An Entire Year of You

Chapter 13: Distractions

In theory, avoiding Cecil should have been easy. He worked in the day and cowered from the town's roaming beasts at night, the same as most people, and Carlos had his own work to keep him busy. He even managed to pass a few days without trying with the help of a mind-altering power cut. He was extremely relieved to find out those weren't common. Mind-altering gas leaks on the other hand...

Still, theories and reality had an annoying habit of not matching up. Avoiding Cecil was extremely difficult, not physically, but emotionally. Cecil was a curious man who often tried to reach out to Carlos for comments on scientific phenomenon and it took a lot of power both as a man and a scientist not to answer. At first, he'd tried to dispatch members of his team to answer questions for him, but they all found Cecil 'too much'. Nobody had ever actually explained what the exact definition of 'too much' was. So, Carlos attempted to block him out completely. He ignored his requests for statements, he removed his name from journal entries, and took the radio out of the lab entirely, which was met with very little protest. Even then, Cecil lingered in his mind. Stupid thoughts, not so easy to avoid.

"You know what you need to do?" Asked Marsha one morning.

"Change my name and move in with my aunty in Venezuela?" Carlos shrugged.

"No. What you need to do is distract yourself."

"Isn't that what I've been doing?"

"Sitting in the lab writing down random numbers and getting high of supernatural energy surges-"

"You make it sound like I did it deliberately." Carlos grumbled.

"Is clearly not having the desired effect. Maybe you should go outside. Go into the desert. I'm sure there's plenty of science out there."

"You could always go to the draw bridge." Suggested Jess.

"Drawbridge? What drawbridge?"

"Out in the desert."

"Is there...water out there?"

"Take a guess." Muttered Robin.

"Drawbridge...in the desert." Carlos thought out loud. Was that a Night Vale thing?

"It'll keep you busy." Jess smiled encouragingly.

"Yeah...yeah you're right. Fresh air, strange building choices. Back to basics." Carlos nodded as he gathered up his lab coat and bag.

"Be sure to write stuff down. Something coherent." Said Marsha, forcing an A4 notepad towards him. He grabbed it without looking back and dashed out of the door to his car.

"I'm extrapolating from the evidence. The cave paintings mainly resemble smudges now-"Cecil's voice rang clear through the radio. The stupid thing turned itself on every time he started the engine. It was as if it was taunting him. He quickly turned it off before he could figure out what he was talking about.

There was no drawbridge in the desert, not a solid one at least. Instead, there was a few meandering construction workers, a pile of crayons and wet cardboard, and a sign that read 'Night Vale Drawbridge. Coming eventually'. Carlos approached the site. The closer he got the more of a mess it looked. He was sure that it wasn't a Night Vale thing, it was just an incompetency thing. He stared at the scene and wrote down the word 'unstable'. He hadn't yet decided whether he meant the building materials or the people.

"Are you lost?" Shouted one of the construction workers.

"Urr...no. I'm just looking around."

"Oh...well do you have any suggestions?" He asked.

"Suggestions?"

"On how to build this thing." He kicked the soaking pieces of cardboard out of frustration. Carlos couldn't help but wonder how they got so wet in the first place, considering it hadn't rained in weeks, but for some reason that seemed like the wrong thing to ask. If he was going to be totally honest, he'd suggest not building it at all. He doubted they'd take that as an answer.

"Have you tried changing the building materials?" Carlos asked.

"We have." Another nearby construction piped in. "We've used whipped cream, marshmallows, ceramic bowls, pipe cleaners..."

"I was thinking maybe something a little more traditional." He suggested.

"Like what? Cement? Bricks?" The first man interrogated.

"Well no-"

"Bricks don't make good drawbridges. They're not flexible enough."

"Maybe wood?" He shrugged. A deathly silence fell over the area as their eyes stabbed into him.

"Wood?" Asked the first construction worker. His voice was low and heavy, and his words felt like a threat.

"Yes?" Carlos asked cautiously.

"As in trees?" Asked the second construction worker.

"Yes, well that is normally-"

"You suggest we use our brothers and sisters to build a drawbridge."

"I urr I don't know what that-"

"Trees are us. Trees are us." The pair began to chant.

"Oh, okay I'm just going to...I'm gonna go." Carlos quickly backed towards the car. The pair followed, chanting louder and louder as they went. In a spilt second Carlos decided that it was definitely the people who were unstable. "Y-you obviously don't have to take the suggestion. You can just um..."

"Excuse me." A familiar voice approached the scene. While Carlos and then men had been talking, Josie had appeared beside the car. The group quickly turned their attention towards her. She didn't seem remotely concerned. In fact, she was smiling. "Do you mind leaving my friend alone?"

"No. He made a heinous suggestion. He must be taken to the trees for judgement." Explained the first construction worker.

"Woah, I'm sorry, what?" Carlos exclaimed.

"Hmm, I see." Nodded Josie. "Perhaps someone else will be able to persuade you. Erika." She yelled to the sky. The men flinched away.

"Okay, okay. He's all yours." The second construction worker said frantically.

"That's what I thought." Josie said firmly. "Carlos, sweetie, I have a letter for you."

"A letter? Did you come all the way out here for that? Also, doesn't Night Vale have a mail service?" Carlos asked.

"Of course not, dear. I was out for a walk. I was going to deliver the letter to you later. And yes, we do have a mail service, but I don't think you're ready to meet them yet." She explained.

"Why not?"

"You'll see in good time. Here you go." She reached into her jacket pocket and handed Carlos a sealed brown envelope. He quickly opened it and read the contents. It read:

Dear Mr C. Cienca,

The phonelines appear to be down. I'm yet to receive any information as to why. Hopefully, that'll be sorted within a week. In the meantime, please send a file containing your research weekly. My company has deemed your research thus far inadequate. Try harder. Put your feelings aside and turn your attention to the radio station. Remember, work comes first.

Yours Sincerely,

Mr D. Markson.

Carlos sighed and stuffed it in his pocket. Mr Markson hadn't bothered to provide a mailing address.

"Thanks, Josie." Said Carlos. "Would you like a lift back to town?"

"That would be wonderful. Oh, could we have the radio on. It's history week and I'm quite excited to hear some of those old stories."

"Sure." He mumbled. He supposed that avoiding Cecil really was going to be impossible. He'd just have to be professional about it. Work came first.