Chapter 8: Prophecy

Thoughts of disaster haunted Carlos' mind throughout the following days. He tried to shake it off. After all, he would have never been let go if he was really that much of a threat, right? They were probably just trying to scare him. They'd succeeded too. He couldn't sleep, he couldn't focus. He could barely refer to himself as a functional scientist. His team brushed him off. A town couldn't do anything, it was just a place, it didn't care what he did. It just wasn't scientific. Cecil was a little more helpful. At least he believed everything Carlos was saying.

"The town will warm to you." He reassured him. "As long as you don't do anything too risky."

"But everything in this town is risky." Carlos insisted. "How will I know what too risky is?"

"You're a smart man, Carlos. When you reach that point, you'll just know."

Carlos wasn't convinced that he would know. Even if he somehow did, he wasn't convinced the town would care. What if he'd already crossed the line without realising it and now he or someone else was locked into a count down to destruction? Desperate to get the thought out of this head, he went to the only other person he could trust. He went to Josie.

"Carlos." She smiled at him warmly when she answered the door. "I knew you'd come to me sooner or later."

"Hi, Mrs Ortiz. Can I talk to you?" He asked sheepishly.

"Of course you can dear. Come in. And please stop calling me Mrs Ortiz, makes me feel old."

She led him into her cosy little living room. Inside was a pale green armchair in front of a tall reading lamp, which was guarded by two almost teen foot winged creatures who stood either side. Across from it was a sofa, matching in colour, which was separated from the armchair by a wooden coffee table.

"Would you like some tea, Carlos?" asked Josie.

"No thank you I-"

"You will have tea, Carlos." Hissed one of the figures.

"Yes, it will help with what's to come." Added the other.

"What's to come?" Carlos asked nervously.

"Oh, don't mind the Erikas. They're just being dramatic." Josie waved off. "But really, tea will help you relax. You look like somethings stressing you to death."

"Yeah, yeah tea sounds good."

Josie invited him to seat on the sofa and returned a few minutes later with two steaming hot cups of sweet tea. Once she was finally satisfied that Carlos was calm and didn't need feeding, she finally settled down on the armchair.

"So, what's bothering you, dear? Is Cecil again?"

"No, he's actually been really kind to me."

"That's good to hear. I've known Cecil my whole life. He's either a delight or a terror, there's no in between."

"Don't you mean his whole life?"

"Oh, you interlopers and your linear understanding of time." Josie chuckled as she took a sip of tea.

"It's not Cecil." Carlos shook his head. "I just had a kind of weird conversation with two men a few days ago again and…Josie, I don't think it's good for me to be here."

"What do you mean, dear?"

"I don't know. It's just…everyone here is very close. Everything is balanced around all these personalities all existing here for years and I'm just…I'm just here messing all that up, getting in the way…and I think it's going to break things up somehow." He explained.

"We've all felt like an interloper at some point in our lives, Carlos, and we all worry about how being on the outside with affect the future." Josie pointed out as she took another sip of tea before placing it down on the table. "But if it helps, there's a way you can see the world a little clearer."

"What do you mean?" Asked Carlos, rapidly placing his own tea down.

"Carlos, what do you think of the supernatural?"

"Well, it's not entirely scientific…" He started, before he noticed the Erikas emitting a low growl. "But I certainly find it interesting." He quickly added.

"So, what if I could look and see how you being here will affect things?" She smirked.

"Ar-are you trying to say you can see the future?"

"I'm saying I can see a future. I don't know whether it will be the future, it's just the most likely possibility. It's kind of like the universe showing me the odds." Josie explained. "I must warn you though, I won't lie to you about what I see. I can't guarantee what you'll find out will be comforting."

Carlos looked around as if someone would appear out of the blue to tell him what he was supposed to do next. The Erikas stared at him, no longer growling, but offering no help. It was all up to him. He nodded firmly. It was better to have some idea where he was going than walking in the dark.

"Okay, let's do it."

Josie moved the cups out of the way and reached her arms across the table, palms up. Carlos reluctantly took them both.

"Close your eyes, dear." Josie said calmly before closing her own. Carlos glanced around again and obeyed. Even there, safe and sound in Josie's living room, the darkness behind his own eyelids was terrifyingly oppressive. "Now, lets see. Hmm…interesting…very interesting."

"What is it?" Asked Carlos, opening one eye to see if he was missing something.

"Eyes." Josie snapped. Carlos quickly shut them again before Josie continued. "You're not as much as an interloper as you make out are you, Carlos? You and Night Vale have crossed paths before."

"I…don't really see what my past has got to do with this."

"Your past has everything to do with this. There is no future without it."

Josie was right, Carlos and Night Vale had crossed paths before. When he was a child, his family moved all over the place for his father's job, which meant he was constantly in a different house. Despite all the warnings from the movies, he loved exploring the attics and basements, and, providing it wasn't dangerous, his parents would let him keep pretty much anything he found in them. When he was about six or seven, he'd been in one these attics when he found an old, battered radio. It didn't work but he loved it with all his heart, so he took it virtually everywhere with him. Six months later and halfway across the country, he'd been playing with the dial when he heard it. The voice of a man named Leonard Burton, coming to him through a blizzard of static from a town called Night Vale. He talked about all sorts of things that Carlos didn't understand, like cold suns and backwards moving time, so he took up an interest in science so he could explain it all.

Then, on his ninth birthday, the day his parents finally indulged in his new obsession and bought him his first chemistry set, the broadcasts stopped. He tried has hard as he could to get them back, he experimented with every frequency on the radio and every other radio he could get his hands on, but his quiet desert community was gone. As he grew, he convinced himself it had never existed at all, at least not really. It had just been some sort of weird story, a fictional series, that had taken his impressionable young mind in. It had been a good story, a story that gave him a lifelong passion for science, but it had been cancelled. The story was over. He moved on, but he never fully forgot. So, when Mr Markson uttered the towns name, Carlos instantly knew he'd listen to anything the man had to say.

"It's funny how things work out." Said Carlos. "Of all the scientists in America that could have been asked to come here, it ended up being me. It's just such as coincidence."

"Oh, I'm not a great believer in coincidences. Are you?" Said Josie, and even with his eyes closed Carlos knew she was smiling. "But like you said, we're here for the future. Are you sure you want to hear? Once you hear, there's no forgetting."

"I want to hear." Carlos gulped.

"Very well." Josie squeezed his hands tighter and began. "You are tied deeply to this town. You are tied deeper than you could ever possibly know. You are the bringer of upheaval, but also of peace. You are the bringer of endings, but also of beginnings. You and your employer here will bring a hate stronger than Night Vale has ever known, and a love stronger still. Know this, death will come to Night Vale, death will come to you."

Carlos yacked his hands away and opened his eyes. Josie cleared her throat and did the same.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give you anything more specific, dear."

"It's fine." Carlos replied weakly.

"I can also do tarot readings." She said eagerly.

"No." Carlos shouted before composing himself. "Sorry. Just…no thank you."

"Drink your tea, dear." She sighed. "Like Erika said, it will help."