Eventually, Judy stopped crying.
Her grip slackened, and I took that as a cue to retract my arms from around her and begin pushing myself out from this unwanted ensnarement she had me in.
I nearly managed to get free before she had pulled me back in, although this time the motion felt much more controlled; tender even.
"Hey, what's your name?" Judy asked me softly, and I noticed she hadn't referred to me as 'kid' or 'brat' while doing so.
"Judas." I said, using the name from my past life as prerogative.
I looked up, seeing her eyes widen slightly in suprise at my response; our names were rather similar after all.
"So like mine huh?" Judy chuckled lightly, continuing her reply in the same soothing tone she had adopted since our somewhat dramatic tumble.
"Listen Judas, promise me you won't do anything like that again okay?"
My gaze retuned downwards, as I thought it appropriate to hide my face in acknowledgement to her words; faking either shame or bitterness, depending on what she recognized it as.
"When I wasn't much older than you, my mother died. I never met my father, hell I didn't even know his name; mom got angry when I mentioned him so she never even told me it."
…
This was perfect.
It was literally the exact same as the backstory I had been planning for myself.
If she identified with me, and seeing as our circumstances were practically identical I assumed this to be the case; it would only increase my chances of being taken in by her.
She kept telling her story for me to hear, while I gazed in front of me at the largest of her rose tattoos which was embossed at the base of her neck.
"I was left alone with my granparents, and even though it wasn't what I had wanted, It was what I had to live with; and it made me into the person I am today."
Judy bit her lip, realising that a child as young as I was probably couldn't understand the underlying message hidden within her speech; so she elaborated further.
"What I'm trying to say is: Don't give up, because life is always worth living; even if you don't think it is in the moment."
Huh. Her little speech wasn't bad; not in the slightest. It was exactly what a child in my position needed to hear after experiencing something so disastrous.
I decided to opt for a more mature route when answering; no longer being openly unhappy and instead shifting into a realistically hopeless attitude at what fate lay ahead of me.
"I don't have any grandparents, aunts or uncles who could take me in. I'm going to be sent away to an orphanage in some place where no-one who knows or cares about me. I'd rather just join mom and be happy."
Crocodile tears stung my eyes, and I was about to reach up and wipe them away before Judy beat me to it and did it for me.
"Hey, who says nobody's gonna take care of you?" She said, causing my heart to jump in anticipation; no way it happened this easily.
"My place isn't much but I'd be happy to have an extra pair of hands to help around with things."
And score. A masterclass from yours truly.
I mimed a bow internally, imagining an audience wild with appreciation for my incredible act.
To be perfectly honest I didn't think my plan would go this smoothly, but I guess the similarities between Judy's past and my own fake one pushed her into making this kind of decision so quickly.
"You- You would-" I let my sentence trail off, and I stared up at her with a dazed, slightly hopeful expression.
She smiled self depricatingly and answered, "Yeah, I don't think I'll ever be a replacement for someone as sweet as Angela was but-"
I didn't need to hear another word; my arms flung around her awkwardly, as we were both still lying on the floor together.
"I'll be good, I promise." I whispered, my voice hoarse from scripted relief.
Her body froze rigidly for a second before reciprocating the hug warmly.
"Alright, I think its time we both get off the floor now. I need to call the cops and report Angela's murder in."
I nodded in understanding, and we both pulled ourselves to our feet.
It was as we stood up that Judy finally got a full view of my scarring, and stared at me in shock.
"What the- How did you get those kid?" Her normal persona flickered back through the overly kind one as she gawked at my exposed torso.
Now was the time to decide. Was I going to blame it on the late Angela or an unamed client.
I flipped a coin in my head, and it landed on… Tails.
"Its nothing." I mumbled, bringing up my hands in a weak attempt to cover the amalgamation of lines marring my front.
"Nothing??? I've seen loads of different people where I work and scars like that don't come easily to anyone." Judy grabbed my arms, forcing them down so she could get a better look at them.
"I said its nothing," I snarled at her, impersonating a cornered animal to the best of my acting ability.
She looked taken aback by my sudden change in attidude, and my facade backpedalled; as if it didn't wish to be judged too harshly over a small slip-up.
"I got them because I wasn't good enough, it was my fault." I said this in a far more passive tone than before, still slightly arguementative; but as If I were trying to prove something to her instead of just lashing out angrily.
I saw the look in her eyes change as she realised what I was inferring; from confusion, to realistion; then denial and finally ending in despair.
"Huh, Angela wouldn't…" She said, shaking her head. "She isn't the type, everyone loved her for that…"
I stared at the ground uncomfortably; after which I reached down and grabbed the bloodied shirt laying at our feet.
My hands slipped into it easily, and my digust was slightly lessened by the fact the bloodstains had all but dried now; giving the shirt an artificial stiffness to it.
"Right ok, well I'm going to go outside and call the NCPD now. Tell them about the murder."
Her speech was erratic, distracted and jittery. She opened the apartment door and left through it quickly. I saw Judy reach a hand up to start a holo-call as the door slid shut behind her.
Wow. Her tone indicated to the fact she actually believed me when I hinted at the abuse I had 'taken' at the hands of her close friend.
Decieving people with nothing but my own talents and skill gave me an indescribable feeling of superiority.
I zoned out, feeling the blood and adrenaline rushing through my veins.
Yes, this is what I was born to do; no matter what world I was in, my true calling had never changed: Acting was in my soul.
I walked near the window, an authentic smile breaching my cold facade for the first time since my arrival.
I was going to have so much fun here.
The door behind me slid open again, and Judy strode in angrily.
"They're pulling an officer off patrol to check it out. The amount of shit I just had to yell to get someone over here is insane."
"Are they normally like that?" I asked curiously.
Surely a place as big as NC had an extensive police force to match the ever increasing population.
In the game, if you so much as put a toe out of line; the entire police department would be on your ass immediately and wouldn't stop hunting you until either the player died or lay low for a while.
"Yeah, this isn't the first time I've have to deal with the idiots at the NCPD. I found a firetruck back when I was 16; it was in a scrapyard, alone and abandoned. Fixed it up pretty good I'd say, took the better half a year to get it done. When I finally decided to give it a whirl I was spotted shortly after and detained for theft; they didn't listen to a word said in my defense.
I nearly laughed aloud, because I would definitely not have believed a word she said either if it were me in their position. A random teen driving down the road in a large firetruck? Police me would have called BS instantly upon seeing it.
"Did you not register the thing?" I feigned confusion, tilting my head to the side slightly while I questioned her story.
"Err… I was going to later that day; I'd told my grandpa what I was doing and he said he'd put it under his name for me."
"You couldn't wait that little bit longer? Pfft." I allowed a small, stifled laugh to escape my lips as I stared at her.
Judy looked on at me, unimpressed.
"I'm not mad at the detainment itself; but at the reason why. It should've been underage driving, not a permanent mark on my record for attempted robbery. I couldn't get a Job at regular places after that shit happened."
"So that's the reason for your tattoo?" I indicated the small truck etched into Judy's skin under her right collarbone.
"Yeah that's it, so I remember never to rely on the cops for anything."
"But you still called them to report mom's…" I faltered, remembering I shouldn't be talking so casually about it. Fortunately my stutter seemed natural as she didn't react to it.
"Well this is a little out of my depth. Yours too Judas, so don't go looking for the guy who did it ok?"
I nodded obediently, not even considering the vengefull orphan route as one I would take; far too much hastle for my liking.
She walked past me, making a beeline for the couch before plopping herself down onto it.
The guy who did it was probably some psycho who heard about Angela wanting to quit this lifestyle and offed her.
Why? I wasn't sure in the slightest, but it wasn't important.
Wait, psycho?
My eyes snapped downwards to look at the shirt I wore.
This blood, was it not my mothers?
My heart began to race as I thought all the way back to when I first arrived. The blood covering the shirt had dripped down from my neck; THE NECK OF ALL PLACES.
Angela's body had no blood on its limbs, so even if I had gotten to ner while she was still alive; how did this staggering amount of blood end up on my neck?
I brought up a hand to feel it again.
It has hurt so much earlier, and now it was completely gone? No way. That was not natural; after all I had felt like it was ripped open.
Oh.
Fuck.
Was this body also murdered by our mystery man? No way right, how did it heal so rapidly then?
Had the old me, seeing what atrocites where happening to my only mother; rushed in to fight to attacker bare handed, which ended with his throat cut in the same way her's had?
This new information made my circumstance a tad more complicated than I had previously realised.
I complained inwardly, shaking my head in disbelief.
'Why is everything never so simple? And just when I thought I finally had a handle on the situation aswell.'
This was going to be a long day.