The Voice of Oz

By Eule Vix

Disclaimer: I do not own Welcome to NightVale, I do not make any money off this story.

Chapter 1: Through the Water, Over the Rainbow

Carlos liked to think he was well traveled. He liked to think of himself as a man of pure science and fact and logic. He rubbed his eyes ignoring his drenched locks of hair around his face. Maybe he was dead, no he had to be dead. That would be the only explanation as to why his niece Melody, or at least the creature that looked like his niece, was standing in front of him. Her hands outstretched with little white claws tipping each finger, her hair wiggling and squirming like a bowl of snakes, and her clothes covered in mud. Her three eyes piercing him with her stare of unknowable horrors she had seen, a gaze lingered and dancing with death. His mind whirled as he tried to determine who or what it was in front of him, for it was most certainly not Melody, it couldn't be.

He felt himself slip a little back into the dark pool that he half lay in; it was no time to try and figure out who or what he was seeing. He tried to pull himself out further from the small pond, the pounding in his head causing him to see sparks under the blood falling into his eyes. He drug himself as close to the girl as possible, his mind too bogged and hurt to even try to think if she was friend of foe. All he knew was that she held out a hand and he needed to grasp it.

He reached as far as his arms could before he blacked out from the pain, only the warm feeling of his hand being held and wet cold over his body lingered in his mind.

[+]-[+]-[+]

Carlos was sure, as he carefully brought the tip of the dropper closer to the rim of the test tube, he was absolutely sure it would work this time. It had to or he was going to scream. The ions, structure, periodical alignment, everything indicated it should work. If it did who knows what he would have created, a new element or a new synthetic compound? Either way, something should happen, something had to happen. His hand lingered with the dropper filled with a bright blue liquid above the test tube of clear liquid.

Of course he was hesitant; his heart pounded and shook in the cage of his chest for he was about to put one element into another without know what kind of exothermic or endothermic reaction might come from it. For all he knew it could explode in his face, peppering him with glass and acidic compounds, it could burn or freeze his skin instantly, it could instead turn into a mass that could melt though the floor. Any of these were possible, and Carlos felt nothing but the pure thrill of chemical science. In the back of his mind he reminded himself he should find hobbies that are a lot less dangerous, and should probably stop using them to procrastinate on the actual projects he had to run experiments on. For now though all that mattered was his steady hand and the small bubble of blue at the end of the dropper just about to fall into the tube below.

Then the phone rang.

He had forgotten to turn off his ringer, the loud tones echoed though the lab that was empty except for him, ultimately startling Carlos bad enough to pinch the end of the dropper squeezing a large amount of its contents into the glass vial.

At first, he was so startled all he could think of was trying to grab the phone, throwing it's fit of harsh sounds and vibration against the metal desk across from him. Then as he took his second frantic step towards it, he realized how much of the liquid he had just pumped into his experiment. He ran back to the tube only to find that the two elements remained separate, and that absolutely nothing had happened, no reaction at all. Carlos let out a string of curse words as he felt like flipping the table, because not only was the experiment completely and totally ruined and would have to do it again, but he already knew nothing would come of it. It reminded him of his high school days when the teachers would force him to re-read books that he had already read and was horrible in the first place. The sound of the phone ringing clawed its way back to the for-front of him mind, screaming for Carlos to answer.

He huffed out a sign, his shoulders now slumped in disappointment and moved back towards the direction of the phone, answering it just before the last ring with a quick glace to see who it was.

"Hola mama'."

"Carlos! Ahí estás! Nos preocupaba, ¿dónde estás?" He felt a bit nervous at the sound of her voice, it was obviously filled with panic. He searched his mind trying to see if maybe he had forgotten a scheduled meal with her, or something to that extent, that would cause her to worry about him as she was. Nothing came to mind so for the moment he was sure he didn't have anywhere but the lab that he really needed to be.

"Estoy en el laboratorio de la mamá. ¿Por qué? ¿Hubo algo que me olvidé?"

"En el laboratorio?! Oh Carlos, mi pequeño Carlito, que es el Día de Muertos. ¿Cómo podría olvidar?" He felt his body go ridged, he did completely forget what day it was, let alone that is was Dia be Muertos. He groaned into the phone, disappointed him himself, and knowing that now he was going to be not only chastised over the phone but when he did finally get there as well.

"Lo siento mamá, se me olvidó. Usted sabe como el laboratorio es, ha sido muy ocupado por aquí últimamente ..." It was only a partial lie, the lab had been a very busy place of activity lately. They had just gotten the funding for their newest and probably most important project Carlos had ever been apart of. However, he had been putting it off with things such as completing older projects, or filling his own time with hobbies. He wasn't necessarily avoiding the project, just avoiding a particular person who was drastically tied to the project. He was going to put it off for as long as he could. However the side effects of avowing the lab seemed to also help him avoid important plans he made with his family.

"Carlos, tu siempre atascado en el laboratorio! ¿Cuándo estás haciendo para hacer algo productivo con su vida, como finalmente encontrar a una chica y establecerse. Tener algunos niños. Sabes que me gustaría tener nietos antes de que yo tengo sesenta y cinco!" Carlos flinched first, the angry tones of his mom barreling though to his ears in painful tones. As she got towards the end of her small rant Carlos couldn't help but be infuriated. His whole family knew that he was gay, he was one of the very few openly gay workers at the Labs; he had tried to hide it years ago and just couldn't withstand the agony of having to bury himself under false actions and people. Still, it didn't make him any less infuriated at his mother that she refused to accept that he indeed did like men, and that no he was not going to 'settle down' soon, especially with a woman; and don't even get him started on kids! However instead of answering her he avoided the subject, letting it slide. He didn't want to fight that fight right now.

"Bueno, voy a limpiar aquí en el laboratorio y luego me precipito sobre. Estará todo el mundo todavía estará allí?"

"Sí lo haremos, sólo estar aquí pronto Carlos! Hablaremos más cuando llegue aquí. Ah, y no te olvides de recoger algo para su abuela! Si ha olvidado hoy, entonces yo sé que te olvidarás de la comida."

"Gracias por el recordatorio mamá, yo iré a terminar pronto."

"Sea seguro mi pequeño Carlito. te quiero" He internally moaned at having to say 'I love you.' Back to her. It wasn't that he didn't love her, he did, she was his mother and family was important to Carlos; even if that family were bigots most of the time, they were still important. He was just currently mad at he for what she had said, and because he was unable to vent it out to her, or anyone, he just didn't feel like it. Still to be polite he replied back to her, just wanting to end the phone call.

"Te quiero demasiado mamá. Adiós"

"Adiós Carlos."

He waited till he was sure he had touched his phone hanging up the call, before he let out a frustrated moan and stomped towards where his hobby experiment was. He took his time to clean up despite his anger, practically because of the corrosive chemicals, partially because he wasn't ready for more berating and hate, and mostly because he had originally been waiting for someone. Carlos made another mental note to try and practice better scheduling technics because planning to meet a friend on a very important holiday was only his own poor planning. Regardless of how important it was to be with his family, he at least wanted to see his friend before he left for the day. She had flown with her daughter all the way back to Phoenix for her own family and was only able to see him for the day. Maybe it would work out a little better if he could convince her to come with him, but even if it didn't at the least they would have a short talk and make plans for later; hopefully this time without any conflictions.

Carlos finished disposing of the chemicals, finished cleaning the instruments he had used, and let them out to air before he went to lay down on a small cot of his he had in the lab. He had always been one of those scientists who would stay days at the lab working diligently, craving the idea of a break through. He used the small cot to be able to take small naps when needed and his fellow scientists would affectionately call him 'mad' for it, because he was the only one who didn't ever want to go home. If he was honest with himself, he was glad that those he worked with were comfortable enough to joke with him; they were the closest things to friends he had at the moment that still lived in the state. Still, sometimes he would think on how if they had nothing but an empty studio apartment to go home too, they might be doing the same as he was now. For him now, with his closest and only friend hopefully to be busting down the doors soon, he could feel the loneliness of his existence and the harshness that was his family.

He lay in the cot, scratchy and worn, just a little less than thirty minutes before there was a knock on the door to him lab. Glad to have a reason to push off the buzz of negative thoughts out of his mind he rushed to the door after calling to it that he would be just a moment. He threw open the door to have warm arms thrown around him nearly knocking him off his feet.

"Trish!"

"Carlos!"

"Uncle Carlos!" Squeaked a voice from behind his longtime friend Trishel as the body that belonged to the voice joined the hug between the two. The dark natural hair of his friend was starting to tickle his face as he pulled away leaned down and gave the small stocky thirteen year old girl a hug.

"How is my favorite niece!" It didn't matter that they weren't blood related, or that Carlos was in truth her god-father, he preferred to be called her Uncle and he cared for he as though she was; besides being called Uncle made him feel younger somehow. Melody rushed to hug him back a second time. They broke apart, Carlos then standing back to take in the two. Trishel's hair was lose, no longer tied into the braids she used to wear. He dark skin looked softer than it had in the years before when he last saw her, more used to the weathered and dry skin she used to sport when she lived in Arizona. He daughter on the other hand sported cornrows, the young skin almost the same color of her mothers, just slightly lighter.

"My, don't you two look great!" All the horrid feelings of before had completely melted away by now, and the clean feeling of having those who he cared about and who truly cared for hi as well soaked and drenched his soul. He felt that he could now handle whatever his family might throw at him, at least he still had this family.

"Oh no, don't you get me started Carlos." Trishel exclaimed as she wondered into the lab, her daughter trailing behind her starting to scamper around the lab looking at the various set up equipment and experiments. "I forgot how hot it still can be even in the fall. Do you know I've already had to change shirts twice today. Twice Carlos! I plan to before I leave get the damned air conditioning and windows of my dad's fixed. I am not going through all of my shirts before my stay is over." Carlos briefly though of the old Trishel, of how she would take him hiking and camping, never caring of what the world thought of her looks. She had changed a lot in the time she got married and move away from the desert. It was going to take a little bit to get used to yes, be he was glad to see her brash personality was still intact. Carlos let out a chuckle before he spoke.

"Well, I did warn you what the temperature was looking to be. Not my fault that you didn't pack right." Only with he could he afford to be snarky, she always felt more like a sister then his friend; more sibling then his own brother did.

"I still blame you. You failed to mention how lazy my family had gotten." She smiled at him, despite her complaints he could tell she was glad to be home. He was about to change the subject when Melody came running up to them, her hand searching in a black backpack she had been carrying.

"P-please don't run in the lab Melody!" If she fell she could hit something, and right now the lab was filled with dangerous equipment and chemicals; last thing he wanted was for this day to end in her getting hurt. She slowed down as she pulled a thick book out of her backpack.

"Oh…Sorry, Uncle Carlos." She walked the rest of the way fisting the book towards him. "But, I finished it on the way here, so I need a new book!" Now he felt excited, he loved how insatiable her mind was, how he had been sending her books for nearly a year now of anything he could find that seemed to be interesting and powerful as a written work. He didn't know much and would mostly research the books online, finding ones that had been banned or that were famous. He was glad that he had a few he had been waiting to send her, and that they were still in the packaging from amazon when he received them at the lab. He had been meaning to bring them home and repackage them for a week; Carlos was not the best at other-worldly things that didn't relate to science. However it seemed to have been the better result since here she was now and he would be able to save a little money.

"So quickly?" She nodded slowly, with power and pride in her movements. Trishel chimed in.

"You wouldn't believe it Carlos. She puked at least three times on the plan from motion sickness and then once more on the way here. I tried to get her to take some Dramamine but she refused and kept reading." Trishel was more sending looks and speaking undertones of scolding at her daughter then really talking to Carlos.

"But mom," She wined "I was so close to the end, and if I didn't I wouldn't be able to get new books now."

"Speaking of which…" Carlos took the book from Melody's hand, hoping his breaking in between them would stifle the possible scolding of the child as well as quell the small brewing argument between teenager and parent. He rushed to the closet in the back of the lab, grabbing three small packages and brought them to the girl.

"I got quite a few this time, since their smaller. I read that most of them warrant a second read though to get all the details so hopefully they'll keep you out of trouble;" He could feel a heated stare from Trishel, so he quickly added "and make sure to not read while in motion and to listen to your mother otherwise." Melody was doing her best to hide her disappointment of his dis-approval of her actions, his heart panged guiltily, but it was what was right. "Okay?" She sighed.

"Okay…I'll try Uncle Carlos." She quickly took the boxes, scampered to the cot and sat down beginning to unpackaged them immediately. Carlos felt a little relieved that she was going off to distract herself for the moment. He wanted to catch up with Trishel as much as he could before he had to leave.

"You encourage her too much Carlos." Her voice reverberated with a mix of exhaustion and pride; happy she was learning, frustrated that she was so bull headed about it.

"I do what I can." He said playfully back. There was a light silence for a moment between them before Carlos spoke. "She's going to be an amazing and brilliant woman when she gets older. The possibilities before her are endless Trishel."

"Well, I want her possibilities to be that of a Doctor." She folded her arms across her chest into a comfortable position as she watched her daughter open the cardboard boxes as though it was her birthday. "Think you might be able to start sending her some medical books or things of the such?" Carlos recoiled mentally. He disliked the idea of starting to send her technical books, since he tried to once send her a book on biology and she sent it back immediately with a sticky note that said 'wont read, send another' in the unsteady cursive of Melody's handwriting. He them put down a bet that Trishel didn't even know that had happened since she was asking for practically the same thing.

"I'll see what I can do, but I'll include some of the normal book too. She really seems to like those." He didn't want to cause trouble, but he also didn't want to deprive the small girl of what she so obviously loved.

"Carlos, she can't keep her head in the clouds forever!" She moved her arms in frantic pleading motions. "Now that she's about to get into high school she needs to start thinking of her career, what she's going to do in college, let alone which college she's going to get into. If she's always reading those plays and books of fantasy she'll never make it past her Bachelors!"

"Don't you think you're jumping the gun a bit Trish?" She crooked her eye and folded her arms back against herself, he felt as though he should already know the answer; and to be honest he did.

"If I had the chances she had, if I had parents that cared about me like that, I would have gotten a lot farther then just working some stupid office job. I could have done so much Carlos…" He remembered how close to their senior year Trishel had to work a full time job because her family was hit hard by the recession. He remembered how though she hardly ever got sleep, and her grades suddenly dropped she still managed to pass. But most of all he remembered how she never got to go to college, though she wanted to, and how she had to give up her dreams to make sure her family could eat each day. Trishel was a strong woman, she had learned to do what was needed to be done rather then what she wanted to do. He knew she was trying to let Melody have the chances she never got; it wasn't his place really to say otherwise.

"Well –" He started but again his phone began to scream for attention. This time the only one who was startled was Melody who seemed to have her face buried in one of the books. Carlos sighed having a good hunch who it was, since it was getting close to a hour since they had last talked.

"One moment, I need to get this." He went to the phone and saw that he was right. He glanced and gave Trishel an apologetic look.

"Oh, did you finally get a boyfriend?" She said excitedly. She had been trying to set him up for years with someone, but no one seemed to take. He let out an exasperated sigh as he handled the phone about to answer.

"I wish." He touched the answer button and greeted his mother for a second time. As he expected she scolded him for not leaving the lab yet, and not yet being there, for making his brother and Aunts wait, how the food they had was getting cold and they had already started eating. He bemoaned as she continued to guilt trip him for taking his time, he made excuses saying that he had spilt some chemicals and had to clean them up and whatever else he could tell her to sate her anger and get her off the phone. After about ten minutes he was able to get her to hang up, he looked regretfully over at Trishel before he spoke.

"Well, I'm the master of screwing up plans."

"Old new Carlo, what's the new headliner?" she smirked as he remembered she knew him almost as well as he knew himself.

"Well, would you be interested in coming with me to the start of the Day of the Dead? My family is visiting my Grandmother's grave today. I promise we can pick something up for you both to eat that won't be too harsh on the spice as well." He was almost willing to promise anything if it would make them go with them.

"Well, I would have to drop Melody at her grandfather's first, it is Halloween and since I had to buy her a costume I would like her to at least get one use out of it. So if you don't mind waiting for me-"

"Not at all!" Carlos was just happy he wouldn't be surrounded by people he felt all hated his very existence, that at least one person understood him and liked who he was. "I'll text you the address now, so just head over when you're ready. Any food requests?" He was already pressing the keys to send her the promised text.

"As long as your mother's cooking I don't think I have any problem."

"Since when did you like spicy food?"

"Since I decided that anyone's food is better than the 'ninja' chicken my husband makes." Carlos paused in the middle of his texted and looked at her confused.

"Ninja chicken?"

"He forgot he was making chicken wings in the oven. I swear they were so hard they could have been used as ninja stars!" She let out a hearty short laugh at the memory, causing Carlos to join her had he returned to the text.

"Well, just remind me that when I come to visit to also have a meal plan so I can make you some good food for a change." Trishel wasn't the best cook, so by her description he could guess most of their meals ended up being out of a package, burnt, or just take out.

"That would be nice Carlos. I'll keep you to that."

"Sounds good, and sent." He looked up to see she had already moved to where Melody was as she helped carry some of the books that didn't fit in her backpack. She had at least 10 new books, a variety of sizes from as thin as a deck of cards to as thick as a can of soda. All in all he had bought her around 10 books, he hoped it would be enough. Trish was carrying three of the books that didn't quite fit in the pack as she went to say good bye to Carlos.

"It was good to see you, and I shouldn't be too long getting to the party okay." She hugged him with her only free hand, he returned the embrace with as much strength as he could without hurting them with the books between them. He wished he was a man of words, someone who could say what they felt; but he wasn't, and so he would never be able to really express how much her friendship meant to him. For now this was the best he could do.

"Wonderful. Be safe then you two." He released her and again bent down to hug Melody.

"We will Uncle Carlos, and thank you so much for the books! I love them already!" She was excited, but there was a lingering tone in the depths of her voice, he couldn't pin out what it was so he left it be.

"I'm glad you do, and make sure to at least take some medicine if you're going to be reading in the car." She whined, broke the embrace, and rushed for the door. Carlos straightened and watched her push open the door, as she stuck out her tongue and pulled down the skin from under one of her eyes.

"Lets see you try Uncle Carlos!" She beamed before scampering out the door.

"Melody! Get back here and apologize!" Trishel ran to the door and called down the hall. "Melody!" She turned to Carlos, looking worn down and angry by the trials of motherhood. "Sorry Carlos, I'll call you once I'm headed your way okay?" She waved goodbye to him before he could respond and in a second after that she was gone rushing to catch up with her daughter. Carlos couldn't help but smile at the two.

After a moment, he took a deep breath and decided it was time he headed off as well. He went and quickly cleaned up the mess of styrofoam peanuts, bubble wrap, paper, and cardboard that littered the area of the cot. Once he finished picking up the mess he put away the small bed and straightened op what else he could of the lab. He knew he was stalling, he didn't care, it was worth it for a small few minutes to be away from his family still. Eventually there was nothing left he could do, so he grabbed his phone stuffing it in one of his coat pockets and started to head out. Before he reached the door he realized his body felt quite light and remembered that he had brought his laptop that day and he was about to leave it. He turned back, found it slinging the back strap over his shoulder, and walked briskly out the door.

There was a certain luxury of working for a lab that wasn't a part of a university since he could come in on days that no one else was working. As he rushed through the empty halls, soaking in the sounds of his feet squeaking against the linoleum floor, his mind busy with what his plans were for the rest of the day. He became so self-absorbed he completely missed the additional sounds of shoes that mingled with his that were coming from around the corner.

He had his left hand touching the wall feeling the small bumps and ridges glide under the tips of his fingers of the speckled wall. His body followed closely around the sharp angle of the wall, whipping him around and also giving him no time to react to colliding into the body of someone else and knocking them both to the floor. The sound of glasses clattering along the ground with an accompaniment of 'oofs' followed by a low groan. Carlos found himself sprawled on his back, classes crooked on his face and laptop laying on his stomach, luckily not having hit the floor. He spoke as he sat up, straightening his glasses.

"I'm so, so sorry! I wasn't paying attention, are you alright? I didn't hurt you did I?" Carlos was not use to physical contact with anyone, this being true he wasn't sure what kind of damage he could do to someone he just bulldozed flat. He himself felt ok, his head didn't crack against the ground though he fell backwards, his shoulders and ass did hurt from whatever impact they suffered but not bad enough to warrant any panic.

Now that he could see clearly he looked to see two men in front of him, one who was sitting as well, propped up on his right hand as he used his right to rub the back of his head, his black looked like a small sea, small locks rolling in waves over each other yet neatly combed and well taken care of. His skin was dusty tan color; quite possibly only a shade lighter the Carlos's own.

He took a quick look at the poor person he had accidentally assaulted. He wore an odd match of clothing, the pants were a fairly normal navy blue however he noticed the suit that he wore. It was a odd pattern of small white diamond shaped windows, seemingly randomly placed, against a color the mix of the brightest pink and lightest purple. The trim on his cuffs, collar, trim on the bottom, and along the center had stripes of purple gently painted with think lines of white along it. Underneath was a white shirt with small purple dots in an even pattern accented with a deep, almost black, purple tie. For as strange and odd as it was, Carlos found himself quite liking the ensemble. He did his best to pull his stare away, not so much out of nervousness but more out of fear; fear of the man he knew loomed above them both at the moment. He remembered the sound of glasses, and since he had his own on his face he could easily guess who was missing theirs. The had landed quite close to him, so without much thought he reached out picking up the glasses and on his hands and knees moved to give the man his specs.

"Here." Carlos held the glasses out, one hand propping him up as his knees were pressing against the cold floor. The man opened his eyes with a start, and leaned forward a little to be able to take the glasses from Carlos's hand.

He was lost in the eyes of the man who was in front of him. His eyes were a blue so dark it was purple, no he was wrong they were purple. They seemed alight from the inside, tiny flecks of white speckled around the irises. They reminded him of amethyst gems uncut and raw in their beauty. No. They were swirls of galaxies and untold wonder, shining with the light of the starts. No, not even that was right. They were the tailed edge of the very fabric of space, unraveling and twisting back in its self, dark matter dancing with the lights between worlds unknown and intangible dimensions. Yet, even that could not describe the unfathomable wonder that was the man's eyes. Carlos was shaken from his thoughts as a voice that sounded like the softest velvet to his ears, or maybe the darkest of chocolates spoke to him.

"T-thank you." Carlos then felt the glasses removed from his hand so he quickly leaned back, worried that if he stayed close he might lose himself in those eyes again.

"No need for thanks, it was my fault in the first place." He watched the now sitting man fiddle a little with his glasses, making sure they did not break in any way. Carlos tore his sight away from the man and pulled himself up to standing.

"Are you hurt at all?" He said once fully standing, hand outstretched and offered to the man now fixating his glasses on his face. Those lovely eyes peered at him from behind the black framed glasses, they then moved to the offered hand before the man reached up and took it.

"I'm fine, r-really…" The man stumbled a bit as Carlos helped him to his feet. He didn't fall and seemed to gain his footing back quickly, relieving Carlos of the worry the fall might happen a second time. He let go of the man's hand as the sick voice of the other man who had been watching the whole time finally spoke.

"Glad to hear it. That was quite a doozy you took there." The man beside him, his skin clean, light, and without blemish. His hair a gross mop of black hair nestled on his head. Just his very existence burned a hate in Carlos like he never knew. Him and that one guy in the Sociology Research Group were the only people he could ever define as those that he hated. The man before him was Joshua, head of his department, the man without even a vague sense of what the scientific method even was. Joshua Alcove, the man who had made his everyday life a living hell since he had been hired a month ago. Joshua, the man with a degree in business and fake smiles, who would take any moment he could to humiliate Carlos with his bigoted views and narrow-mindedness. Joshua, who within that month of him being hired had already tried to fire Carlos three times but had failed miserably when he couldn't find a good enough reason to convince the higher-ups; not to mention the years Carlos had worked at the labs without a single complaint before. Carlos did his best to hide his anger; a little because of the stranger with the galaxy eyes and mostly because he didn't want to give the douchebag an actual reason to get him fired.

"It was, but I-I'm fine I promise." Carlos was now at a loss of what to say or do, he really wanted to stay and talk with the man, to find out about him. But he already knew what he felt was a passing infatuation. He had felt it before, he must admit not quite this strong, but he had and in the times before that he had entered into the relationship that followed it always ended in flames; usually because of him and his uncontrolled love for science. He didn't want to put anyone through that anymore, nor himself. He just had to not think about it, let the feeling die, and make sure that he never saw this man again if he could help it. Still didn't help that he was, regardless of this knowledge, starting to feel nervous.

"I'm still sorry for bumping into you like that." Carlos absently ran his hand through the long curls of black hair he sported, feeling un-kept and a mess. The man, who Carlos now noticed was his same height, was not thin nor fat, and had features that were fairly normal; not including his eyes of course. He was about to speak when Joshua decided to chime in.

"You should keep a better eye out then." His eyes, such a dark color that he could not see then, squinted dangerously. His normally fairly high voice suddenly went to a more low and threatening tone. "Wouldn't want anything to pulled out from under you when you're not looking." Oh yes, how he hated his man. He would very much rather deal with Greg right about now. Greg might be a jerk as well, he might always put his two cents in where no one wants to hear it; but at least he doesn't threaten him job for bigoted beliefs. Carlos's nervousness quickly evaporated, and he was quite glad for it. He straightened his coat as he started to walk around the two men.

"I will. Now excuse me, I have somewhere to be."

"Carlos." He had just walked past Joshua as his voice oozed from his mouth. He forced his best smile onto his face and turned back towards the two.

"Yes Mr. Alcove."

"Wait, Carlos? Dr. Carlos Ramirez?" The oddly dressed beautiful man stammered. Carlos nodded in confirmation, slightly scared of why he was suddenly so excited at just the mention of his name. He suddenly reached into the pockets of his pants pulling out a tape recorder and a few small mics that were attached to it, his eyes gleamed. "I-I originally came here hoping to interview you on the new project your heading." The grip on the tape recorder tightened as he continued.

"You see I work for one of the local stations on the radio. We're small but Mr. Alcove informed us of your project, and I-uh, we, were excited and wanted the full story on it. You know, get the scoop before any of the other stations flocked in." As stunning as the man was, there was no way he would be able to indulge in the reporters request. Not just because he still had his family waiting on him, but more because it had been Joshua himself that requested the interview without his knowledge. The man, taking Carlos's small silence as some kind social of indication, let out a small gasp before exclaiming.

"Oh! Um, I should probably introduce myself. Cecil Palmer from the KXCR Radio Station." He outstretched his hand towards Carlos, who gladly took it, finally finding the words to form his reply to the newly named man.

"Cecil," He liked the way his name lulled off his tongue. He liked how it seemed to remind him of peaches and sun bitten dust. But he had to turn him down in his request and it filled Carlos with regret to do so. "I'm terribly sorry, but I really do need to be going. However I would be happy to plan an interview to be taken on a later day." Cecil's face hashed with disappointment, but he still kept a faint smile on his lips. He let go of Carlos's hand placing the tape recorder back into his pocket and pulling out a business card instead and handed it to Carlos.

"Then give me a call, anytime, and we'll plan it out." He smiled as Carlos gingerly took the hard paper from his hands. "Maybe we could do even do a live interview." Carlos was all for an interview, just not in any way a live interview. Not right now, and not ever. His voice had always been another one of those things he didn't like about himself. Wheezy and high for a guy's, thinking about his voice being broadcasted for everyone to hear just made him stomach seize. He would have to turn Cecil down later.

"Thank you, Cecil. I will call you when I can." Not wanting to be in the presence of Joshua any longer he stuffed the card into his pocket and headed off. Glad not to hear his name be called out again.

He headed out to his Coop and quickly jumped into his car. He should be putting on his seat belt and speeding off; but he found himself, just for a moment, letting his mind wonder to the wonderful gorgeous man that was named Cecil. Slowly, he reminded himself again the dangers of him dating, and the pain that always came with. He turned the car on and headed out of the parking lot. As he swung by the entrance he saw Cecil leaving the building and heading to his own car. Carlos felt a his guilt from earlier rise as he realized he had come all this way, from where he was, just on the chance of an interview. As much as he hated it, mainly for the fact that it would be to see him again and to try to put out any starting 'flames' for the man, but he would need to make it up to him somehow. On a later day, and if he remembered.

Carlos made his way to the streets, now feeling the rush and hurry and dread of going to see his family. He turned onto Mill Ave, speeding when he could, through the small streets. For now the streets were clear, since he was headed south on Mill he knew he would soon be on the other side of the concrete bridge; going past small slow streets surrounded by local shops crowded with students. He should have gone around, but it was too late.

He didn't know why, or how, but a large brown UPS truck, speeding more than him suddenly pulled ahead cutting him off and almost hitting his car. He was about to honk, he was about to switch lanes, he had been about to say a lot of things; but it happened so fast. The UPS Truck that swerved into his lane continued to swing about the road, Carlos realizing the truck was out of control. He went to slam on his brakes just as the truck took a sharp left, tipped over onto its side, and slamming into the concrete decorative fence. It skidded and knocked a large hole in the bridge's railing, one big enough for at least two more cars to slide though with ease. Then Carlos slammed on his brakes, his tires squealed and he turned his car aiming for the right away from the large gash. His car was knocked back into its lane by the car beside him, he looked over and swore he could see the evil glint of Joshua's black eyes from the man in the car. He didn't have to worry, if he didn't stop in the next few second he was going over the bridge. He went to plan B and grabbing and pulling the hand brake leaver of his car; the car jerked and the scream of the tires rung in his ears, his car swung to the left facing the opening; be he still stopped in time.

He still could hear the squeal of tires, so he looked to his left just in time to see the car that he had hit in the other lane was barreling for his. It swerved and crashed into the back of his car, which now was hanging half off the bridge. He looked into the car, and saw no one inside. He didn't have much time to think because cars on the road started to plow into their car, a pileup inevitable from the busy road. It was by the third car that his car started to tip, and by the fourth that it started to fall. He braced himself for the inevitable impact as he watched the front of his car rush towards the water.