An Entire Year of You

Chapter 19: The Politics of Night Vale

Not eating bread was a small price to pay for not being murdered in his own home, so Carlos tried to take it all in his stride. Night Vale had plenty of bizarre dietary supplements for the low, low price of 'totally worth it dude, trust me', which was about two dollars in actual currency. There was even an upside, though he wasn't sure it was worth the pain of cuts and bruises. For a few days after the event in found himself being babied by his team and few friends. Even Mr Markson told him to take it easy. Carlos didn't take it easy; Carlos was physically incapable of taking it easy, but he agreed to do less field work for a few weeks until he could walk properly again.

And then there was Cecil, sweet Cecil. He seemed to be more shaken up by the whole situation than Carlos was. He stopped by the lab every day just to make sure he'd made it into work safely, bringing fresh soup each time. By the end of the week Carlos had more soup than he knew what to do with. As flattering as it was Cecil, being a dangerously clumsy individual, was proving to be a bit of a health and safety risk. After three broken beakers and one small explosion that had left a black ring on the floor (which would almost certainly lose everyone their deposit when it was time to leave) they came up with a compromise. Cecil wouldn't come to the lab unless absolutely necessary. Instead Carlos would text him when he made it to work and when he made it home at night, providing Cecil agreed to do the same. His life was dangerous too after all.

"Friends should look after each other." Carlos winked as he handed Cecil a paper slip with his number on.

"Oh, so all it took for me to get your number was for one of us to have a near death experience. Does one of us need to get shot before we go to dinner?" Cecil joked.

"Yeah, I'm hoping not to make the whole nearly dying thing a theme, but if you have wanted my number you could have just asked." Carlos laughed.

"That would have been to simple. Still love you platonically." Cecil grinned.

"Love you platonically too, Ce."

Time passed and the babying stopped, though the texting rule remained in place. Night Vale moved onto the return of Hiram McDaniels, criminal, soon to be mayoral candidate, and five headed dragon. Carlos was surprised to discover that the last part wasn't a metaphor.

"I can't believe anyone would actually think about electing him." Muttered Marsha.

"Because he's a criminal or because he's a dragon?" Asked Jess.

"...yes."

"Cecil said he might be a good choice. Five heads are better than one, right?" Carlos piped in.

"Are you sure?" Asked Robin. "Because there's four of us and we're not doing too great."

"Nonsense, we're amazing. Besides, it's probably different for...dragons."

"But what if they argue with each other?"

"That's exactly the kind of stereotype Hiram McDaniel is aiming to fight against." Carlos explained.

"Who told you that?" Asked Jess.

"Cecil." Marsha and Robin chorused before Carlos had a chance to answer.

"Cecil." Carlos nodded.

"I wouldn't pay much mind to it if I was you. It's not like it's going to affect us." Marsha shrugged.

"Why not?" Asked Carlos.

"They're not going to be in office for several months yet. They haven't even started campaigns. We'll be long gone before anything of note happens."

"Do you think so?"

"Carlos, we're only here for six more months. Night Vale works in strange ways, but an election has to take more than that, right?"

"...Six months. Is that all?" Had he really been in Night Vale for half a year already? It felt as if he'd arrived just a couple of weeks ago. They'd been eventful weeks, but so very short. Time was slipping through his fingers like desert sand. If it kept up it would all be over in the blink of an eye.

"I thought you'd be happy. You'll be back home before you know it."

"Yeah..." At the start of the year he would have been over the moon. He'd never wanted to be a part of Night Vale, he just wanted to get what he needed and leave, but he knew people now. He wanted to keep up his conversation's with Josie and help the people stay safe with his little talks. He wanted to find what was going to happen with Hiram. He wanted to stay friends with Cecil. Would he keep texting him after he left? "I'm going to throw stones at the house that doesn't exist...for scientific reasons."

"You're not allowed out yet." Marsha called after him as he ended out the door. Carlos stopped and smirked.

"Are you going to tell on him?" He joked.

"Hmph no. Be sure to record the results." She smiled.

Results showed three things: one, windows of non-existent houses still shatter, two, owners of non-existent houses still get mad when people shatter their windows, and three, throwing stones at things really soothed Carlos' mind. Six months was still a pretty long time, but it was a countdown to either death or simply leaving. Either one was going to separate him from the places and people he was coming love. If only there was some way he could stay longer. Not much longer, just a tiny bit more. A month, two months, he would leave eventually. But six months just wasn't enough, nowhere near. He waited until he knew everyone had left the lab and snuck back in. He was getting more time, just a little bit longer.