❝𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠, 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙢𝙚.❞

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The group arrived at the Wheeler residence shortly after. Inside, just like the rest, were vines creeping around, "Might be time to get a maid, Wheeler." Robin joked.

"Come on." Nancy stepped up the stairs, "I don't wanna stay here longer than we have to."

"Actually," June interjected, "I think I'll just wait here."

Truth was that she just wanted to avoid the presence of the guns for as long as she could. Maybe she was being dramatic, but the haunting memory with her dad was too engraved in her head for her to care.

"You sure? Eddie questioned, "You shouldn't be alone in here."

June gave the boy a small smile, "I'm sure."

He nodded hesitantly before skipping up the stairs, followed by Steve.

June was left alone downstairs while the rest went upstairs. She started wandering around the house that belonged to the Wheeler's.

It was only when she arrived in the kitchen that June realized that she wasn't in the Wheeler residence anymore. No, this was a clean house, one she'd seen before.

"Shitsack." she cursed herself. She recognized the new house as the one she was in in her dream last time. June turned the corner back to where she came from, but she remained in the 'dream' house.

"I was wondering when I'd get to speak to you again." Henry's voice made June spin around, he smiled, "Hello, Juniper."

June clenched her jaw as she glared at the blond, "Henry. Why're you back?"

"Oh, so much love for me." Henry replied with a mocking voice, "I'm back, because you can't control yourself. People are going to get hurt if you don't accept my help. You could do such powerful things with what's inside you, if only you'd let me in."

June narrowed her eyes, "Why would I trust you with my life when you bring me into a void and tell me this stuff?"

"Because you've experienced it." he stepped closer, "Let me help you." June wanted to speak, but soon the entire house faded away, with Henry in it. His voice still rang through her ears, "Let me help you.."

And she was back in the Wheeler house, standing exactly where she'd stood before changing houses. June heard commotion on the other side of the room, she changed her facial expression and sneaked around the corner and furrowed her eyebrows when she saw the other four rushing to go upstairs.

"What're you guys doing?" she questioned, "You look like a bunch of lunatics."

Eddie grabbed her hand, "No time to explain." he dragged her up the stairs while Nancy explained regardless.

"We're back in time, my guns aren't there. We've made contact with Dustin, but we have to go upstairs." she slammed the door open and sat down besides her bed.

June looked around the bedroom, "Fancy room, Nance." she chuckled. Nancy thanked her before turning her attention back to the bed.

"Okay, you guys seeing this?" Dustin's voice echoed through the room, June looked to all sides, but couldn't find the source of the voice.

At this point the other four had crouched down next to Nancy as she went over something in the air with her hand, making it sparkle.

Some form of light came from her hands, it almost looked ethereal. Especially considering the place they were in, this was a one-of-a-kind thing to see.

Dustin's laughter echoed, letting the five know they'd succeeded in contacting him. Eddie and June smiled at each other like they'd just won the lottery, because for them, they had.

"We're not moving it, but we're gonna unplug it. Stand by." Dustin informed, "Okay, try it now."

Nancy thought for a second before moving her finger to write 'hi'. They heard Dustin saying hi back, he also said it worked.

Eddie leaned forward, closer to the light, "Hi!" he aggressively spoke, making June laugh at his stupidity.

"Okay, um.. um.." Nancy thought again, she wrote the letters s, t and u and let them fade away before writing the letters c and k.

Eddie leaned forward again, this time twice with just as much aggression, "Mhm, mhm."

"Uh, you can't get back through Watergate?" Dustin asked.

"What the hell's Watergate?" Steve wondered.

"I think it's the lake gate, because it's a gate in water." June answered, not entirely sure of her answer either.

"That's cute." Eddie smiled.

Nancy brought her hand up again while muttering what she wrote, what she wrote being 'guarded'.

They listened to Dustin repeating the info he'd gotten, Eddie clapping enthusiastically, "We think we have a theory that can help with that. We think Watergate isn't the only gate. That there's a gate at every murder site."

"Does anybody understand what he's talking about?" Nancy asked around.

Everyone gave versions of no, but June knew what he talked about, "Chrissy." she got an answer from Steve, who said not everything traced back to Chris, "No, but this is, just ask him."

Nancy narrowed her eyes in suspicion, she made a question mark, causing Dustin to respond, "Seriously? How many times do I have to be right on the money before you trust me?"

"Jesus Christ. This kid's gotta get his ego in check." Steve complained, making June laugh.

"It's his tone, right?" Eddie agreed.

It was only then that Nancy realized what June meant with Chrissy, "So.. so how far is your trailer?" she asked Eddie.

"Seven miles."

"Nancy?" Robin implied, "Uh, I know your house is, like, weirdly, creepily frozen in time and shit, but haven't you always had bikes?"

Nancy looked to her side, clearly thinking. Robin was right, they had always had bikes, they were right downstairs in their garage.

She ran downstairs, not wasting a second on waiting for the others. By the time the other four teenagers caught up with her, she'd already opened the door of the garage.

June counted the amount of bikes with her fingers, "You gotta be fucking kidding me." she commented on the bikes. There were only four in the garage since Holly didn't have one yet back in 1983.

The five looked around at each other, silently debating who'd have to piggyback, "Don't worry, you can ride with me." Eddie offered, making June sigh when she realized she wouldn't have a choice.

"Fine," she consented, "just don't drive like a maniac, please, or I'll get seasick."

"You get seasick.. on a bike?" Robin repeated, she was confused by her words. Robin had never heard anyone mention getting seasick when on the back of a bike.

Juniper shrugged, "I don't know, but judging based off of how this guy drives, it wouldn't surprise me."

"Hey!" Eddie exclaimed after her accusation, he wasn't such a terrible driver. At least that's what he thought.

"Oh, come on, let's face it. You can't drive for shit."

She went to stand on the brakes of one of the bikes in the back as Robin, Steve and Nancy did the same. Eddie swung his leg over the metal of the bike before turning his head to the girl behind him one last time, "Better hold on tight. I'm a terrible driver, aren't I?" he smirked.

She laughed and messed with his hair before doing as told. Once Eddie started pedaling she knew how screwed exactly she was. Eddie indeed drove like a maniac, alike to his car driving skills, she was forced to hold onto his torso tighter.

Although June did still feel the bruises Ace had left on her, the adrenaline made sure she didn't feel much of it. And you would say it was the adrenaline of being in the Upside Down.

It wasn't. It was more the adrenaline of being this close to the boy pedaling in front of her. June's body was right behind his, she felt his increased heartbeat and heard his low panting from riding the bike as fast as he could.

She tried looking around, laying her head on Eddie's shoulder as she did so, but there wasn't much to be seen. June felt his uprising heartbeat when she connected her chin with his shoulder, but didn't make it out to be a lot.

And just like that, Juniper Mckennan couldn't help but feel a sort of euphoria being on the back of Eddie Munson's bike.

After what felt like a lifetime, but what in reality was only seven miles, the infamous trailer was finally in sight, "Right here." Eddie instructed as they entered the trailer park.

June slipped off of the back of the bicycle and Eddie dropped the bike on what was once grass, the other three doing the same thing.

"That's gotta be a Guinness World Record. Most miles traveled interdimensionally." Robin panted.

"Yeah, Robin, why don't you tell them you traveled by bicycle in the Upside Down. See if they put you in there." June chuckled.

Steve coughed a few times as he caught up with the rest running to Eddie's trailer, "Just inhaled a bunch of that crap. It's stuck in my throat."

Eddie opened the door to the trailer and June immediately recognized the insides, even if it was in another dimension. Without having to think about them, the good memories of the day spent here flooded back in her mind.

However, her attention was brought to something that hadn't been there before. On the roof was a big, red thing. June wasn't exactly sure what it was. Light shone through it and with that, vines were visible as well.

"Goddamn." Steve muttered low-key impressed.

Eddie turned his head to the curly head intrigued by the spot, he laid his hand on her shoulder, "This is where Chrissy died. Like, right where she died."

June's aura shifted by the mention of her dead best friend. Chrissy would've been happy for her, unlike Ace whom was hunting an innocent person, or Luca whom was - as usual - gathering gossip.

The red spot on the ceiling made a wet sound, like some kind of liquid was on the other side. The writhing sounded disgusting to the teens.

"I think there's something in there." Robin slowly added.

Their gazes stuck to the red fluid making noises the entire time, a disgusted, yet terrified look on their faces. Something that looked like some kind of stick showed up in the middle. It was trying to poke through the red, but it hadn't yet succeeded in doing so, "What the hell is that?" Eddie uttered.

The stick poked one last time, now breaking the weird spot. Robin shrieked as the red light disappeared and the liquid poured down. June stepped forward to watch what was on the other side when she saw that on the other side was Eddie's trailer - upside down.

"No way." Steve came standing next to her.

Dustin stood in the middle of the upside down trailer with a stick in his hands and Lucas, Max and Erica on both of his sides. He waved before greeting, "Hi there."

Robin had a small smile on her face from seeing the teenagers, "Holy shit, this is trippy."

Dustin, on the other hand, was laughing like a maniac, "Bada-bada-boom!" he screamed out in gleefulness.

Dustin instructed June, Steve, Robin, Nancy and Eddie to wait for them to get them out of there, so while they got things ready, they couldn't do anything but watch. 

Max and Lucas came in sight with a stained mattress, causing Eddie to widen his eyes, "Those stains are, uh.." he turned his head to Robin, who gave him a side-eye, and Juniper, who was trying not to laugh, "I don't know what those stains are."

June snorted, "Yeah, you do."

In the meantime, Erica and Dustin finished up knotting all the curtains to each other, making a long thread, "Not quite sure how these physics work. But, uh.. here goes nothing." Dustin threw the thread through the hole, "There we go. And if my theory is correct.." he let go of the thread, but nothing happened, "huh. Abracadabra."

"All right, pull on it! See if it holds!" he yelled to the others in the Upside Down.

Steve nodded at Robin, she took it as her sign to pull on the long thread. She pulled, but still, it didn't move. Dustin's plan had worked. June smiled at Eddie brightly and he brought her in for a tight hug, followed by them awkwardly letting go after realizing how close they were to one another.

"This is the craziest shit I've ever seen in my life." Erica extolled, "And I've seen some crazy shit." Dustin held up his hand and she high-fived him.

Robin went forward to the thread, holding onto it, "Guess I'm the guinea pig." she jumped and grunted, climbing up. On the other side, the four teenagers stepped back to clear where she'd land. Once on the other side, Robin let go to fall onto the mattress, she sat up, "Thank God. That was fun."

Everyone left looked at Eddie to go next. He took a while to catch the looks, but once he did, he grabbed the rope just like Robin had and climbed up. June saw his tongue sticking out in concentration and god, was that adorable.

He spun around before landing on the mattress, he sat up straight swiftly, "That was fun. Shit." he took the hand of Robin to get up.

Nancy laid a hand on June's back, "You go next." she gently instructed.

"Uh, fine." she agreed. June calculated the distance she had to flip over before starting to climb up. Her feet clasped the rope as she kept going upwards until she came to a point where her hair fell to the other side. Gravity changed sides.

She strategically let go of the thread to flip over and land on both feet perfectly. June's arms went up in the air with a bright smile like she always did in gymnastics after flipping, it had become more of a habit to her.

"How the hell did you-" Eddie pondered in confusion, pointing at the girl walking towards him.

"Cheerleader legs, baby!" she patted him on his back before walking passed him to stand next to Robin.

Only something was wrong, no one came up anymore. It was proven that something was indeed wrong when they heard Steve screaming, "Nancy! Hey! Hey! Stay with me. Nancy! Hey! Nancy, wake up! Wake up! Nancy!"

The others had come closer to the hole to look at Steve and Nancy through it. Max knew immediately what the commotion was about, "Vecna."

note:
and that's a wrap
on volume one
how do we enjoy
the story so far?