Uptown Girl

Livin' On a Prayer {Chapter 5}

Warnings: funeral, religion mention

Word count: 1307

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"What was Will saying?" Mike asked us, "Like home... Like home... but dark?"

"And empty," Lucas pipes in. We heard him... we all swear it was him but we couldn't tell exactly what the kid was saying. Wish we could of heard more before the radio exploded.

I sigh, "Empty and cold. Wait, did he say cold?"

"I don't know. The stupid radio kept going in and out. It's like riddles in the dark,"

"Like home. Like his house?" Mike asked, sort of thinking out loud.

"Or maybe like Hawkins," Dustin says.

"Upside down," El's meek voice says. Honestly, I forgot she was there. She's been playing around with Mike's radio quietly while we talked. It was almost like she disappeared for a minute.

"What'd she say?" Lucas asked.

"Upside down," she repeated. What does that even mean? I guess the girl can't form complete sentences but this makes no sense.

"What?" Lucas asked again. 

"Upside down," Mike echoed, "When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember? Upside down. Dark. Empty."

"Do you understand what he's talking about?" Lucas asked, turning to me and Dustin.

"No," we said at the same time.

"Guys, come on, just think about it. When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?" Mike recalled the events of this week where El led us on a wild goose chase. Frankly, it was quite annoying.

"Yeah. And he wasn't there," Lucas sighed. We're all aware that he wasn't there. I don't know why Mike keeps bringing it up.

"But what if he was there? What if we just couldn't see him? What if he was on the other side? What if this is Hawkins and... this is where Will is? The Upside Down," Mike concludes. I guess it kind of makes sense. 

"Like the Vale of Shadows," Dustin grins.

"The what?" I ask.

He pulls out a book, like some sort of encyclopedia of D&D or something like that. Flipping to a page, Dustin reads, "'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 of monsters. It is right next to you, and you don't even see it.'"

"An alternate dimension," I say, "But... how... how do we get there?"

"You cast Shadow Walk," Dustin tells me. I still know nothing about this game.

"In real life, dummy," Lucas hits him lightly.

"We can't shadow walk, but... maybe she can," Dustin says, turning to El. We all look at her and El squirms under the sudden attention, looking quite nervous.

"Do you know how we get there? To the Upside Down?" Mike asked her. Then she nods.

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The day of the funeral, practically the whole town showed up to mourn the loss of a boy they never cared about. Half of their grade is there, kids about a year younger than me all crying or looking sad. Though I am sure it's all an act to make them seem cool with their friends.

Pastor Charles starts talking as they lower the coffin into the ground, "'Fear not, for I am with you. 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. How, if He is truly benevolent... could God take from us someone so young, so innocent? It would be easy to turn away from God... but we must remember that nothing, not even tragedy, can separate us from His love. We are here today to find comfort in the truth of scripture, and to surround Will and his family..."