Chapter 8: Accommodation
As we exited to the apartment, quickly running down the hall towards the elevator; I thought back to Pride's words of provocation when the officer started to attack Judy.
'He said psycho. No, he highlighted the word psycho for me to hear. But why?'
I was baffled, and this must have shown on my face because Judy looked at me weirdly as we entered the elevator.
"Hey Judas, what's up? Why do you look so confused?"
"I think-" My voice cut off, and suddenly I realised what Pride had been getting at while he insulted me; fucking hell that made a lot of sense. "I think that guy was the one who killed mom."
"Wha- What are you talking about? He was an NCPD officer, sure he might've had a few screws loose but I definitely called the official emergency services and they sent him over."
I let go of her hand, twisting my face into a mixture of anger and satisfaction as I turned to face her.
"That response time was way foo fast, the cops aren't that good and you know it. Barely a few minutes had past before that guy magically showed up to the door."
Judy looked at me, and realising that I wasn't going to let this go; she decided to play along and indulge me.
"Ok fine, say your're right. Why would Angel's murderer be hanging around their own crime scene? Wait you don't think…"
"Didn't you see how he was trying to dismiss it? The NCPD aren't that heartless." I saw the opportunity, and pounced. With every new piece of evidence, however circumstantial; it was starting to look like she believed me.
To be honest I believed myself too; this wasn't just some lie I had made up on the spot. What was irritating me is that Pride had pieced it together before I had.
"Every time I got emotional during his time there he gave off this weird reaction. When I finally answered exactly who she was he looked… Desperate."
Judy was looking more than convinced now, her own mind supplying evidence to fight for my cause.
This was good, but I was taken aback by the fact she had noticed the guy faltering during their conversation.
Sure his acting may as well have been on the level of a toddler compared to my own however that didn't mean the microreactions of his expression weren't hard to find.
I was going to have to be more careful around her.
'Well, now for the final nail in the proverbial coffin.' I thought, readying the first and last lie I was going to tell during this conversation.
I readied my tears, not out of sorrow this time, but out of rage.
"And he- He sounded like the man who killed her."
Judy snapped out of her reveire, staring down at me in shock which soon transformed into pity when she realised what I was implying.
"I was there when it happened," I said, allowing the tears to prick at my eyes as I clenched my injured hand tightly, blood dripping from the reopened wound. "I had to sit in the stash room and hide while I heard her screams for help. I was so scared."
"Fucking hell." Judy bent down on one knee and hugged me again, pressing her hand into the back of my head.
I don't think she expected me to still be there when Angela had died, let alone been raped. I hadn't been of course but oh well, if it turned out the way me and Pride thought it would then the NCPD would cover up the entire thing because of bad PR.
A licensed officer stalking a joytoy and killing her, then waiting for her body to be called in and going in to cover up the entire thing? No fucking way they would let that out.
We were safe for now, I think. I had no clue how effective forensics were in this world and the guy had some killer optics. If they could recover footage of our faces then…
'The skeptic is influencing me too much.' I thought, pushing the paranioa to one side as I continued to spin my tale.
"When I saw him on you I couldn't think properly, I couldn't let it happen again; not again. S-so I-"
"Shhh its okay, I understand. You did the right thing." Judy comforted me, whispering soothingly in my ear.
The elevator finally stopped; we had reached the bottom.
Damn, she was such a nice person; I was feeling a little bad for tricking her like this.
Just kidding.
In any case, I would have to thank Pride for setting that up for me; 'Not again' huh, I'm glad he took over and made us say that beforehand.
I was a little confused when he decided to speak up and say something like that aloud while we killed Richard but went along with it anyway. Pride rarely invested in useless endevours so I usually let him go ahead with these things.
Judy separated from me and we both stepped out onto the ground floor; I wiped my eyes hurredly, as if nobody except her should be allowed to see my weakness.
My hand reached up for hers and I adopted an embarassed expression, "Can you guide me, I can't see very well. Mom said it was because of my eyes."
She glanced at my face, and I stared up at her timidly so she could see my misshapen pupils.
I didn't actually need her help but I was bound to end up tripping over something eventually and I wanted to spare my future self that level of embarassment.
"Sure, try not to fall behind though."
"I wont."
Judy reached out a hand and I took it shyly; my head lowering.
I allowed a small smile to form on my cheeks, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a caring one of her own appear when she saw my reaction.
We started walking, making our way past the seating area in the lobby and out onto the street.
One thing I noticed was how weirdly everyone was dressed, sure there was the odd cybernetic arm or leg but the general fashion sense; was absolutely fucking atrocious.
It was like looking at a particularly ambitious designer come up with the most horrific clothing of all time. Not even mentioning some of the ridiculous hairstyles I saw.
I couldn't help but stifle a laugh when someone sporting half of a neon blue mowhawk ran past us. Where the other half had gone I had no clue but it didn't make him look like any less of an idiot.
Judy peeked at me afterwards and seeing my relaxed behaviour; hesitated before asking an important question. A question which had been burning in the forefront of her mind since Angela's murderer was identified.
"Judas, if you don't mind me asking now that you've calmed down; how did you get those scars?"
I almost facepalmed, 'Why is she still asking that even after my previous reaction to being questioned about it. Did my little performance about Angela really impact her that much?'
The thought of her close friend being an abusive mother was too much for a righteous person like Judy to handle, so I guess she wanted to uncover the truth as soon as she could.
It wasn't the smartest thing to ask a traumatized child to recount the reason for their trauma in the open street but I digress, I'll play along.
My grip on her hand tightened and I schooled my expression into one of regret and pain.
"Mom brought clients around when I was younger. She told me to hide in our stash room and to not come out until she said so. One day I really needed the toilet so I left the room while it was happening and I saw her wrapped around a guy laying on our bed. He was furious, slapped her across the face and then kicked me to the floor before leaving, saying she could keep the whip and beat me with it for all he cared. I was four, and I had never seen her so angry before. She turned towards me, raised the whip up and…"
I omitted the graphic part of the story as Judy probably wouldn't be able to handle it.
I looked up at her, and grinned inwardly when I saw a horrified acceptance written all over her face.
My attempt to make it less of an information dump for her had clearly worked, and avoiding certain details made Judy have to fill in the gaps herself.
It wasn't too bad for adlibing I supposed, and weaving a backstory for a character as complex as the one I had in mind required effort and dedication.
In other words I was going to commit the entire sob story I just made up to memory so I wouldn't end up contradicting myself one day.
Annoying but necessary.
"Hey, don't blame her okay? Its my fault. I wasn't being good enough. I'll be good now."
"That's…Nobody should have to go through that, and Angela shouldn't have done it to you no matter how angry she was. It won't happen to you ever again, I promise that."
I was getting rather tired of faking tears every time we exchanged words so I just moved closer to Judy and leaned my head into her arm as we continued onwards.
After walking in silence for a while, we reached the Kabuki shoreline; the river separating Watson from Westbrook glistened an unhealthy greenish color under the bright sunlight above us.
I vaguely remembered there was a mission in the game located around here somewhere, so I recognised the place easily despite my impaired vision.
'We must be close to her apartment then' I thought, 'If we're at the river already.'
I took note of the glowing neon signs which lined the various shops around us, and stared at one in particular labelled 'Kiroshi Optics'.
Jackpot, I'll return to this place later.
Considering how common implants were in this world I had decided to replace my non-functioning eyes with some good optics; along with acquiring a high-end sandevistan when I got the chance.
We walked on a little further, stopping in front of a dilapidated looking apartment building.
It looked old. Blue paint peeled from its outer walls revealing weathered stone beneath it. Every window seemed to be covered by a thick metal lattice, which I assumed was to dissuade any thieves from breaking in.
Yeah, this was were I was going to be living in the forseeable future. Great.
It was even worse than Angela's place, basically being the equivalent of slum housing.
We made our way into the building, dodging the couple of BD junkies sitting under the stairwell and up to the second floor.
The entirety of the inside was covered in various types of graffiti, hell even the ceiling wasn't safe from it in some places.
We turned right, and Judy's hand slide out of mine to unlock a large metal gate which she then pushed inwards.
Beyond it was a single door; the door to her apartment.
She reached up and pressed the 'open' button situated next to it, which slid open to reveal an interior I knew all too well.
"I know it isn't much, but c'mon in; we'll figure something out."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
WanderingCritic
WanderingCritic A quick heads up to you readers; the MC will sometimes monologue unfaithfully. This means Judas will lie to himself if he doesn’t want to admit something. If you noticed where this is used in the chapter, good job. (Its very subtle)
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