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From: [email protected]

Subject: Lunch?

Alright everybody, we're still doing lunch at the Night Vale Shish Kebab House for a gossip session right? Cause I'm not risking my skin going outside unless this is actually happening. Plus, I think there's been a few nice developments between James and Don that I want to share~

-Matt

"It's a good idea to keep an eye on the skies", the Council reps said. "You're the only one able to climb to the roof because you'll have great motivation not to fall! It's another great idea we had!"

Climbing up to the roof of City Hall to watch for the Cloud was not a great idea. It had been twenty minutes and Reid was finally at the top. Grabbing at the ledge, muscles straining, he scrabbled up and flopped down on the small platform. He was tempted to unhook the rough, uncomfortable harness, but it was his only safety against death via falling. Peeking over the ledge, the ground was so very, very far away. Falling would be an incredibly bad idea.

Alice, I’m back! Alice! Alice! Alice, I’m back! 

“…If this is Carlos, feel free to speak until the void ceases to exist, which we all know is beyond impossible. If not, well—just leave a message.”

Dana frowned at the end of Cecil’s voicemail message, rubbing one eye as she gazed up at the glowing sky. 

“Cecil?” she said into her phone, ignoring the sparks it was sending into her cheek. “This is Dana. I—well, I’m still in the desert.” Dana paused, swallowing hard and checking to make sure she had everything she needed. “I was living off of old sawdust and a few inverse vegetables, but I have no more food.”

She started walking, picking her way though the endless desert littered with animal corpses. Dana hefted Don Moore’s battered suitcase in her left hand—just in case. “Cecil,” she said, “I have no choice.” And she swallowed in a vain attempt not to sound absolutely terrified.

“It’s time for desperate measures. The Glow Cloud is here—or it was here. I think, Cecil, I think that it is leaving.”

Dana paused, squinting at the skies as she skirted the rotting cow at her feet. No, she thought, it wasn’t leaving. It was disappearing. Half of the Cloud was as corporeal as it had ever been, but the other half… well, the other half could only be described one way: ghostly.

“Cecil,” she said. “Cecil, I have conducted some interviews—“

All right, so what if she was lying just a little bit? Cecil was her boss, and she had better get a real job out of this.

“And I have learned that the Glow Cloud is not leaving. No, in fact, it is only… transforming, into a ghostlike mass not unlike the one that lives in the basement of the station.  A ghost, the same as I appear to be to those lucky citizens still residing in Night Vale. And that means…”

Dana broke into a run, climbing to the top of the highest sand dune she could see. This would do the trick, she thought, panting slightly as she looked directly above her to where she could see animal corpses suspended by the glowing cloud.

“Cecil.” Dana took a deep breath, clutching the suitcase close to her. “Cecil, I am going to have to jump into the Glow Cloud. It is my only option. If I don’t return, please be sure to immortalize me on that list of dead interns that I know you keep under your desk.”

Biting her lip, she closed her eyes. This was it. This was her chance.

“Cecil, I am entering the Glow Cloud. Wish me—“

ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD ALL HAIL THE

Dana was falling. She noticed this with a detached, disoriented sort of feeling. She was still holding a suitcase. To her left, hurtling through the air with the same slightly worrying velocity, was a dead chicken. To her right was a polar bear.

Dana didn’t think too much about this—she didn’t have time to.

Instead, she found herself quite quickly on the ground—no, not on the ground. On a suitcase. Or what remained of a suitcase, she thought as she picked herself up. Don Moore would have something to say about that.

Rubbing her eyes to clear the sand, animal viscera, and general dust from her vision, Dana took a deep breath and glanced in front of her.

“Night Vale Community Radio”, read the sign on the door. She grinned broadly and sighed with the most satisfying relief she’d ever felt in her life, noticing the familiar faces around her and that all-permeating scent of vanilla.