All Glitched Out // detroit: become human

Chapter 9: A Mistake

  My whole face burned with shame, and I leaned against my bedroom door in an effort to calm down. The cool sensation of touching the hardwood door helped a little, and after a while, I sank down to the floor to gather my thoughts.

  Why am I even flustered over some stupid android? It's just a robot, it doesn't have any feelings. It does have a pretty face though.

  Ugh! Do I think it's attractive? A mass of plastic, silicone and wires? Damn, I need to get my life together.

  Thump. There was a loud noise from the kitchen which vibrated through my bedroom wall. Did Connor drop a dish or something?

  I sighed. Adjusting my shirt, making sure everything was covered, I rose and started scrolling on my phone. Even if the android had stubbed his toe or whatever (can androids stub their toes?), I'm sure he can handle it.

  Before I knew it, an hour had passed, and Connor hadn't come to check on me. Huh. He was usually an inquisitive android, always asking questions.

  I creaked open my door, looking around for him. Not in the living room. Maybe he's trying to cook something again.

  Thirium. Thirium everywhere. The floor was absolutely covered in the cobalt liquid, staining the tiles. I rushed to Connor's prone body on the tiled kitchen floor, and shook him aggressively.

  "Connor! Wake up!" His eyelashes fluttered, and he whispered something. I squinted at him and moved closer to him, leaning over him.

  "M-my chest.." He groaned. I shifted my gaze to his torso, which looked to be the source of the leaking thirium. Can I lift his shirt? Whatever, it's an emergency! However, the damned thing seemed to be glued to his body, probably by dried blood. Faint gurgling came from his throat, internal bleeding?

  Snatching a pair of scissors from my sink, I knelt next to Connor and started snipping away the fabric urgently. He seemed to have passed out, his chest ceasing to rise.

  He isn't dead, is he? Panic started to rise in my chest, and I cut away his shirt even more hastily. Finally, the wound was revealed, it was a huge gash across his sternum.

  I bolted across the house and grabbed my tool kit, scrambling to find a needle and thread. Trying to stitch up the gaping wound, I realised it was still bleeding and it was hard to see what I was doing.

  Wringing out a lightly wet dishcloth and dabbing carefully at the tangled wires seemed to work to clean some of the thirium. I was worried that the water had gotten into his circuits though.

  While stitching the wound, I wondered, how could he have kept this a secret from me for so long? Why didn't say anything? Maybe I couldn't trust him to tell me important things.

  My eyes started to well up with tears at the thought of Connor not being able to trust me either, and soon my cheeks were glossy. What if he thought it would make me worry about him and didn't want to trouble me?

  Sobbing over a fatally-wounded android was not something I had planned to do today, but it was something I had to deal with, I guess.

  Connor's LED had been cycling red for a few minutes now, but it flashed yellow for a few seconds when I was bandaging the stitches. (I'm sorry I don't have formal medical training, okay?) That was a start.

  Once done with the bandage, I stretched out and grasped a nearby stool and propped his legs up onto it. Damn, this android is heavy! I could barely lift both of his legs at once.

I was hoping the blood from his legs would flow to his torso and central processor instead, so he would have a lesser chance of getting central processor damage or thirium pump arrest.

  Leaning back on my ankles, I wiped away my tears slowly. Trying to breathe more steadily, I studied the android. His chest was now rising and falling at a slow rate. At least he was 'breathing'.

  Ah, what has my life become?

//

         Central processor restarting...

 Oxygen flooded my lungs as I took a deep breath.

I opened my eyes, my optical units   scanning the room. The agonising pain in my chest had lessened considerably, compared to when I was lying on the kitchen floor, struggling to breathe. That's a positive.

  However, the pain was still there, but now it was an aching, shooting pain that increased whenever I took a breath. I winced with the effort.

  I wonder where the human is. And where I am, for that matter. I was in a pitch-dark room, swaddled in a blanket so tight I could not remove it. It did not aggravate my wound though.

  I switched to night vision mode, and took another look around the room, as best I could in my position. A bedside table, hardwood door.. Her bedroom?

Renconstructing the memories I made that one morning, I remembered seeing these two things when rousing the human. Hmm, maybe she was the one who bandaged me?

I wonder how long ago that was. My perception of time was fuzzy, and I could only remember the most trivial things. I twisted my neck to look at the glowing display of the clock beside me, and saw that it was a day after I had collapsed. Afternoon, it seemed.

  A wave of exhaustion crashed over me. I should continue to rest.

           Switching to sleep mode...
             Sleep mode activated.

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