Night Vale Unsolved

40

The day passed by as it always did. Cecil sat at his recording studio desk, the microphone before him and his headphones on. There was barely any traffic at all, and the weather was nice and upbeat. Everything was so...normal, that Cecil could feel his mind wandering.
When at last the show was over, he gladly went back to the apartment he shared with Carlos. The lights were off, and Cecil knew he was the first home. It didn't bother him. Carlos usually came home late from the lab, always getting sucked into whatever he was working on.
Cecil turned on the lights and made dinner - spaghetti and meatballs, nice and easy - and waited for Carlos to get back.
But Carlos didn't come back. Not for the next fifteen minutes.
Cecil glanced at the sky. It was getting pretty late. With a yawn, he went ahead and ate. He went to bed, leaving Carlos' share out.

In the morning, Cecil woke up to an empty bed. Carlos wasn't in the bathroom, and he wasn't in the kitchen. He wasn't anywhere in the apartment, and his dinner from last night was still in the table. Cecil, still groggy from waking up, fumbled for his phone to text Carlos.
"Where are you?"
It wasn't unprecedented for him to spend the night at the lab, but Cecil liked to know. A moment later, his phone pinged with a reply.
"In line at Big Rico's. I was thinking pizza for dinner?"
Cecil frowned. Why was Carlos picking up dinner first thing in the morning?
"Dinner?" He sent, to clarify.
"Yeah," Came Carlos' reply, "Why?"
"I already made dinner." Cecil sent back, hesitantly.
"You did? Oh, I'm sorry. We can save the pizza for another day."
Cecil stared at the conversation on his phone screen for a moment, then shrugged and made himself some coffee.
Cecil decided to stop by Big Rico's on his way to the radio station, just to check in with Carlos in person. When he got there, the line was so long that it spilled out if the door and down to the corner. Cecil slipped inside, and saw Carlos standing with Ryan and Shane near the door.
"Cecil!" Carlos greeted him, "What are you doing here? You said you'd made dinner already, I didn't realize your show was over!"
Cecil furrowed his brows. "You... didn't?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I think they were playing it here for a while, but...not anymore, I guess. And so I was talking with these guys about-"
"What are you two doing here?" Cecil asked Shane and Ryan, still very confused. "I figured you'd sleep in."
The two shared a look.
"Sleep in?" Ryan asked.
"It's...like, what, 8?" Shane added.
Cecil considered this. It was just about mid morning, he supposed. But that still didn't explain why Carlos had talked about dinner.
"So..." Cecil started, wondering if Ryan and Shane had the same idea as Carlos, "Pizza?"
"Oh, yeah. It's been a long day."
"Yeah, I'm starving."
Long day?
An uneasy feeling crept through Cecil. Suddenly, an idea flashed into his kind. For lack of a better one, he jumped on it.
"Carlos," He asked, staring directly into his partner's eyes, "When did you come in?"
"Into Big Rico's?" Carlos pondered for a moment. "I don't know...maybe 7, 7:30?"
Cecil shook his head. "PM or AM?"
Carlos looked at him funny. "PM," He answered.
Cecil sighed. "Carlos, do you know what time it is right now?"
"Like Shane said. 8 ish, probably. PM."
"No." Cecil took a step back. "More like 8 AM."
"Uhmm..." Ryan held up his hands and cracked a hesitant grin. "This is a joke, right?"
Shane frowned. "You're saying we've been in this line for-"
"About 12 hours." Carlos finished for him. Cecil nodded.
"But that doesn't..."
"It doesn't matter." Cecil cut Shane off, pulling Carlos out of the line. Ryan and Shane followed.
As soon as they steped out of the doors, into the morning sunlight, the three men froze and blinked.
"What the..." Ryan muttered, not finishing his thought as he squinted at his surroundings.
Carlos seemed to get his bearings more or less quickly, and turned to Cecil.
"What happened?"