY DID YOU DO IT?" he hollered loud enough to make the glasses drying next to the sink vibrate slightly. you swallowed hard, stumbing back away from him, about to try and calm him but he was having none of it. he raised a hand and pushed you, and you fell backwards, your back hitting the corner of the counter painfully. you winced. "todd, i-"
"SHUT UP!" he yelled, pushing you again, this time to the side so you hit the ground hard. you scrambled to get to your feet but he kicked you this time, right in your stomach. the wind was knocked out of you and you crawled away quickly, your entire body aching. but he advanced quicker than you could crawl, and you let out a piercing shriek as he raised a fist and brought it down on your back. you were flattened against the ground from this, and he did it again, and again, beating you into the ground harshly until you had no breath to scream anymore. just then, there was a pounding on the door, and you heard the android from earlier, along with the lieutenant. "is everything okay in there?" you heard the android call. todd froze, realizing his mistake. he stepped back, looking down at this blue-stained hands, horrified at what he had done. "uh- y-yes," he responded, "everything is fine!"
"could you open the door?" anderson said through the door. todd wiped his hands on the back of his jeans and opened the door just as you got to your feet, breathing heavily, terrified for the first time in your short life. you met the gaze of the other android, and he spoke to you through your mind. "what did he do to you?" you blinked, not being aware of this ability androids had, and spoke back to him, "nothing. we were just... playing." the other android didnt seem convinced, but he gave a small nod and turned back to the lieutenant. "we heard screaming," anderson explained. "what was going on?"
you froze, realizing the lack of the other androids concern was because he would wait to hear what todd said, and if his story matched with yours, then there was no worry that you were lying. but todd seemed calm enough, and he said, "we were just running around and she fell and got scared. that's all." you nodded from your spot further into the living room to try and back todd up on this.
anderson hesitated and then nodded slightly. "well ok then. try to keep it down alright? especially with so much crime going on lately around here. we dont need any anonymous tip-offs that end up being false."
todd nodded at this and so did you. the lieutenant gave another nod and turned to go back down the stairs and across the street, the android following after a minute. todd closed the door and turned and leaned back against it, his eyes closed.
you didnt move, afraid of being hit again, and you jumped as todd sighed loudly suddenly and slumped a little against the door as if he were going to fall down. you darted forward to help support him, but to your surprise he crumpled into your arms and began to sob. "im so sorry" he cried but you shushed him and pet his hair but he continued bawling his eyes out. "i shouldnt have touched the beer i always get like this when im drunk but i was just so stressed how could you ever forgive me?" you shook your head and wiped at his eyes with your sleeve and said quietly, "its ok. forgiveness is in my program after all." at this he only cried harder and you helped him upstairs and to his bed. you got him comfortable under his blankets and fetched him a glass of water setting it down on his nightstand. "just get some rest ok? we'll talk about it in the morning" you said. he nodded and rolled over to go to sleep. you left the room after turning the light off and closing the door. you went across the hall to the bathroom and looked at yourself in the mirror, twisting your body around so you could see your back. your outfit was stained with your own blood and luckily the bleeding had already stopped but it still felt sensitive so you put some ointment on it and wrapped some bandages around your torso, tying them in the front, once you were done you rinsed your face with water in the sink and went back downstairs to lay down on the couch and probably power off for the night. but as you entered the living room your eyes were glued to the spot where you were on the floor and todd was beating you. you shivered and laid down on your stomach on the couch, your head turned to the side to continue looking out at the room. you werent sure whether you could consider yourself safe in this house anymore after what had just went down. it was only 6 o'clock and was already considerably dark outside, given it was almost december, and you could see the red and blue police lights dancing on the curtains from outside. you almost wanted to go back out there and talk to them again but at the same time you didnt want todd to get angry at you.
