Chapter 34: A Quiet Bowling Alley Community

Under the orange glow of the early morning sun the streets looked as if they'd been watched a new. The warm light hugged Carlos' shoulders as he strode towards the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex. One more experiment. One more little discovery. Then he was gone.

The streets were completely empty, but there were already cars in the parking a lot of the bowling alley. A memory stirred. They'd be whispers and quiet plans for Jeremy Godfried's 50th birthday party for weeks now. They'd decided to throw it relatively early since the majority of Night Vale's deadly events happened around mid-afternoon. Carlos was honestly surprised anyone ever made it to 50 in a town like Night Vale. Then again Josie had made it to at least 80, but she did have some mild divine intervention on her side. Carlos threw open the double doors. He couldn't help but feel a little bad that his final impression on the town would be him interrupting such a joyous occasion. Luckily, he didn't have to. Teddy Williams had already done that for him.

The electronic score cards flashed a bold white 'They are here' across every screen. Carlos couldn't help but think that the score cards could benefit from being a little more specific. There were plenty of people who were already very obviously there. Jeremy Godfried's birthday party, for example. Teddy Williams was running around in circles, yelling and screaming for his visibly confused militia to attack.

"What's going on?" Carlos asked one of militia members, who was mutely observing the whole affair.

"Well-"

"The end times are here." Teddy Williams shouted. "A thousand years of darkness. Bloodshed in the streets. Prepare yourselves, citizens, prepare to defend your town."

"Yeah, that." The militia member nodded.

"Right…have you actually looked at what's under there? Because I've got a hunch-"

"Your hunches will mean nothing against the void." Teddy screeched.

"Okay." Carlos sighed. ���I'm going to get to the bottom of this. Someone has to."

"You're opening pandora's box young man." Teddy yelled after him as he headed towards lane five's pin retrieval.

"You're deranged." Carlos muttered.

"Oh yeah? Oh yeah? Say that to my face, big shot." His voice was so loud it was a miracle he didn't stain his throat. Carlos waved him off. A small crowd had started to gather behind him: the militia, a few stray bowlers, Jeremy Godfried's party guests. Not Jeremy Godfried though. He was sat on one of the benches, swirling his drink and sulking at the commandeering of his little half century celebration.

Carlos crouched down to peer down into the pin retrieval. If he squeezed, he was sure he could just about fit down there. Lights twinkled below him, filling the cold black with little specks of warmth.

"It's miles down. Too far to jump." Uttered one of the party members.

"No…I'm not sure it is." Carlos grumbled before taking a leap of faint. He was barely falling for a couple of seconds before his feet touched the ground. Just as he expected. The town wasn't far down at all. Once he'd worked himself into a crouching position the tallest buildings barely made it passed his ankles. It was a tiny town, more specifically a tiny Night Vale. A little desert community living in eternal night. The little people came out of their homes and offices to stare in awe. He smirked. Hundreds of them could fit on just one of his fingers. Was this really what everyone was so afraid of?

"Come down, come look." Carlos gestured to the group. A smile spread across his. "Behold, this is not an enormous city miles below the earth. It is a very small city about ten feet below the earth, populated by tiny people, who have had to spend a year slowly climbing the ten feet to our world. We have nothing to fear."

He could have stayed in that moment forever. His last act in Night Vale, a victory. Two towns, once fearful of each other's existence, finally facing each other. But of course, no moment could last forever, that's why people worked so hard to savour them, and Carlos' moment of strength was cut short by something sharp hit his leg, causing him to stumble. He looked down at his bleeding ankle. The miniature version of Teddy Williams had ordered an attack, and, unlike the full-sized version, his militia had obeyed. Carlos moved against the wall in a desperate attempt to protect himself. The projectiles fired against his legs and arms, opening little cuts all over his body. He tried to reason himself out of his rapidly rising feeling of panic. There projectiles were only tiny. Then again, a lot of deadly things were tiny. Like bullets or microbes.

He didn't get a chance to finish his mental list of deadly things before something hit him squarely in the chest. He wasn't sure what knocked him down, the force or the shock, but Carlos fell to the ground hard, hitting his head on the wall. He looked up, drifting in and out of consciousness every few seconds. All he could see above him from black. There was noise all around him from both versions of Night Vale, but he couldn't hear what was being said over the squealing in his ears and the pounding in his head. He felt nauseous as his vision blurred, all the black above appearing like smudged ink in the sky and breathing in the tiny space became incredibly hard. He closed his eyes. He felt so light, almost like he was flying.

For so many months he'd wondered about his own death. He'd pictured it in so many ways, but none his imagined scenarios brought him to this point. Still, this was Night Vale, nothing could be normal, not even death. Josie had warned him so early into his stay that he often thought he'd never see the end of the year. He supposed at the very least he could say that he had. He only had one regret; he hadn't been more honest with Cecil. He hadn't even been brave enough to say a proper goodbye. He hoped he'd be forgiven; he never meant to leave this way.

'Live a good life, Cecil.' He thought to himself. 'Find someone brave enough to love you to your face.'