Night Vale Unsolved

11

Shane and Ryan sat in the car once again, but instead of driving they sat in the parking lot of the radio station. They sat in silence, neither sure what to say after the revelations of that afternoon.
Carlos the scientist had arrived on the scene - still the men's bathroom - and did his best to coax the two away from the floating cat. Once he'd gotten them all out into the lobby, the questions started flying. And once Khoshekh was explained to the best of Carlos and Cecil's abilities, Ryan and Shane were able to move on to more general questions about Night Vale.
Shane seemed to be fascinated by the things that would only be considered odd to those not born in Night Vale; he peppered Cecil with question after question about the strange ritualistic habits citizens kept, as well as the City Council, the Boy Scouts, and the supposed Angels.
Ryan was interested in the Angels as well (and by Cecil's adamant refusal of their existence), but chose instead to ask Carlos what his studies had come up with; a logical explanation to all of this.
Some questions were answered, some were not. Some, Cecil and Carlos refused to answer (rather, Carlos was willing to answer, on the grounds that they may as well know everything, but Cecil held him back, reminding him that there was such a thing as forbidden knowledge, Carlos).
In the car, Ryan and Shane struggled to organize what they'd learned in a way that made sense.
Finally, after what might have been an hour of silence, Ryan spoke.
"I wanna meet an Angel." He glanced over at Shane, who didn't seem to have heard him. "Shane?"
Shane seemed to snap out of a trance, and looked over at Ryan. "Yeah?"
"Did you hear me?"
Shane leaned far back in his seat, hands running down his face. "Sorry, I know...this is probably amazing for you. So yeah, let's just get right into it." He didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about the idea.
Ryan grew concerned. Shane had always been the skeptic, but now that he'd basically been proven wrong, Ryan wasn't sure what reaction he'd been expecting. Shock? Anger? Maybe even relief?
Whatever it was, it wasn't this.
"Shane, just talk to me. Is something wrong...?"
Shane sighed. "Nothing's wrong, no. It's just that all of this," He gestured vaguely out the window, "Is...real. There are...there are cats that hover in midair in public restrooms. There may very well be aliens, and government conspiracies seem to be a given...though I'm not sure how much of a surprise that really is..." He was rambling now, and Ryan immediately felt bad for him. He himself had built his entire career out of believing; how would he react if he found out he'd been wrong the entire time?
"Hey, Shane. Look at me, alright?" Ryan held his partner's gaze until Shane seemed calmer. "Yeah, the world is a crazy place. We know that, don't we? And now we know that it's crazier than we realized. And that's fine. It's still the same world; we just know more about it. That's good, right?"
Slowly, Shane nodded, and Ryan immediately felt a weight lifting off of his chest. Shane was his buddy; he wasn't sure what he'd do without him.
They sat in silence for a little while longer, until finally Shane let out a breath he'd been holding without realizing it.
"Yeah." He said. "Yeah, bud, you're right. Same world. Let's go meet some Angels."
Ryan grinned, and Shane smiled right back.
As they pulled out of the parking lot, Shane turned once again to Ryan.
"You do realize you still don't have any proof of ghosts, right?"
Ryan laughed, and they headed back to the hotel for the night.