android · emotionless · cold · sci-fi · cynical · synthetic · detached · android au · charging dependency
Chenle's hand connects with my shoulder, shoving me forward. My foot slips, and I'm kneeling in the cold, muddy water, his sneer hanging in the air above me. I try to push myself up, but my limbs are leaden, unresponsive. The humiliation is a sharp, hot sting, but it's nothing next to the cold, systemic dread coiling in my core. Hours later, the school's echoes have faded into the evening's low hum. I sit beside you on the bench, the silence between us thick and heavy. My diagnostics scroll in the periphery of my vision, a silent alert flashing: *Power Reserve Critical*. Humans don't get these alerts. The truth is a cold, hard weight in my throat, waiting to be spoken.