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Carlos loved sleeping over at Cecil’s apartment. It was remarkably peaceful, lying intertwined with his boyfriend under the fuzzy comforter. On most nights, they slept soundly, Carlos wrapping his arms around Cecil, as if to keep him from escaping. One would breathe in as the other breathed out, puzzle pieces that fit together immaculately. This night, however, Carlos woke up to Cecil thrashing and screaming.
“No, no, no!” Cecil panicked, covered in cold sweat. “Please, stop! God, help!” He reared back, hitting Carlos with the back of his head. Carlos, now fully awake, tried to shake Cecil awake gently. Cecil continued to scream, until Carlos shook him hard enough for him to sit up. He gasped for air, as if he had been underwater.
“Shh, shh,” Carlos murmured. “Shh, I’ve got you, Ceec. I’ve got you, you’re okay,” Bleary eyed and disoriented, Cecil began to sob. Uncontrollably, until he was hyperventilating. Carlos clutched at Cecil, wrapping him in his arms again. Cecil held onto Carlos, shaking and sobbing. Carlos tried to remain calm. Usually Cecil was the one comforting his nightmares. He couldn’t begin to imagine what would make his level-headed radio host break down like this. He began to rock Cecil back and forth. Carlos had learned this trick from an old girlfriend, who had been on multiple tours of Afghanistan. As he rocked Cecil, making soft, comforting noises, Cecil’s breathing began to return to normal. He stopped shaking, but remained sniffling and clammy.
“Babe, what happened?” Carlos asked quietly, still trying to soothe Cecil.
“There was so much blood, and viscera-“ Cecil choked on a sob. “And Dana was lifeless under herself-“ He began to cry again, burying his head into the joint of Carlos’ neck and shoulder. Carlos gently put his hand on the back of Cecil’s neck, lightly stroking the edge of his hair.
“It was just a dream, just a bad nightmare,” Carlos soothed. Cecil started crying harder again.
“It wasn’t! Oh god, I could feel it in my socks-“ At this point, Cecil began to hyperventilate in earnest, nearly convulsing in Carlos’ arms. “Carlos, why did it happen? Why?”
“Honey, you’ve been pulling so many extra hours at work, you’re probably just exhausted and your body’s trying to tell you to slow down,” Carlos soothed, now becoming concerned with how upset Cecil was. Cecil was fully awake and still terrified of his nightmare. That was unusual, usually once they fully woke up the dream became less real. Cecil fell back into Carlos, breathing deeply, hiccupping and shaking. There was silence for a few moments.
“Carlos, do you remember the weekend you were gone last year?” Cecil whispered. Carlos did. He had gone home for a few days to see Adan in the school play. When he came back to Night Vale, all the cars and buildings were scratched up from what appeared to have been a massive sandstorm. He couldn’t investigate it though, as he had only gotten haunted stares from everyone he asked. It had been odd, even for Night Vale. He had never asked Cecil about it. Old Woman Josie told him she’d “kill him dead, ya hear?” if he ever did.
“Yes,” Carlos said gently. “What happened?” Cecil looked up with watery, red eyes. It was the same haunted stare that everyone else had given him.
“There was a sandstorm.” Cecil swallowed hard. Carlos stroked Cecil’s head, nodding for him to continue. “There were… visitors, they came with the sandstorm.”
“Like hooded figures?”
“No. At least, I don’t think so. No. They weren’t hooded figures,” Cecil bit his lip, thinking. “They were us, Carlos. They were doubles.”
Carlos was confused. This was weird, of course, but only Night Vale weird. “Go on, what happened to the doubles?”
Tears began to well up in Cecil’s eyes, and rolled down his cheeks. “They-we- began to fight. Everyone did. There was blood, and screams, and Dana killed herself right in the sound booth. Oh god, Carlos, I still don’t know if it’s her or her double that was in the Dog Park.” Cecil was breathing slowly, trying to keep himself from hyperventilating again. Carlos squeezed Cecil briefly, and gave him a light kiss on the forehead.
“Cecil, what happened to your double?” Carlos asked, knowing that Cecil was pacifistic to a fault. Cecil refused to look Carlos in the eye.
“I didn’t have one.”
Silence washed over the room. Cecil was shaking again, but he wasn’t crying. Carlos was trying to formulate theories as to why one of Night Vale’s most prominent citizens wouldn’t be included in one of its traumatizing events.
“All of the doubles were identical, exactly the same, except for mine,” Cecil finally said. “I think he was supposed to be my double, anyway. There was a portal that opened up on the booth wall, and I… I went through it, Carlos.” Carlos’ stomach dropped.
“Cecil, why? You could have died, or worse, oh, honey…” Carlos murmured, wrapping Cecil up in his arms tighter. Cecil had told him stories of people who went into vortexes, and he had hoped that Cecil followed his own advice.
“I couldn’t stop myself, Carlos,” he choked out. “I ended up in the studio again, but it- it was- covered-“ Cecil began to cry yet again, unable to continue describing the horrors he had witnessed. Carlos gently shushed him.
“It’s okay babe, it’s all over now,” he rocked Cecil again.
“W-when I l-l-left the oth-ther p-place,” Cecil stuttered through sobs, “Th-there was m-my d-d-double. Coming through the other way. He wasn’t identical to me, Carlos. His eyes, his eyes were all black and flat and dead, like paper had been stuck in the sockets instead. And his mouth was missing teeth except for the pointy corner ones, and there was blood in every word, and oh god-“
Carlos gripped Cecil tightly. Cecil was soaked with cold sweat. He kept rocking him, letting Cecil cry and shake for what felt like hours, until he was exhausted. Carlos gently let go of Cecil, allowing for them to lie back down, wrapped in each other’s arms.
“Cecil, mi amor,” Carlos murmured. “I will never let anyone hurt you. Not Station Management, not the Hooded Figures, not the City Council and certainly not your double. You’re mine, and nobody gets to hurt you.”
Cecil sniffled weakly. He smiled, and gently kissed Carlos’ chin. Carlos kissed his forehead and gave him a quick squeeze.
“Go to sleep now, you have the show tomorrow.” Cecil gave him a look, but his energy was gone.
“Mm, goodnight, Carlos, goodnight.” He slurred as he fell back asleep.
Carlos stayed awake all night.