My tongue felt heavy, and my heart was in my throat. I stared at Melve, waiting for him to do something- to say something- that would determine my fate.

But he didn’t.

He just stood there, staring back at me. The silence stretched on, the atmosphere so uncomfortably awkward that I considered dying on the spot just to escape it. To my chagrin, a heart attack did not suddenly befall me, and the tense silence stretched on so long I debated sitting down, as we would obviously be here for a while.

Seconds ticked past.

I wondered if perhaps Melve was having an internal malfunction, or a system shut down. It was not lost on me that neither of those things were actually possible, but at this point, Melve being a robot wouldn’t be all that surprising.

I was beginning to gather evidence in my head for Melve being an android when he finally, finally, took a step forward. And then he took another step. Another, and another, and it occurred to me with increasing panic that he’s walking straight for me oh shit go back to the awkward silence go back to the awkward silence.

My first instinct was to back away, but I was already pressed against the door, and there wasn’t exactly anywhere for me to go. Now, I don’t know what you think of me, but just so you know, I am what is commonly known as a coward. So, with approximately two seconds to make a plan of action, I simply closed my eyes and scrunched up my face, content to briefly block out reality.

I didn’t hear him move, but then again, I never did. I could tell when he was in front of me, though, because of the sudden goosebumps that erupted along my arms and neck, and the almost imperceptible feeling of his breath on my forehead.

“Why are you still here?”

My eyes popped open. “Um, what?”

I tilted my head slightly upwards to find Melve’s face inches from mine, his face completely devoid of any expression. He was staring directly into my eyes and the intensity felt like electricity racing down my spine.

He planted a hand on the door above my head. “Why didn’t you run?” He paused, and I didn’t answer, and this only seemed to frustrate him more. “There is more than one thing you could have done to get away from me. So why didn’t you?”

I gulped, wishing I could back up and put space between us. This was the last thing I had expected him to be angry about, and even if I’d wanted to, my brain was scrambling around too much to even think about saying anything other than the truth.

“You’re a mur- a murderer!” I found myself being strangely defensive, even while cowering in fear. “I didn’t want you to kill m-my friends! I would never risk their lives to save my- mine!”

Melve didn’t move, and he studied my face, obviously looking for a lie. I reached up to adjust my glasses, and that seemed to conclude his judgment. He took his hand off the wall, his teeth bared in something that wasn’t quite a snarl. Some of my fear was pushed back in my confusion.

I didn’t know where his hostility was coming from, and it must have shown on my face, because a brief expression of an endearing sort of exasperation flickered across his face. But then it disappeared, and his eyes narrowed.

“And what,” He slowly said, “Would you do, if I killed you?”

My confusion and fear switched places again rapidly, and my heart stuttered. “W-what?”

Melve grinned, but it wasn’t the grin that had occasionally slipped on his face this past week. This one looked like a mask, and I didn’t like it one bit.

“If I killed you right now, what’s going to happen the next time your friends knock on your door, huh?”

I frowned, trying to keep my lip from trembling. “I don’t- I don’t know.”

“Oh? You don’t have a plan?” Melve leaned forward, and really, the day had been entirely too stressful, but that wasn’t proven by my eyes filling up with tears, because I likely would have done that anyway.

“J-Just kill me al-already or stop- stop being an asshole!” I sniffed, and quickly ran a finger under the bottom of my glasses to wipe away the tear forming. I must have looked rather awful and entirely pathetic because Melve took two steps away from me.

“Why didn’t you leave?” Melve’s voice lowered, but the funny thing was, his face wasn’t taunting. No, it looked like he was actually waiting for my answer.

“I- I meant what I said ear-earlier. I don’t want my- my friends f-fucking dying!” I slid my hands under my glasses, pressing the heels of my palms against my closed eyes.

I didn’t get a response, and I didn’t know it, but at that moment Melve’s hand was hovering over my shoulder. It wouldn’t land.

What would happen was that Melve would fully step away, then mutter, “Sorry.”

I opened my eyes to see Melve’s back retreating down the hallway, and I watched as he went into the laundry room, then gently but quickly shut the door behind him.

What the absolute hell?

I was left with silence, and I stared in shock at my hallway, the last of my tears dripping down the side of my face. After a couple of minutes, it finally occurred to me that Melve had gone into one of the only two rooms available in my apartment to be alone.

Or… to leave me alone?