第一部分，第一章：煎蛋卷

爱丽丝，我...我想先说，哦，该死。抱歉。有人插话打断了我。总之，我想先说这不是一个故事。这是一次公路旅行，其实也差不多。

Alice, I I wanna start by saying oh, shit. Sorry. Someone cut me off. Anyway, I wanna start by saying that this is not a story. It's a road trip, which same difference.

好的公路旅行，开头令人兴奋，结局令人满足，最终我们会到达一个不同的地方，离起点很远的地方。我不知道这次旅行是从哪里开始的。什么才算第一个瞬间？但没有更好的答案，我就从这里开始吧。

In a good one, the start is exciting and the finish is satisfying and we end up somewhere else. Somewhere a long way from where we started. I don't know where this trip started. What counts as the first moment? But for lack of a better answer, I'll start with this.

我就从那个煎蛋卷开始说起。

I'll start with the omelet.

《爱丽丝并未死去》，作者约瑟夫·芬克。由贾斯可·妮可尔表演。Disparition制作。第一部分，第一章，煎蛋卷。

Alice Isn't Dead by Joseph Fink. Performed by Jaseke Nicole. Produced by Disparition. Part one, chapter one, omelet.

我当时坐在一个加油站。不，不是加油站，是加油站里的一个餐厅。加油站里的餐厅部分。我在那里。我想那是在斯波坎附近。

I was sitting at a gas station. Or not a gas station, a diner that was in a gas station. The diner part of the gas station. I was in that. It was somewhere near Spokane, I think.

我看到一个男人在吃煎蛋卷，但不是煎蛋卷本身，而是他吃煎蛋卷的方式。他在狼吞虎咽。用沾满油渍的长手指挖起大块的黄色蛋卷，直接塞进嘴里。而且他盯着我看。他戴着一顶黄色的帽子，像是棒球帽。

I saw a man eating an omelet, but it wasn't the omelet, but it was just the way he was eating the omelet. He was devouring it. Big chunks of yellow scooped up with long grease stained fingers, just shoving them into his mouth. And he was staring at me. He was wearing a yellow hat, like, like a baseball hat.

他的指甲也是黄色的。不是香烟熏黄的那种，也不是指甲油染的。是半透明的黄色，就在指甲表面之下。他穿着Polo衫，脏兮兮的，比餐厅允许顾客穿进来用餐的脏衣服还要脏。右胸上只有'蓟'这个字，没有标志。

His fingernails were yellow too. Not cigarette yellow or nail polish yellow. Translucent yellow, just below the surface. Polo shirt, dirty, filthy, dirtier than you think a restaurant would allow someone to wear, would serve. Just the word thistle on the right breast, no logo.

他把煎蛋卷从盘子送到嘴里的动作，仿佛与进食毫无关系。就像他只是一台执行这个功能的机器。而且他盯着我看。不，是在打量我。

And he was moving that omelet from plate to mouth like it had nothing to do with eating. Like he was just a machine that's function was to do that. And he was staring at me. No. He was eyeing me.

不，是盯着。人们说糟糕的经历像噩梦。但这并非噩梦。我最记得的是它有多真实。

No. Staring. People say that bad experiences are like nightmares. This wasn't a nightmare. What I remember most about it was how real it was.

即使在发生时，我最注意到的就是它的真实性，我无法逃离那个现实，我永远无法说服自己记错了任何细节。爱丽丝。爱丽丝，我...是引擎的声音，爱丽丝。这么大卡车的噪音。

Even as it happened, I noticed that the most, how real it was, how I couldn't escape that reality, how I would never be able to convince myself I remembered any part of it incorrectly. Alice. Alice, I It's the engine, Alice. The sound of it. The noise of a truck this size.

是高度的问题。我们都不再习惯这样的高度了。曾几何时，我们骑马出行。我是说，你懂我的意思吧。

The height. It's the height. None of us are used to being this height anymore. Once upon a time, we rode horses. I mean, you know what I mean.

我连近距离看马的机会都没有。就是高度的问题。我会适应的。远处山坡上矗立着一座塔，像是工厂的一部分，却直接从地里长出来似的。

I've never even seen a horse up close. It's the height. I'll get used to it. There's this tower in the distance coming out of the hillside. Looks like it's part of a factory but just coming right out of the earth.

毛骨悚然。从骨子里渗出的诡异，像出了什么差错，像一桩可怕的罪行。它看起来像是神话里的东西。我想神话就是这么来的——当现实世界看起来像神话时。在我人生的这个阶段，我有什么资格谈论虚幻？

Creepy. Gut creepy like something gone wrong, like a terrible crime. It looks like something out of a myth. I guess that's where myths come from when the real world looks like something out of a myth. Who am I at this point in my life to talk about unreality?

太奇怪了。看起来不真实。我忍不住想我身后有什么。不是背包里的东西，不是他们让我带的装备。我想任务配给的是旅行装除臭剂。

That's so weird. It doesn't look real. I can't stop thinking about what's behind me. Not the stuff in the back, not what they've got me carrying. I think the assignments travel size deodorant.

大多数除臭剂都能带上飞机。根本不需要旅行装。普通装的也没多少盎司。但只要能标个价，就总会有人掏钱买，所以就有了这些商品。

Most deodorant can go on a plane. You don't need travel sized versions. Not that many ounces even in full sized ones. Ones. But anything that can hold a price a single human being will lay down for cash has to exist, and so here we are.

我和我的货物。把本不必存在的东西，从本不必生产的地方，运往本不必使用的地方。我没走神。我知道你在想什么，爱丽丝。这是刻意逃避。

Me and my cargo. Hauling what needn't have ever been from the place it needn't have been made to the place it needn't be used. I'm not getting distracted. I know what you're thinking, Alice. This is intentional avoidance.

我没必要向你解释，但我愿意说。我刚经过一个写着'蟒蛇机遇'的出口标志。挺诱人的邀请，但我想还是算了。我要放弃那个机遇。解释一下。

I don't have to explain myself to you, but I will. I just I just passed an exit sign that said Anaconda opportunity. That's a fine invitation, but I think I mean, no thanks. I will pass that opportunity up. An explanation.

对。大块的鸡蛋，咀嚼着，吞咽着。他注意到我在回瞪。现在我们互相盯着对方。餐厅里弥漫着某种带电的、骇人的氛围。

Right. Big chunks of eggs, chewing them, devouring them. He saw me staring back. Now we were staring at each other. Something electric and monstrous there in the diner between us.

死亡的面孔藏在泡沫天花板和塌陷的仿皮卡座里。他起身走向我的桌子。衣服脏得发亮。走路时双腿不像由肌肉骨骼组成，倒像挂在躯干上的两袋肉。他在我对面坐下，舔了舔嘴唇。

The face of death in styrofoam ceiling tiles and sagging pleather booths. He got up and approached my table. His clothes were filthy. He walked like his legs weren't muscle and bone, but just sacks of meat attached to his torso. He sat across from me, and he licked his lips.

他开口时，声音像被风意外凿空的洞穴。'今晚不错'他说，'不像要下雨的样子'。蛋渣粘在他的嘴唇和下巴上。牙齿的排列间距和角度都违背常理。

When he spoke, his voice sounded like the accidental hollowing of the wind. It's a fine evening, he said. Doesn't look much like rain. Egg crusted his lips and his chin. His teeth were an impossibility of spacing and angle.

他的语气与他所说的话毫不相符。起初，我什么也没说。我以为保持沉默他就会离开，但这只对那些并非存心打扰你、尚未决定要表现得恶劣的人有效。‘希望你不介意我加入你’，他说，这不是疑问或请求，而是一个玩笑。‘其实我本想独自用餐’，我回答。

Nothing about his tone matched the words he was saying. At first, I didn't say anything. I thought if I was quiet, he would go away, but that only works with people who aren't already in it to bother you, who haven't already made up their minds to be awful. Hope you don't mind if I join you, he said, not a question or a request, but a joke. I actually was hoping to eat alone, I said.

‘善良的人值得拥有美好的事物’，他说。我不知道该如何回应。他用力抓挠脸颊，力道大得让我确信有些皮肤在他指下剥落。‘外面很危险’，他说。‘外面是哪里？’

Good people deserve good things, he said. I didn't know what to say to that. He scratched his cheek, scratched it really hard, and I swear that some of it peeled away under his fingers. It's dangerous out here, he said. Out where?

我说，这个州，这个国家，生活，生活本身就是危险的。‘你是来给我讲解死亡的吗？’他大笑起来。‘没错’，他说，‘我就是来给你讲解死亡的。’

I said, this state, this country, life, life is dangerous. Did you come over here to explain death to me? He laughed. Yes, he said. I came over to explain death to you.

他凑近过来。他的气息腐朽，不是普通的难闻，而是像水果腐烂成泥土的味道。‘想看点有趣的东西吗？’他问道，随即站起身。

He leaned in close. His breath was rotten, not bad, but like fruit turning to soil. Wanna see something funny? He asked. He got up.

他的T恤上印着‘蓟草’。他的面容松弛，五官排列得不太协调，像是人类却又不太像。他走向一张坐着个卡车司机模样的男人的桌子——那人看起来就是个卡车司机。

Thistle, his shirt said. His face was slack and not quite arranged right. Like human but not. He walked over to a table where there was this man, a truck driver probably. He looked like a truck driver.

‘卡车司机该长什么样？嘿，厄尔’，蓟草男说道。被称作厄尔的男人抬起头，看起来和我一样对被打扰感到不悦。

What does a truck driver look like? Hey, Earl, the thistle man said. Said. Said Earl looking up. He seemed just as unhappy as me to be disturbed.

但接着蓟草男抓住厄尔的后颈，厄尔的表情瞬间空洞。蓟草男拎着厄尔的脖子将他提起，厄尔便跟着他走，几乎像睡着了一般，或是某部分灵魂已经抽离。两人都没付账，也没有任何人采取行动。

But then the thistle man grabbed him by the back of his neck and Earl's face went vacant. The thistle man picked Earl up by the neck and Earl walked with him. He looked asleep almost or like some part of him wasn't there anymore. Neither Earl nor the thistle man paid their checks. No one did anything.

没有人抬头看。但‘有时候我恨你胜过恨他们任何人，爱丽丝’。来到停车场。他在等我。接下来发生的事才是关键。

No one looked. But it was There are times I hate you more than any of them, Alice. Out to the parking lot. He was waiting for me. It was what he did next.

先是山脉，然后是这些自我缠绕的峡谷。已经一小时没看见房屋了。天色渐暗。时钟显示的时间与今早出发时相同，但已是昼夜的另一半球。作为物种，我们总在谈论夜空。

First, the mountains, then these canyons winding around themselves. Haven't seen a house in an hour. It's getting dark now. The clock says the same things as it did when I started this morning, but it's the other hemisphere of the day. We talk a lot as a species about the night sky.

这是个比‘蜜蜂的社会结构’更常被提及的话题——后者只是个例子。有趣的是，蜜蜂的社会结构确实值得探讨，它是可被观察的活跃实体。而夜空的大部分根本空无一物，它是个空盒子，如同所有虚空，都是一面镜子。

It's one of those subjects that come up more often than say, the social structure of bees. That's just an example. Which is interesting because the social structure of bees is something. It is an active object that can be looked at And so much of the night sky is nothing at all. It is an empty box and like all emptiness, it is a mirror.

或者别听我的。我不过是个把除臭剂从一个不需要它的地方运到另一个地方的女人。我这么说只是因为，嗯，如果你能看见我眼前的景象，你就会明白。此刻的夜空在树木的黑色剪影衬托下格外震撼，美得惊人。

Or don't listen to me. I'm just a lady driving deodorant from one place that doesn't need it to another. I only say because, well, if you could see what I'm seeing, you'd understand. The night sky is something striking right now against the dark silhouettes of the trees. It's beautiful.

我见过的太多事物都很美，比你能想象的还要多，连最糟糕的东西也是。而树木遮蔽天空不是很讽刺吗？实体物质在虚无前投下的阴影。我们若不是荒谬的，就什么都不是。我们什么都不是。

So much that I've seen is beautiful, more than you would think, even the worst things. And isn't it funny that the trees blot out the sky? Physical objects as shadows against the void. We are nothing if not absurd. We are nothing.

他在停车场等我。现在他正抓着厄尔。厄尔似乎又醒了，但蓟人把他攥得太紧，他动弹不得。加油站的户外灯已经不亮了。两个男人在餐厅窗户刺目灯光下成了剪影。

He was waiting for me in the parking lot. He was holding Earl now. Earl seemed to be awake again but the Thistle man was holding him too tightly for him to move. The outside lights in the gas station weren't working anymore. The two men were shadows against the harsh light of the diner windows.

人们吃着华夫饼香肠之类的玩意儿。那拥抱近乎温柔，但长着黄指甲的男人身上没有丝毫温柔。他力气大得让卡车司机无法挣扎，无法呼救。他们都盯着我。厄尔睁大眼睛，拼命想看清没有未来的未来景象。

People eating waffles and sausages and shit. The embrace was almost tender but there was nothing tender about the man with the yellow fingernails. His grip was strong and the truck driver couldn't move, couldn't shout. They both stared at me. Earl's eyes were wide, struggling with the vision of the future without a minute.

黄指甲男人的眼睛像拙劣肖像画般呆滞。他们齐齐盯着我，然后黄指甲男人——他咬了厄尔一口，从左腋窝动脉处撕下块肉，厄尔开始流血。他没动弹，只发出微弱呜咽。泪水从他圆睁的眼里滚落，但他没有挣扎。那东西，不管是什么，反正不是人类，把手指插进伤口，像之前捡鸡蛋那样用同样麻木的动作，同样空洞的神情，扯出厄尔的碎肉。

The man with the yellow nails, his eyes were flat like a bad painting of a face. They both stared at me and then the man with the yellow nails, He took a bite out of Earl, tore out a chunk of flesh right at the artery in his left armpit, and Earl began to bleed. He didn't move, but only whimpered a little. Tears started falling from his staring eyes but he didn't move. The other thing, whatever it was, it was not a man, dug his fingers into the wound and pulled out bits of Earl the way he had picked up the egg with the same flat movement, the nothing demeanor.

这不是进食。这不是生存所需的行为。这是场示范。蓟人，他想让我明白。天啊，那一刻我确实明白了。

This was not a meal. This was not something that he had to do in order to survive. It was a demonstration. The thistle man, he wanted me to know. And Jesus, right then I knew.

我当然跑回了卡车。当然锁上了车门。当然用那种体型卡车能达到的最快速度驶离停车场——虽然在这种情形下根本不够快。当然，我哭了爱丽丝。当然哭了。

I ran back to the truck, of course. I locked the doors, of course. Of course, I pulled out of the parking lot as fast as a truck that size will go, which is not fast enough in a situation like that, of course. Of course, I cried Alice. Of course, did.

后视镜里仍能看见那两个身影。能看见厄尔在远处渐渐死去，视线所及没有一张友善的面孔。唯一能救他的人正驱车逃向安全地带，只剩怪物陪伴着他消散的生命。细节已看不清，那些都在我记忆里了。

Behind me in the mirror, I could still see the two figures. Could see the distant shadow of Earl dying without a friendly face in sight. The only person who could help him driving herself away to safety, and just the company of a monster to accompany him in his dissipation. I couldn't see details anymore. Those were in my memory.

当你凝视阴影时，可曾感到有东西也在回望？若你正在寻找下一部精彩虚构播客，黑暗、沉浸且略带不安的，《虚空》正适合你——Fable and Folly出品的新系列。专为恐怖、科幻和惊悚故事爱好者打造。在米尔顿镇，黑暗不仅存在于想象，更盘踞在森林中。他们称之为'虚空'，一片环绕小镇的诅咒之地，吞噬任何胆敢离开的人。

When you look into the shadows, do you ever feel something looking back? If you're looking for your next great fiction podcast, something dark, immersive, and just a little unsettling, listen to The Void, the new series from Fable and Folly. It's made for fans of horror, sci fi, and seriously spooky stories. In the town of Milton, the darkness isn't just in your head, it's in the woods. They call it the Void, a cursed expanse that surrounds the town and swallows anyone who dares to leave.

但当一位古怪老人分享神秘手册，承诺能找到穿越虚空之路时，山姆和朋友们踏上了颠覆认知的旅程。《虚空》充满黑暗氛围与持续张力，采用电影级音效设计，全配音阵容与萦绕心头的配乐。想象《怪奇物语》遇上《超级八》，但以播客形式呈现。在任意播客平台搜索《虚空》，请小心前行——森林正注视着你。

But when a strange old man shares a mysterious pamphlet that promises a path through the Void, Sam and his friends set off on a journey that unravels everything that they thought they knew about their home. The void is dark, atmospheric, and relentlessly tense with cinematic sound design, a full voice cast, and a haunting musical score. Think Stranger Things meets Super eight, but in podcast form. Search for The Void wherever you get your podcasts and step carefully, the woods are watching.

平坦且长满草，我想。现在天黑了，这里的黑暗无边无际。它确实有种深度感，不断延伸。在见到没有底的黑暗之前，我从未想过黑暗也会有底。

Flat and grassy, I think. It's dark now and the darkness is vast here. It really has a depth to it. Keeps going. I didn't think that dark could have a bottom until I saw a dark that didn't.

我又见到蓟草人了。在休息站厕所后面，加油站零食货架旁，路边最小酒吧里独占最大卡座的角落——那种菜单上只有一种啤酒、厕所马桶旁放着视频扑克机的地方，我一次次遇见他。他的动作带着某种粗野笨拙，仿佛不理解自己身体的运作方式。尖锐的牙齿虽不及獠牙，却也非人类所有；指甲泛黄，不是烟熏的黄，而是皮下透着的半透明黄。他没再和我说话，但我不断看见他，而他也心知肚明。

I've seen the thistle man again. I've seen him again and again behind the bathrooms at rest stops, in snack aisle at gas stations, sitting alone at the biggest booths of the smallest roadside bars, places with one kind of beer on the menu and video poker in the bathroom by the toilet. Something brutal and clumsy in his movements, like he doesn't understand how any of him works. And sharp teeth, not sharp enough to be fangs, but not human either, and yellow fingernails, not cigarette yellow, but translucent yellow just below the surface. He hasn't talked to me again, but I've been seeing him, and he knows it.

他想让我知道他在跟踪我。我不认识这个...我不愿称之为人的东西。他不是人。我不知道他是什么。你认识爱丽丝吗？

He wants me to know he's following me. I don't know who this I won't say man. He isn't a man. I don't know what he is. Do you know Alice?

这就是你离开的原因吗，还是别的什么？是因为我吗？而现在，在这条连接两个陌生之地的公路上，带着旅行装除臭剂，异于常人的身高让我离夜空比离任何人类都近。这片夜空看似壮美又令人心碎，尽管它什么都不是。它根本不存在意义。

Is this why you left, or was it something else? Was it me? And now here, the road between two places I've never heard of, travel size deodorant, an unusual height, closer to the night sky than I am to any other human. A night sky that seems gorgeous and heartbreaking even though it's not. It's not anything.

就是没有。你在哪里，爱丽丝？爱丽丝？为什么我找不到你？我会继续开这辆卡车。

It just isn't. Where are you, Alice? Alice? Why can't I find you? I'll keep driving this truck.

我会继续在这个国家游荡。我要找到你。一定会的。希望能在那个老头找到我之前。每次回头，我都担心看见的车灯是他，担心他那些怪异肮脏的手正握着方向盘对准我，越来越快。

I'll keep wandering this country. I'm going to find you. I will. Hopefully, I'll do it before the old man finds me. Every time I look behind, I worry that the headlights I see are him and his strange dirty hands are on the wheel, pointing them at me, going faster and faster.

这最好值得，爱丽丝。可世上没什么事值得这样。

This better be worth it, Alice. Nothing ever could be.

现在揭晓谜底：鸡为什么要过马路？因为亡者归来，因为光线倒流，因为天空是道裂缝。因为那是声呐喊。因为光线倒流。

And now, the answer to our riddle. Why did the chicken cross the road? Because the dead return, because light reverses, because the the sky is a gap. Because it's a shout. Because light reverses.

因为亡者归来。因为天花板上的脚步声。因为地下室里的脚步声。因为天空是声呐喊。因为那是道裂缝。

Because the dead return. Because footsteps on the ceiling. Because footsteps in the basement. Because the sky is a shout. Because it's a gap.

因为草不再生长或疯长或错长，因为亡者归来，因为亡者归来。这就是鸡过马路的原因。欢迎收听audible.com/dead频道。

Because the grass doesn't grow or grows too much or grows wrong, because the dead return, because the dead return. That, that is why the chicken crosses the road. That's audible.com/dead.

本节目由Night Vale Presents制作。更多关于我们及节目的信息，请访问nightvalepresents.com。

This has been a production of Night Vale Presents. Find out more about us and our shows at nightvalepresents.com.