Broken Walls

Same Voice, Different Person

"Boss you're cutting it close." The intern said tapping his wrist gesturing that it was time to start the broadcast.

Cecil waved him off before ending his phone call with his sister. His headphones were placed over his ears and gave his intern a thumbs up to turn on the equipment from behind the window. 

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Well evening listeners and welcome to Night Vale. I have a question to ask you. Have you ever had anyone break in your own home and just pretend to be your boyfriend? Well that is what happened this morning. So this guy was a doctor,  cause of the lab coat, who usually stops by every morning, was raiding my cabinets and said "hey babe" in the most casual voice! Like one, don't ever break in my house and two we aren't in a relationship so don't call me babe!

Intern Shawn seemed surprised. Everyone in Night Vale knew who Cecil was talking about. His name was Carlos and he was a scientist. Carlos and Cecil had been dating for about a year, so this broadcast was something strange. Intern Shawn had knocked on the glass to try to get Cecil's attention. Which it did.

Oh great. Intern...uh what was your name again? Well that probably doesn't matter, you might not live to hear the end of this broadcast. Cecil laughed. He made a threat and laughed. It echoed on everyone's radio. 

A threat on the radio wasn't something to joke about. Intern Shawn just looked shocked. Okay maybe the odds were high on dying, but he tried to ignore that. Right now it felt like he should go into the field and stay away from his boss. A few step back showed that he wanted to stay away from Cecil.

Ah right, where was I listeners? Oh right! So white coat. So you all know that white coats come by each morning making sure that you are following your daily routine. I'm use to seeing him come by at eight sharp, but never had I seen a --hey Intern whoever you are stop trying to break in. Wait is that...NO! I told you to leave me alone! I'm fine!

Listeners it seems like the intern is trying to break into my studio with that man who I was talking about earlier. The one who broke into my house. Yes. Well he's-- Get away from the door! Hold on listeners I need to take care of some business. I'll just bring you to the weather I guess. 

I'm sorry listeners. It seems like I have to turn off my broadcast for today. Carlos isn't very happy, and I don't blame him.  Anyway listeners, I say farewell and a goodnight to Night Vale, goodnight.

The equipment was turned off by Intern Shawn staring down Cecil. With a cut across his face and bruises forming on his arms and chest showed that the intern gave a good fight against his boss. No where in the job description said anything about tying the boss to a chair and forcing him to stop the broadcast quickly. 

Shawn knew how hard this was on Carlos. That was his boyfriend or well someone who looked and somewhat acted like Cecil, but after today's broadcast it was known that Cecil wasn't Cecil. All Shawn could think of was he was brainwashed by Strexcorp, but that didn't seem very logical. There wasn't anything very Desert Bluffs about Cecil. No worshiping a Smiling God or wanting to redecorate the studio with interns. Well the way Cecil had fought maybe he did want to use Shawn as paint. So there went that idea, which was good, but was there something worse than Strexcorp?

Shawn, who seemed like the only one brave enough spoke up and questioned his boss. "Okay Palmer if that is truly your name. Where is Cecil at? Cause Carlos here doesn't believe you are actually--" He was stopped short by Cecil.

A laugh came from Cecil before speaking. "Well he should know why I'm not myself. He forgot something." Noticing Carlos in the doorway caused him to smirk at the scientist. A dark chuckle came from the radio host. Blood was dripping down from his arm where he was attacked. Cecil wasn't even phased by it.

Shawn glanced over at Carlos and shrugged. He had no clue on what was happening to Cecil, but it seemed like it was because of Carlos. What did Carlos do to Cecil this morning to cause this kind of reaction from his boss?

"Carlos...Maybe uh...you should step out?" Shawn seemed worried to tell the scientist that. He would have to be alone with this. It seemed like it would be best since how Cecil  reacted. Heck he had just fought his own boss and being alone with him didn't make him feel safe.

Sadly, Carlos nods before leaving the room. Worried about Shawn. That couldn't be right. Never had Cecil ever seemed to have a dark look in his eyes. This was only increasing the likelihood that that person in the recording studio wasn't Cecil or well the Cecil Carlos had fallen in love with a year ago. All that Carlos could think of right now was: what happened to the Cecil he knew? Where was he?

Soon a crash came from behind the door where Cecil and the intern were in. Panic and worry waved over Carlos before he was able to open the door. There he froze in the doorway seeing what had happened. 

"Well hello there again Carlos!" Cecil said with a bright smile. Blood was splattered across his purple hoodie and constellation pants. That wasn't the end of the crimson in the room. It seemed to be flowing to his eyes as well. No! Cecil had violet eyes not red.

"You're not from here." Carlos said in a slightly worried tone as he tensed up. Whoever he was talking about seemed worse than someone from Desert Bluffs.

"Well... of course I am! Born and raised in Night Vale." As Cecil grinned his tongue licked up the blood that was dripping from his hands. "Oh by gods, I haven't had that in years thanks to you, doc or should I actually say Scientist. All of you are scientists. You aren't here you fix us. You're here to do some illegal tests like we are guinea pigs." A dark laugh came from Cecil as he looked over to Carlos.

A fearful expression seem to rest on Carlos looking at Cecil. He tried to think of this problem like a scientific problem. Question: How to get this Cecil back home and find his Cecil. Hypothesis: Well he had a feeling Cecil would have an idea about that, but how he was acting, he wouldn't work with him well. He was going to have to talk to his fellow scientists about this. Hopefully someone would know. 

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Author's Note: To the family of intern Shawn, I'm sorry. He was a great man. Also what have I done? I'm sorry Carlos man of science. I shall make it up to you. Weather was Psycho Killer by The Talking Heads. It's a good song.