The citizens of Night Vale sometimes tend to think that re-education is the worst thing out there. Many citizens fear it, even if they don't say that out loud. But what most don't know is that re-education is a necessary part of keeping people alive and safe. They think it's all about covering up government secrets. What they don't remember is that it's about covering up their own secrets. Cecil Baldwin is by far the most important re-education case we've ever had to undertake.

Most citizens aren't aware of where re-education actually takes place. We have a mock building set up as a front so that citizens can think that re-education is a normal, pleasant experience. In reality, we have a fully renovated cave on the outskirts of Night Vale so that no one will hear the screams as we wipe memories and build new ones to suite the lifestyle and personality of the client. It is a painful and difficult process for the client to go through. As a re-education specialist I've erased thousands of memories and implanted happy, normal, memories into almost everyone in Night Vale. Sure, sometimes we do it to protect government secrets. But mostly we do it for the good of the citizens, to make their lives happier.

In Cecil's case, I had to erase three months, twelve days, and seven hours' worth of trauma. The way re-education works is that the specialist has to watch all the memories being removed. Someone has to remember the memories. They have to go somewhere. We specialists are trained for years on how to handle so much mental anguish. But Cecil's was the most brutal experience I ever witnessed.

Name: Cecil Gershwin-Palmer

Date Submitted: August 23, 1986

Case Number: 15864

Consent for re-education:

Re-education began for Cecil a month after he was found at the request of Nanette Gershwin-Palmer. She stated that Cecil hasn't let his room in three weeks and hasn't spoken a word since he's been back. According to the Vague-Yet-Menacing-Government-Agency appointed psychiatrist, Cecil is suffering extreme symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and still seems to be in a state of shock.

Ms. Gershwin-Palmer understands the benefits and set-backs of re-education and she consents to the rules and guidelines of a family's role in re-education.

The re-education specialist had been called in and reported that re-education is in Cecil's best interest. Details to follow in final report.

Re-education Specialist recommendations:

Based on the future as seen by Specialist 1153, without re-education, Cecil will kill himself in one year's time. The memories of what he has been through will, literally, eat him alive. Complete re-education is recommended and extreme precautions are to be made to keep Cecil from knowing the truth of his situation.

Case Details:

Cecil couldn't wait to start his trip. He had spent weeks convincing his mom that he could survive a month abroad in Europe on his own and she finally agreed to let him go under the condition that he call once a week at least. He accepted her terms and promised to call when his plane landed in Germany where he was starting his trip.

The only problem was that the first call never came. Cecil's mother waited up for the call. She knew he was going to be landing at three in the morning Night Vale Time. By four she was pacing the kitchen floor and by five she called the sheriff's secret police.

The officer who arrived to the Gershwin-Palmer house was Officer Daemon Kesh. "Ms. Gershwin-Palmer, I understand you called stating your son is missing?"

"Please, call me Nanette… but yes, my son was supposed to call me two hours ago when his plane landed in Germany. I called the airline and they said he never made it for his flight." She began to cry, knowing something had happened to her baby.

"Nanette, it's going to be okay. We're going to figure out what happened… I just need you to tell me everything."

Cecil's mother laid out everything for Daemon. She told him she had dropped Cecil off at the airport but she had to go to work before his plane was set to take off. Last she knew he was checking his baggage. The more she talked about it, the more cried.

Daemon left his number with Nanette and told her that he would check in as soon as he got any new information. He took with him the most recent photo of Cecil, which was difficult due to photographs being banned in Night Vale just three years prior. Citizens could keep any that they had but no new photos could be taken.

Daemon started with the airport. If that was the last place Cecil had been seen, that would be the best place to start. He had hoped that the day would be an easy one, just simple surveillance of citizens and meaningless paperwork. But a missing kid, that was going to be more complicated. It was easier if all the children went missing at once. Then, there was always a reason and it could be solved fairly easily. The Sheriff's Secret Police almost always knew ahead of time when a mass child abduction was going to take place. But when one seventeen year old kid just goes missing, there's usually a darker explanation.

He spoke with the baggage clerks, the airport security, anyone who could have seen Cecil. As it turned out, the airport had his baggage still but he never made it from baggage check-in to the boarding airline. Airport security gave Daemon the security tapes and he watched for hours trying to see anything unusual. It had been three hours of useless people watching when he finally saw something. One man started to approach Cecil, as if he was going to ask a simple question. Then another man stood up and caused a distraction on the other side of the room. Then a third man came over and clamped a rag over Cecil's mouth and dragged him back through an exit door. Daemon watched the abduction five times but couldn't see any of the men's faces. He took the tape with him and figured he'd get some more officers on the case.

The case went cold after about three months. It wasn't until almost two weeks into the fourth month that Daemon and his new partner when they caught a break and an abandoned housing development on the edge of town was flooded. No one knew where all the water came from, but when cleanup crews and officers were sent out there, Cecil was found locked in the basement of an empty home nearly dead from drowning in the purple rain that had come from nowhere but seemingly everywhere.

Re-education Specialist Final Report:

It has taken a month for Cecil's re-education to fully take. The memories taken from him are summarized below.

Cecil couldn't tell how much time had passed. He knew time is an illusion and that trying to measure time in a linear form was useless, but he tried anyway. There wasn't much else to do since he'd been locked in a basement. He hated that he was supposed to have boarded a plane and have the best time of his life but instead was kidnapped and forced into the hell his life had become.

The basement was always dark and damp. He didn't understand why there was so much moisture around and he really wished there wasn't. It always made things colder. Luckily he had the bed he was chained to and an itchy wool blanket to keep him warm. There was no explanation, but no matter how long the blanket sat in the various pools of water on the floor around the room, it was never wet or cold. Other than that, there was a bucket for him to use as a bathroom and a hose in the corner for the men to wash him down after they were done with him for the night. The single florescent light on the ceiling didn't do much to brighten up the room but Cecil didn't care. He'd rather not see anything around him.

He learned the men's names relatively quickly. He wasn't supposed to know their names. He was to call them all 'Sir' but he overheard them talk to each other sometime. The tallest was called Mel. He liked to come down to the basement alone at night. Pad usually came in the morning and Jem would come in the afternoon. Sometimes they all came down at once, Cecil hated that the most. They would all try to outdo each other of who could fuck Cecil hardest or who could make him cry first. Cecil never admitted to anything, but Jem won on both accounts.

The only days that Cecil was left alone was on second Wednesdays. Second Wednesdays came after Saturdays and Cecil longed for those days. He wasn't sure why they left him alone on those days, but he didn't question it. He used that day to cry and let his body heal. The men hated when Cecil cried and he learned early on not to cry in front of them or to try and fight them. The cigarette burns and slices into his skin were enough, let alone the things they found to shove into him.

They fed him twice a day. Though, some days, he couldn't find it in himself to actually keep anything down. By three months in he was down to 90 pounds and he was just waiting to die. He'd grown accustomed to the pain and the sour taste of the men when they used his mouth. He didn't even wish to be rescued anymore. The first couple weeks he prayed to everything; every deity, every object, every element- anything that might be able to save him. Nothing came and nothing gave him comfort. Cecil knew what he'd been taught, a person has to earn their death; death can't just be handed out to you. The constant rape and ridicule from the men every day, made Cecil know he deserved to die. It was his time.

Finally on a second Wednesday, Cecil was prepared to spend his day curled in a ball crying. Instead, purple rain started seeping up from the ground, oozing from the walls and dripping from the ceiling. Cecil felt his lungs slowly fill with water and he embraced the frantic feeling of drowning. He welcomed it with his dying breaths and it soothed his open wounds.

New memories:

I've given Cecil wonderful memories of a trip through Europe. He went through several countries and met many colorful people that helped him get through language and cultural barriers. His personality and world ideals will change to reflect the new memories.

It is imperative that his family come in for minor re-education so that their memories coincide with Cecil's and there is no chance that the previous memories be triggered. While they have been overwritten and erased from his surface memory, any mention of his trauma or any re-occurrence of extreme trauma will trigger the old memories. It is rare for most re-educated individuals to experience this, but due to the length of time and the nature of the memories, he is particularly susceptible to re-traumatization.

I have also replaced the two months since his return so that he doesn't remember his month of PTSD and the month of re-education.

It is recommended that Cecil be brought in again in one year for a follow-up to make sure the memories are not in interfering with his future and they are not deteriorating.

Report completed by Specialist 1153.

Report approved by Sheriff's Secret Police.

AN: So I didn't really plan on doing it this way, but I hope you all liked it. It was kind of cool to try it in a different format. Let me know what you thought. It's not really my best stuff.