Night Vale Unsolved

19

"Hello?" Old Woman Josie answered the door. "Oh, it's you, Carlos. It's funny, I was just wondering when - oh, hello."
"Hi," Shane offered his hand, which she shook. "I'm Shane Madej, and this is..."
Shane nudged Ryan, who had seemingly drifted off again. "Sorry," Ryan started out of his daze. "I'm Ryan Bergara. We're here-"
"Oh, no no no, come inside first." Old Woman Josie ushered them inside. While they settled themselves on the various, cushy seating options, she busied herself in the kitchen. "Tea," she offered, "Do you like tea?"
"Oh, um, sure."
"Right. Well, Carlos, as I was saying, I was wondering when Cecil would be available again for bowling night. It's been too long."
Carlos blushed slightly. "Ah, yes, well, Cecil and I have been a little busy lately and..."
"Oh, yes, I nearly forgot. Everything still going well with you?"
"Uh, yes. Yes it is." Carlos shifted, and Ryan studied Old Woman Josie. Something seemed...different about her. Not in a bad way, just...different.
Old Woman Josie appraised Carlos over the divider between the kitchen and the living room. Her eyes moved to Shane and Ryan. "Alright, now, who are you two?"
Shane edged forward in his seat. "As we said before, Ms...?"
"Josie," Carlos supplied.
"Ok, Ms. Josie-"
"Oh please, just Josie is enough." She waved her hand, nearly knocking over one of the mugs she'd laid out on the coffee table along with the tea.
"Um, Josie, then." Shane seemed a little uncomfortable. "As we said, I'm Shane, my friend over there is Ryan, and we're here to film a video about this city."
"A video?" Old Woman Josie asked. "What video?"
"Well, we've heard some...interesting things about Night Vale." Ryan answered, glancing at Shane. "We host a series called BuzzFeed Unsolved, where we investigate claims of the paranormal or supernatural."
Shane snorted, but made no comment.
"And so you're here in my home because..."
"Yes," Carlos answered her unspoken question, "Are...they here?"
Old Woman Josie sighed. "Yes, they're here. In fact, they were just helping me put up a lovely new wallpaper in the hall over there." She pointed across the room where there was indeed a hallway that appeared to be in the process of getting new wallpaper. She glanced at the others over the rim of her raised cup. "But for some reason, they vanished as soon as your car pulled into the driveway."
"Really?" Carlos leaned forward, his scientist's curiosity piqued. "Can you ask them to come back, or do they just come and go on their own?"
"Well, mostly it's come and go, but if I ask they'll usually come."
"I'm sorry," Ryan interjected, "Who are they?"
"Oh, right." Carlos looked back at the two as if he had forgotten they were even there. "Josie has some...interesting friends."
"Angels." Old Woman Josie said firmly. Carlos cringed ever so slightly, but didn't correct her.
"Angels," Ryan said doubtfully, "As in...Angel angels?"
"Of course," Old Woman Josie confirmed. She glanced sharply at Shane when he snorted again. "What's so amusing, young man?"
"No, it's just...Angels?" Shane asked incredulously. "I mean, we've seen some pretty strange stuff so far, but I'm not sure-"
He stopped abruptly as a bright light filled the kitchen. Ryan shouted as three tall, winged figures emerged from the room. Carlos studied them eagerly, Shane stared in shock, Ryan did his best to compose himself (failing spectacularly), while Old Woman Josie calmly took another sip of her tea.