Chapter Five

"What was Will saying?" Mike asked us as we were now down in his basement, El was lying on the couch and the rest of us were trying to figure out where Will is now that we know for sure that he's alive. "Like home... like home..."

"But dark?" I frowned a little, lying on the ground and playing with the top I'm wearing.

"And empty," Lucas adds.

"Empty and cold." Dustin continued. He frowned. "Wait, did he say cold?"

"I don't know." Lucas sighed. "The stupid radio kept going in and out."

"It's like riddles in the dark." Dustin pointed out.

"Like home. Like his house?" Mike was pacing back and forward around the basement.

"Or maybe like Hawkins." I figure and Lucas nods, agreeing with me.

"Upside down." El softly said from the couch making all four of our head snap towards her.

"What'd she say?" Lucas scrunched up his face in confusion.

"Upside down," Mike repeats before looking over at the game board El had put upside down recently.

"What?" Lucas asked.

"Upside down." He walked over to it and sat on a chair, I got up like the boys did and we walked over to him. "When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember?" He flipped the board the right way, then flipped it upside down. "Upside down. Dark. Empty."

"Do you understand what he's talking about?" Lucas asked. We all sat down in the three empty chairs that were left.

"No." Dustin answered.

"Yes." I nod, surprising everyone. "Guys, come on, think about it. When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?"

"Yeah. And he wasn't there." Lucas nodded.

"But what if he was there?" My eyes cast down to the board. "What if we just couldn't see him? What if he was on the other side?"

"Yeah," Mike agreed and turned the board game the proper way. "What if this was Hawkins and..." he flipped the board over. "This is where Will is? The Upside Down."

"Like the Vale of Shadows." Dustin's eyes lit up. Dustin had gotten a book and flipped to the page where it said the Vale of Shadows. "The Vale of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world. It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase. A place out of monsters. It is right next to you, and you don't even see it."

"An alternate dimension." Mike whispers.

"But... how... how do we get there?" Lucas asked carefully.

"You cast Shadow Walk," Dustin explained and I frowned.

"In real life, dummy." Lucas rolled his eyes.

"We can't shadow walk, but..." Dustin looked over at El. "Maybe she can."

I looked over at El too. "Do you know how to get there? To the Upside Down?"

El shakes her head. "Oh, my God!" Lucas whined.

-

The next morning, I was wearing all black alongside of Dustin. Claudia had brought me a dress for Will's funeral which was really sweet of her. Once she learned that I had no clothes or toilet essentials, she brought me some new clothes and toilet essentials.

I looked in the mirror and thought the black dress was lovely, I wore some black heels along with it. It felt weird not having my cell phone with me, that we went back to radios or whatever you call it.

I walked out of the room meeting up with Dustin who wore all black as well, a tux. "Well, you look adorable." I tease him and he rolled his eyes.

"Remember, act sad, okay?" Dustin reminds me and I nod as we walked downstairs.

We arrived at the funeral, our acting faces on.

"Fear not, for I am with you." Pastor Charles speaks as we stand around "Will"'s casket. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. It's times like these that our faith is challenged."

Pastor Charles continued and I blocked him out because this funeral is basically fake. I looked down at the Byers family. His father, Lonnie, his older brother, Jonathan, and his mother, Joyce.

The boys nudged each other and looked over to see a blonde girl crying. "Just wait till we tell Will Jennifer Hayes was crying at his funeral," Dustin whispered to us and I rolled my eyes as they start giggling.

Mrs. Wheeler shushes Dustin and I glared at them quickly. I walked over to Joyce calmly and gave her a smile.

"I'm so sorry," I tell Joyce, she looked over at me, she kind of seemed jumpy.

"Thank you." She tells me politely. "Uh... sorry, but who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Stacey, I'm cousins with Dustin Henderson." I lie, she nods and gave me a smile. "It gets easier, I promise." I cast a look at Jonathan who looked over at me curiously.

Dustin popped up beside me. "I'm sorry, Joyce." Dustin polity said she gave him a small smile before looking at the ground.

I rubbed Dustin's shoulder. "Come on, let's go. If there's anything you need, let me know, okay?" My eyes scan over Joyce and Jonathan who both nodded.

"Thanks so much," another voice popped in, it was Lonnie. I nod before walking away with Dustin.

I leant closer to him. "On a scale of one to ten, how good was my acting?"

"Shit, are you sure you're not an actress?" Dustin asked.

I rolled my eyes playfully before swinging an arm over his shoulder. "Oh, stop it."

-

"Mr. Clarke?" We had approached him inside, where the food was all at. Mr. Clarke turns around.

Mr. Clarke gave us a smile. "Oh, hey there. How are you boys - and girl holding up?"

"We're... in... mourning." Lucas's gaze dropped to the ground.

"Man, these aren't even real Nilla Wafer," Dustin complained beside me as he holds out the Nilla Wafer in his hands.

I rolled my eyes and Mike speaks. "We were wondering if you had time to talk?"

"We have some questions." Lucas continued.

"A lot of questions," I added.

We were all sat around the table, Mr. Clarke in front of the boys and I.

"So you know how in Cosmos, Carl Sagan talks about the other dimensions? Like, beyond our world?" Mike questions.

"Yeah, sure, theoretically." Mr. Clarke nods.

"Right, theoretically." I quickly said.

"So, theoretically, how do we travel there?" Lucas asked.

"You guys have been thinking Hugh Everett's Many-World Interpretation, haven't you?" A slow smile crept up on Mr. Clarke's face. "Well, basically, there are parallel universe. Just like our world, but just infinite variations of it. Which means there's a world out there where none of this tragic stuff ever happened."

I shake my head. "Yeah, that's not what we're talking about."

"Oh."

"We were thinking of more of an evil dimension, like the Vale of Shadows," Dustin explained. "You know the Vale of Shadows?"

"An echo of the Material Plane, where necrotic and shadow magic-"

"Yeah, exactly," Mike cuts off Mr. Clarke. "If that did exist, a place like the Vale of Shadows, how would we travel there?"

"Theoretically," Lucas added.

"Well..." He took a spare plate and a pen from his pocket. "Picture... an acrobat..." He draws someone on two lines. "Standing on a tightrope. Now, the tightrope is our dimension. And our dimension has rules. You can move forward, or backwards. But what if... right next to our acrobat, there is a flea? Now the flea can also travel back and forth, just like the acrobat. Right?"

"Right." We all chimed together.

"Here's where things get really interesting." Mr. Clarke says. "The flea can also travel this way... along the side of the rope. He can even go... underneath the rope."

"Upside down." We all chimed in together.

"Exactly," Mr. Clarke nods.

"But, we're not the flea, we're the acrobat." I remind him.

"In this method, yes, we're the acrobat." Mr. Clarke nods again.

"So we can't go upside down?" Lucas asked, his voice trailing off.

"No." Mr. Clarke answered.

"Well, is there anyway for the acrobat to get into the Upside Down?" Dustin questioned opposite me.

"Well... you'd have to create a massive amount of energy," Mr. Clarke explained. "More than humans are currently capable of creating, mind you, to open up some kind of tear in time and space, and then..." He folds the plate in half before stabbing the pen through it. "You create a doorway."

"Like a gate?" Dustin asked.

"Sure. Like a gate." Mr Clarke agreed. "But again, this is all-"

"Theoretical." Lucas nodded.

"But... but what if this gate already existed?" Mike asked.

"Well, if it did, I... I think we'd know." Mr. Clarke nodded. "It would disrupt gravity, the magnetic field, our environment. Heck, it might even swallow us up whole. Science is neat. But I'm afraid it's not very forgiving."

-

"It would take a lot of energy to build a gate like this." Mike explained to El as we all sat around in his basement the same day. "But that's got to be what happened. Otherwise, how'd Will get there, right?"

"Right." El agrees.

"What we want to know is, do you know where the gate is?" Lucas asked. El shakes her head. "Then how do you know about the Upside Down?"

El looked over at Dustin who held out his compass, walking around everywhere. I frowned. What is he doing?

"Dustin, what are you doing?" Mike asked. "Dustin? Dustin!"

"Dustin!" Lucas and I exclaimed together.

"I... I need to see your compasses." Dustin requests.

"What?" Mike asked, frowning.

"Your compasses. All of your compasses, right now!" Dustin claims.

I shrugged. "I don't have one, sorry."

Soon, everyone dumbs some compasses on the table as we surrounded it. "What's exciting about this?" Mike asked.

"Well, they're all facing North, right?" Dustin asked.

"Yeah, so?" Lucas shrugged.

"Well, that's not North." Dustin smiled.

"What do you mean?" Mike asked.

"I mean exactly what I just said." Dustin nodded. "That's not true North. Are you three seriously this dense?" Lucas shrugged. "The sun rises in the east, and it sets in the west. Right? Which means that's true North."

He points past where Mike was standing.

"So what you're saying is the compasses are broken." Mike tells him.

Dustin sighed. "Do you even understand how a compass works? Do you see a battery pack on this?"

"No." Mike answers. 

"No, you don't." Dustin agreed. "Because it doesn't need one. The needle's naturally drawn to the Earth's magnetic North Pole."

"So what's wrong with them?" Lucas asked.

"Well, that's what I couldn't figure out." Dustin explained. "But then I remembered. You can change the directions of a compass with a magnet. If there's the presence of a more powerful magnetic field, the needle deflects to that power. And then I remember what Mr. Clarke said. The gate would have so much power-"

"It could disrupt the electromagnetic field." I recalled and Dustin nodded.

"Exactly," Dustin agreed.

"Meaning, if we follow the compasses' North..." Lucas trailed off.

"They could lead us to the gates." Dustin grinned. A small smile crept on my own face. We're gonna bring Will back.

-

The five of us had walked along the train tracks for hours now. "How much further?" I was up the front with Lucas and Dustin, El and Mike hanging behind.

"I don't know, these only tell direction, not distance." Dustin explained as we held the compasses in our hands. "You really need to learn more about compasses."

"I'm just saying." Lucas whined. "How do we know when we get to the Gate?"

"Uh, I think a portal to another dimension is gonna be pretty obvious." Dustin mocked and I rolled my eyes.

Lucas sighed and looked back at El and Mike before turning to us. "Do you think she's acting weird?"

"You're asking us if the weirdo is acting weird?" Dustin asked.

"I mean, weirder than normal." Lucas explained and I looked back.

I shrugged. "Seems the normal weird to me."

"I don't know." Dustin sighed. "Who cares?" At least 45 minutes later, we'd been lead to a junkyard. "Oh, no."

"Oh no? What's, oh no?" Lucas asked behind him.

Dustin turned to us. "We're headed back home."

"What?" I exclaimed. "How!?" We walked all that way for nothing?

"Are you sure?" Lucas asked.

Dustin nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure. Setting sun, right there. We looped right back around."

"And you're just releasing this now?" Lucas asked, throwing his hands in the air.

"Why is this all on me?" Dustin exclaimed.

"Because you're the compass genius!" I mocked before sighing.

"What do yours say?" Dustin asked, pointing at us.

We glanced down at our compasses. "North." The three of us chimed in together.

"Make not damn sense." Dustin muttered.

Mike sighed. "Maybe the gate moved."

"No, I don't think the gate moved." I answer, looking around the junkyard. "I think it's something else screwing with the compasses."

"Maybe it's something here." Mike suggested.

"No, it has to be like a super magnet." Dustin explained.

"It's not a magnet." Lucas hisses, looking over at El. "She's been acting weirder than normal. If she can slam doors with her mind, she can definitely screw up a compass."

"Why would she do that?" Mike asked.

"Because she's trying to sabotage our mission," Lucas exclaimed, shooting a hard glare at El who looked worried. "Because she's a traitor!"

Lucas inched closer to El who stayed put. "Lucas, what are you doing?" I demand, worried he'd hurt the poor girl.

"You did it, didn't you?" Lucas taunted, Mike walked over to them and stood beside El. "You don't want us to reach the gate. You don't want us to find Will."

"Lucas, come on, seriously," Mike pleaded. "Just leave her alone!"

"Admit it." Lucas glowered.

"No." She whispers, I barely missed it.

"Admit it!" Lucas yelled, making El flinch. He grabbed her arm and reveal the blood on her jacket. "Fresh blood. I knew it."

"Lucas, come on!" Mike yells.

Lucas turned to him. "I saw her wiping her nose on the tracks! She was using her powers!"

"Bull!" Mike defended. "That's old blood. Right, El?" El didn't say anything, she just looked upset. "Right, El?"

"It's... not..." El softly cried. "It's not safe."

"What did I tell you?" Lucas cried out. "She's been playing us from the beginning! I'm not even sure how I feel about you-" he points to me and I was taken aback.

"Excuse me?" I was more than offended.

"That's not true." Mike argued back. "She helped us find Will!"

"Find Will?" Lucas scoffed. "Find Will? Where is he, then? Huh? I don't see him."

"Yeah, you know what I mean." Mike snapped back.

"No, I actually don't." Lucas spat, walking over to him. "Just think about it, Mike. She could've just told us where the Upside Down was right away, but she didn't. She just made us run around like headless chickens."

"All right, calm down!" Dustin steps in.

"No!" Lucas cries out. "She used us, all of us! She helped just enough so she could get what she wants. Food and a bed. She's like a tray dog. And hell, I don't even know why the hell Stacey is still here either."

"Screw you, Lucas!" Mike yelled.

"No! Screw you, Mike." Lucas barked back. "You're blind... blind because you like that a girl's not grossed out by you. But wake up, man! Wake the hell up! She knows where Will is, and now she's just letting him die in the Upside Down."

"Shut up!" Mike screamed back.

"For all we know, it's her fault." Lucas accused.

"Shut up." Mike yelled once again.

"We're looking for some stupid monster..." Lucas shoves Mike a little. "But did you ever stop to think that maybe she's the monster?"

"I said shut up!" With that, Mike grabbed onto Lucas and they tumbled to the ground, I gasped.

"Stop!" El yelled out.

"Knock it off, you idiots!" Dustin yelled out as well.

"Boys!" I hissed. "Stop, you'll hurt yourselves!"

"Stop it!" El cried out.

"Mike, get off!" Dustin ordered but none of them were listening, as they rolled on the ground.

"Stop it!" El sobbed out before she lets out a loud scream, sending Lucas way back into the ground, next to some abandoned stuff.

"Lucas!" I cried out to the young boy as Dustin, Mike, and I ran after him, ready to aid him.

"Lucas! Lucas!" Mike called out desperately as we reached him and tried to wake him up. "Lucas, are you all right?"

"Lucas, come on!" I yelled, shaking him. "Wake up, buddy!"

"Lucas, wake up." Dustin called desperately.

Mike looked over at El. "Why would you do that?" He yelled at her. "What's wrong with you?!" El looked extremely upset and hurt, but I focused my attention on Lucas, he could not wake up for all we know. "What is wrong with you?"

"Lucas." I pleaded, continuing to shake his shoulder. "Lucas, please."

Eventually, Lucas had woken up, looking rather dazed. I smiled. "Lucas, are you okay?" Mike asked gently.

He sat up a little. "Lucas... Lucas, how many fingers am I holding up?" Dustin asked as he hold up three fingers. "Lucas, how many fingers?"

Lucas has risen a hand to his head. "Let me see your head." Mike gently said and Lucas slapped him away.

"Get off of me!" Lucas growled in annoyance.

"Just... Lucas. Lucas, let me see." Lucas carefully got up, ignoring Mike's calls.

"Get off of me!" Lucas shoved him away as we all stand up. Lucas was walking off.

"Lucas, come on-"

"Let him go." I tell Mike, holding him back as Lucas walked off.

"Yeah, man, let him go." Dustin agreed.

Mike looked over to where El was and I did too... expect, she wasn't there. "Where is El?" Mike asked before looking around with his eyes. "El?" He screams.

I sighed and rubbed my face with my hands. "El!" I yelled as well, the three of us called her name, but she wouldn't respond.

A/N

This was longer than expect, you're welcome, I guess :)

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