Night Vale Unsolved

23

"Carlos!"
Cecil jogged the rest of the way to where Carlos, Shane, and Ryan were waiting for him right outside of the Haunted Baseball Diamond.
"Cecil!" Carlos greeted him, his face breaking into a huge grin.
Cecil grinned back, and turned to the others. "So, how was Josie's?"
Shane and Ryan glanced at each other.
"It was, um..."
"Surprising," Ryan supplied.
"Yeah, Erika can be...off putting, if you aren't ready."
"Right," Carlos glanced around, "Cecil, I have to be honest. I don't know why you suggested this place."
"You...don't?"
Cecil seemed confused, and Ryan and Shane shared another look. What could be so weird that even the scientist didn't know about it?
"Carlos, this is called the Haunted Baseball Diamond. Why did you think I would have-"
"Wait, haunted?" Ryan blanched. "As in, haunted haunted?"
Cecil just stared at Ryan blankly, while Carlos seemed lost in a confused thought process.
"Ryan..." Shane started, but Ryan turned and cut him off.
"Shane, I know what you're going to say. But with all that we've seen..." He turned back to Cecil. "Are you saying that there are ghosts here?"
Cecil thought for a moment. "Only one that I know of," He concluded, "Though, of course, who's to say for sure?"
He laughed, and turned to Carlos. The two began speaking in hushed voices, Carlos hurried and animated. Meanwhile, Ryan and Shane did the same.
"I-I don't know if I can do this," Ryan admitted.
"Wait - why?" Shane asked. "Why is this any different than any other ghost hunt?"
"Well for one," Ryan gestured around them, indicating Night Vale at large, "With this place, who knows what could happen? If we're ever going to find a real ghost, it's going to be here, right?"
"Isn't that what you want?"
"Yeah, but..." Ryan sighed, "Once we actually have evidence of ghosts - like, real, concrete evidence, where do we go from there? What's the point, after that? And besides," He glanced down, almost embarrassed.
"What?"
"Well...I always know kind of what to expect when we go into places normally. I've got research to go off of and stuff. But now I have no idea! What if it's a demon, Shane?"
Shane's eyes flashed with amusement, but he fought that urge and instead went to comfort his friend.
"Alright, what if we just get them to explain the history of this place before we go in?"
Ryan nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, that's good. But if there is a demon, I'm going back to the car for my holy water."
Shane couldn't help it this time. He laughed, "You brought holy water?"
Ryan looked up at him, indignant. "Of course I did."
Shane kept laughing. "Alright. Sure, we get this history and the holy water-"
"Only if it's a demon."
"Right. And then we go in. Deal?"
"Yeah. Deal."
The two turned back to Carlos and Cecil just as their conversation - which seemed to be an argument - got loud enough to hear.
"Cecil, if they get Lucia on video and, and share it with the world," Carlos said, as though he's been saying it for a while now, "Then City Council, and the Sheriff's Secret Police, and the Vague Yet Menacing Government Agency, they're all going to know that we showed them. We've already probably showed them too much - or at least what we've told them!"
"Carlos,"
"Cecil?" A heavily accented female voice called. "Who are these people with you?"
A figure seemed to blink into existence next to Cecil. She turned to look at the others, her gaze curious.
Ryan screamed.