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[abrightboy]

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[abrightboy]

Malcolm brings over two tumblers, each with a couple fingers of whiskey in it, setting one down in front of Aaron.

He sits.

“How have you been feeling this week?”

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Fine."

He clasps his hands together on the table.

"Just doing my job, I guess."

[abrightboy]

"Cleaning the chapel? Or did you take something new?" Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Warden wants me in the library," he says with a shrug. "But I like the chapel."

And he likes working for Norton, as much as Norton makes him uncomfortable.

[abrightboy]

"In the library where he can keep an eye on you or in the library where you can learn things?" Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"I like to read. Guess he wants me somewhere I like being," he explains, picking up the glass and taking a small sip of it.

[abrightboy]

"What a monster," Malcolm teases, taking a sip of his own drink.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Shut up," he snaps, but there's actually no bite to it.

"I don't want to work there because I just want to be there. I don't want to do shit."

[abrightboy]

"That seems reasonable. Did you tell Jesus you'd rather work in the chapel and hang out in the library?" Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Yes," he groans. "It doesn't fucking matter. Work is work. I don't want to do any of it."

[abrightboy]

"Did you work back home?" Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

He nods. "Been working since I was nine years old, doc. That's what you do in Creekside," he answers. "You work, you get married, you have kids so they can work, then you die."

[abrightboy]

"What did you do there?" he asks curiously.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Little bit of everything. Worked at the shop, worked for the doc," he says softly. Following his dreams, he told himself at one time. Aaron had wanted to be a doctor. He had wanted to learn all about medicine. All about healing.

Boys like him don't get to be doctors, though.

He downs the rest of the whiskey with a cough.

[abrightboy]

"What did you like the best?" Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Working for the doctor," he answers quickly. "He did everything for everyone. Did the autopsies and healed anyone who needed healing." He grins. "Kept me out of the mines." Said like a joke.

[abrightboy]

"If you enjoyed that, have you considered helping in the infirmary here?" Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"No," he mutters. "I don't know enough to do anything but get in the way."

He doesn't want to feel like a burden.

[abrightboy]

"Nobody knows anything before they learn how to do it," Malcolm points out. "The people who work there could teach you. Do you know Doctor Reid?"

[creeksidealtarboy]

"The vampire? Not really," he mutters. "I've met Hunter. The kid there."

[abrightboy]

“I know him. I could introduce you. If you’re going to be stuck here, you may as well learn skills you’re really interested in. There’s nothing stopping you here, in that respect,” Malcolm points out.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"No," he says with a shake of his head, something like panic in his voice. "I'm not going back home to be a fucking doctor."

[abrightboy]

“Are… you going back home? Because when you graduate, you can go anywhere. Don’t you hate it there?” Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"No," he laughs. "Not really. I get fed here. Got a place to stay. Huge library. And no one knew the Bishop."

[abrightboy]

"I like it better here than at home, too," Malcolm tells him.