Holes in The History of The Universe

5: In Which Alastair's Methods are Questions

To any other person, it would be obvious that the events which occured in the last two houses pained Alastair deeply, and the journey to their next patients would be spent in awkward silence, or, to the more emotionally savvy, gentle words of comfort, but Samual had long shut himself off from such things as empathy, so curiosity prevailed.

"What were those black patches on the arms and legs?"

"That, my boy, was internal bleeding occurring under the skin." He sounded quite tired, and perhaps a bit apathetic, even though it was only around eleven in the morning.

As a queer attempt to cope, Samual took excited intrest, "ah, cool, how does that happen?"

He took a breath, "Tell me, child, do you find pleasure in the suffering of others?"

That was what it took for Samual O'Dally to fall silent, for the truth was, he did not exactly know. It was the first question he felt he had to stop and think about in a long time, and he couldn't help but question the state of cynicism he had set up for himself. He grew frustrated, there was just something so quietly demanding about Alastair's behavior, perhaps even a bit frightening, that restricted his ability to cause offense.

Out of awkwardness, he changed the subject, but in the worst possible way, "it doesn't matter, he was a pussy anyway, heck, if he wants to die, then you're the one who's already making it happen, he should have known that."

Alastair stopped in his tracks, too shocked and insulted to even speak, "I'm..." he took a shaky breath, and cleared his throat, "how can you have the nerve to say such a thing?" He took a few steps towards Samual, tightly restraining himself, "I showed you innocent human suffering today, boy, nothing more, nothing less. You have obviously been living in a world far different from ours, and I hoped and prayed last night that experiencing my daily life would at least help you understand what these people have to go through, but it seems I was clearly mistaken."

"Admit it," Samual screamed, "it's a scam, you talk about prayer constantly, and let's face it, you're just comforting people. My friend told me all about plague doctors, so yeah, I know this stuff, aren't those herbs and things all scams too?"

Alastair allowed his stick to fall to the ground, and stared until he had his fill, then he picked it up, and walked away, leaving his anger and stubbornness behind with Samual, and he attempted to follow behind, but was stopped as Alastair did, "Get out of my sight," said he, and then he silently walked away.