It turned out, sure enough, that that person who would overwork Teresa was Murdoc. Teresa had known she had been on his bad side since day one. In the 3 weeks she'd been there, he'd managed to spill acrylic paint, maple syrup, what she assumed was urine and various other fluids onto the carpet in the common areas. At first Teresa tried to be attentive and quick about cleaning the messes when he called her over but eventually, she started leaving it until she could get to it. She noticed the less attention she paid to Murdoc, the less he would try to mess with her. Teresa was thinking this as she scraped the gum off of the underside of a coffee table when she heard the familiar raspy voice of her least favorite housemate.

"Teresa, there's a pile of shit in the lobby, pick it up..." Murdoc called as he walked towards her.

Since she was on her back on the floor, she got to see his Cuban-heeled boot stop inches from her face. She rolled her eyes, confident that he couldn't see her through the wooden coffee table top. She shimmied out from under the table and propped herself onto her feet.

"Alright sir, what am I dealing with?" she asked politely but tersely.

"A pile of shit, moron, need i spell it out for you?" Murdoc snapped.

"Ok then, Mr. Niccals, I'll get to it as soon as I can." She answered, not making eye contact. She knew she would get angry if she did.

"Well, you bloody well better, you're almost as useless as face-ache over there..." he said contemptuously, gesturing at 2D who was asleep on the couch.

Teresa said nothing and pretended to look at him in the eye though in reality she was imagining stabbing Murdoc's face with the the screwdriver she held in her hand.

"I don't know why we fucking pay you..." me muttered as he turned to leave.

Teresa looked on as Murdoc walked away and out of the room.

"And I don't know why anyone sucks your cauliflower dick... oops, did i say that out loud?" Teresa said to herself, chuckling stupidly at her own quip. 2D laughed faintly behind her. He saw that despite her chuckling, there were tears welling up in her eyes.

"Heh, you liked that one, didn't you?" she asked 2D with a chuckle. She blinked hard and wiped her face with the back of her hand.

"He's such a wanker," 2D said, sitting up, "Don't mind him, he's still upset that Russell hired you."

"I know you're probably right but he's such a cunt," Teresa said as she took back her gum-scraping position. There was no longer a danger of crying anymore, 2D's words seemed to assure her that she wasn't completely alone.

"Hang in there Teresa, he'll get over it..." 2D said, trying to console Teresa. In the short time she'd been there, 2D had grown fond of her for the mere fact that the house was noticeably becoming more and more habitable. They'd had lots of small talk but he'd never really seen her upset until then.

"You doing anything later? Maybe you can come along with me to catch a show, get your mind off of it." 2D suggested.

"Will Russell be okay with it?" Teresa asked, peeking out from under the coffee table.

"He'll be fine with it i think, Russell is pretty easy going, i think he'll understand if i tell him what's going on."

"Well then I'd love to hang out later, I'll finally get out of this hell-hole... no offense."

"None taken, what with there being one in the basement and all..."

"Oh yeaaaaah..."