Night Vale Unsolved

25

"So, Lucia, right?"
The ghost turned her pupil-less gaze once again on Ryan and Shane. Ryan blanched, but despite what Cecil had told them, he didn't want to risk pissing off a ghost.
At least, not one he had just engaged in conversation.
"Yes." The ghost answered after a pause, "My name is Lucia Tereschenko."
"Oh, I'm so glad you guys are getting to know each other!" Cecil exclaimed, he and Carlos joining the group.
"Uh...yeah," Ryan stammered. "Real cozy."
"Great!" Cecil either ignored or didn't catch Ryan's implied distress, and pushed on. "Lucia, can you give us a tour?"
Lucia stared at Cecil for a moment, then suddenly disappeared and reappeared by the entrance to the field itself.
"I will give you a tour. We'll start on the field, yes?"
The group made their way to Lucia, and Shane found himself next to Carlos.
"So, what's her deal?" He asked.
The scientist glanced at him. "You mean, aside from being dead?"
"Right. Yeah, aside from that."
Carlos shrugged. "You'll have to ask her yourself. I can't say I'm too familiar with her story."
Shane turned back to look ahead, and was greeted with a strange contrast. The stands overlooking the field were old and looked like you'd expect a haunted place to look. But the field itself seemed well used - even well maintained. The grass was cut short and the bases were worn and covered in dusty footprints.
Small footprints.
"This is the field," Lucia announced, "Here the children play baseball. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I coach them. Third base." She pointed across the field at third base.
"Wait, what?" Shane asked, incredulous. "Coach?"
"Yes." Lucia confirmed. The others waited, but she didn't elaborate.
So Cecil stepped in. "Ah, Lucia here is the third base coach for Night Vale's Little League."
Ryan looked between Cecil, Lucia, and Carlos, waiting for someone to laugh and say it was a joke.
No one did.
"Wait, you're serious?"
"Yeah," Cecil confirmed, "Lucia's great with the kids."
"And...no one has anything to say about a ghost walking around?"
Lucia blinked at the question.
"Erm, no offense," Ryan clarified.
"Well, no," Lucia replied, "I have been coach here for as long as they have played. I was here before them, you see."
"What do you mean?" Shane asked.
"When I was killed," Lucia began quietly, "This was not as it is now. It was a field, empty but for the train tracks. I rode the train, waiting."
"Waiting for what?" Ryan leaned in, his apprehension forgotten.
Lucia shook her head. "I still do not know. These men, who I worked for riding the train, they said to wait for when the time was right. And one day...it was. Right here."
"What happened?"
"They stopped the train. There were crates, and these men, they were unloading them. And then..." Lucia paused, as if lost in thought. "And then the sheriff came. He tried to stop these men and their crates, and began to shoot." She ran her hand absentmindedly over a spot on her abdomen. Ryan's eyes widened in realization.
"Oh."
"Oh." Lucia agreed
"So you died here," Shane ventured, "And now - what, you're stuck here?"
Lucia considered. "I don't know. Perhaps I could leave, if I wanted to."
"But...you don't."
"No." Lucia turned and looked around at the field. "I was here for a long time. The train stopped running, and the tracks went away. And then, the children began coming. Playing baseball. I watched them, learning how they played. Eventually, I wanted to help, to show them how they could play better. They were scared, at first." Lucia smiled sadly. "But they listened, and stopped being scared. More and more children began to come and play, so the city built a field for them. When they made a team, they asked me to coach."
Done with her story, Lucia turned back to the group. There was a moment of silence as Shane and Ryan processed what they'd heard. Finally, Cecil cleared his throat.
"Right, well, um, Ryan, Shane," He said, "why don't you guys explain to Lucia why you're here. Carlos and I... we'll just be right over there."
With that, Cecil steered Carlos away and left Ryan and Shane to talk with Lucia.