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[creeksidealtarboy]

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[creeksidealtarboy]

"Uh, something about exploding teeth," he says with a laugh. "Something real weird."

[abrightboy]

"Do you exchange book recommendations with anyone currently?" Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Uh, sometimes Nie Huaisang. Or if Dr. Hilbert wants me to read anything." He shrugs. "Why?"

[abrightboy]

“Tim Gutterson runs a book club. Do you think that’s something you’d enjoy? Reading a particular title and then talking about it with everyone?” Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Eh, not really. Not with just anyone," he says with a shrug. "Book club is for old ladies and bored housewives anyway."

[abrightboy]

“We don’t have any of either but sometimes it’s more fun with just your friends. How is Nie Huisang? Are you allowed to see him again?” Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Oh yeah. We're good. We had fun in the flood. Taught him video games."

He holds the tea close.

[abrightboy]

"How old were you in the flood?" Malcolm asks.

[creeksidealtarboy]

That sobers him a little. "Uh, nine. It was my birthday when I woke up."

The birthday that had him going down to the mines.

[abrightboy]

Aaron's ninth birthday. He remembers.

"Was it a relief not to be there?"

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Eh, I don't know, doc. Hard to say cuz I was little. I didn't know what was waiting for me. I thought I'd just get a new truck or something."

He sits back, chewing on his fingernail. "Best birthday I ever had was when I woke up here. And I - I kinda knew something bad was gonna happen, but little kids don't think like that all the time."

[abrightboy]

“They don’t. You’re right about that. I was ten. From after I found one of my father’s victims in our basement, but before I recovered enough from the stupor he drugged me into to call the police,” Malcolm explains. “And I was mostly just… excited about Eiffel’s playland.”

[creeksidealtarboy]

Aaron looks up to him. "Did you remember it? What was gonna happen?"

[abrightboy]

“Yeah. I felt like we were remembering our lives backwards. Like Merlin,” Malcolm says.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Yeah, kinda like that. What did you do when you were a kid?" he asks. "I mean - here."

[abrightboy]

“Gave Will a run for his money, for the most part. He looked after me, but I’d wander off and get in trouble. Stabbed Eiffel at one point. But he forgives me and Will hasn’t broken up with me so no harm no foul,” Malcolm says with a lopsided grin. “Did you go to the Enclosure at all?”

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Yeah, played kid games for a while." He frowns. "Why did you stab someone? That's fucked up."

[abrightboy]

“It is definitely messed up. I was remembering something. Something that already happened, but I’d forgotten because of all the chloroforming. An associate of my father’s grabbing me by the arm as he urged him to finish me. I stabbed him back then. Stabbed him and ran. Eiffel took my arm just when I was remembering it, so I… did the same thing. I stabbed him and ran.”

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Huh. How did you even get a fucking knife as a kid?" he mutters.

[abrightboy]

“My dad bought it for me off the turnpike in New Jersey. It was hanging in a bag from my door that morning,” Malcolm tells him.

[creeksidealtarboy]

He laughs. "You got a fucking knife from the Admiral. You wardens get all the good shit."

[abrightboy]

“It shot me in the foot, so to speak. Will still has it,” Malcolm tells him. “What did you get?”

[creeksidealtarboy]

Aaron's smile is hard. A bit lopsided.

"A lump of coal."

[abrightboy]

“Um, harsh,” Malcolm acknowledges. “So if this were a novel, what would the theme be? Loss of innocence?”

[creeksidealtarboy]

Malcolm says that and Aaron laughs, pleased by the question.

"Yeah. That's what my whole life is. Nice to keep that off for a week longer."