"What was Will saying?" Mike mumbles. Eleven lays across the couch in his basement with her head in Annie's lap, Mike sitting by her feet.
"Like home... like home..." Annie says, trying to remember.
"But dark," he states.
"And empty," Lucas adds. He sits in a chair and Dustin sits on the stairs.
"Empty and cold. Wait, did he say cold?" Dustin asks.
"I don't know," the boy answers, "the stupid radio kept going in and out."
"It's like riddles in the dark," he sighs. Mike gets up from the couch, pacing.
"Like home... like his house?" he suggests.
"Or maybe like Hawkins," Lucas guesses.
"Upside down," Eleven says quietly.
"What'd she say?" he asks.
"Upside down," Annie repeats.
"What?" he questions.
"Upside down!" Mike exclaims, going to the card table, "When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember?"
"Upside down," Annie realizes, joining the boys at the table.
"Dark, empty," he further says.
"Do you understand what he's talking about?" Lucas asks the other two.
"No..."
"Come on, guys, think about it!" he exclaims, "When El took us to find Will, she took us to their house, right?"
"Yeah," Annie shrugs.
"And he wasn't there," Lucas states.
"But what if he was there," Mike suggests, "What if we just couldn't see him? What if he was on the other side?"
He flips the Dungeons and Dragons board back over, "what if this is Hawkins and this is where Will is? The Upside Down."
"Like the Vale of Shadows," Dustin suggests.
"The what?" the Byers girl questions.
"An alternate dimension," Mike informs her.
"But... how... how do we get there?" Lucas asks.
"You cast Shadow Walk," Dustin answers.
"In real life, dummy," he insults.
"We can't shadow walk, but... maybe she can," Dustin suggests, looking at Eleven.
"Do you know how we get there?" Mike asks, "To the Upside Down?"
The kids look back at the girl in the wig. She nods her head 'no'.
"Oh, my God!" Lucas sighs, annoyed.
Knock! Knock!
"Shit, Eleven, get up!" Mike hisses. She springs up from the couch and runs over to the fort. Annie and Lucas sit down on the couch, pretending like they are doing normal kid things instead of trying to get into an alternate dimension.
"Annie, honey! Jonathan's here to take you home," Mrs. Wheeler announces, opening the basement door. The kids awkwardly smile, trying not to draw attention to themselves.
"Okay, coming!" The girl answers. The door shuts and the kids sigh.
"That was close," Lucas says turning to the girl. She nods.
"I'll see you guys later," she says grabbing her backpack, "Bye Eleven."
"Bye, Annie," she quietly says, sitting on the floor in her fort.
YOU ARE READING
for you, daisies
Fanfiction"It's okay. Technically, you saved me," she says nervously, "if I wouldn't have run into you they would've gotten me." "Well, you're welcome then," the redhead smiles. The girl puts her hands into her jacket pockets, feeling the flowers still in th...
