far too young to die ✰ m.w.

CHAPTER FIVE

"What was Will saying?" Mike questioned. "Like home... like home... but dark?"

"And empty," Lucas added.

"Empty and cold," Dustin said with a sigh. "Wait, did he say cold?"

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

"Yes, he said cold," Emily clarified. She had dark circles under her eyes and Will's terrified words kept repeating in her mind. "Dark. Empty. Cold."

"Like home. Like his house?" Mike asked.

"Or maybe like Hawkins," Lucas suggested.

"Upside down," Eleven said.

"What'd she say?"

"Upside down," Mike repeated.

"What?"

"Upside down." Mike sat down at the table, flipping his Dungeons & Dragons gameboard up the correct way. Dustin, Emily, and Lucas gathered around. "When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember?" He flipped the gameboard over again, it's black underside visible once more. "Upside down. Dark. Empty."

"Do either of you understand what he's talking about?" Lucas asked Dustin and Emily.

"No," Dustin answered simply.

"I- I think so," Emily said. "Remember when El led us to my house and said that Will was hiding there?"

"Yeah. And he obviously wasn't," Lucas said.

"But what if he was? He was just... on the other side..."

Dustin and Lucas still appeared confused, so Mike continued to explain.

"Look. What if this is Hawkins..." he said, flipping the gameboard right side up, and then back again, "and this is where Will is."

"The Upside Down," he and Emily said together.

"Like the Vale of Shadows," Dustin said, finally seeming to understand. He rushed to grab Mike's Dungeons & Dragons book and opened it up to the page explaining the realm of which he had just named. He read: "'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," Mike said.

"Holy shit," Emily muttered, the gravity of the situation weighing on her.

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

"You cast Shadow Walk," Dustin answered, still speaking in terms of the game.

"In real life, dummy."

"We can't shadow walk, but... maybe she can."

They all looked over at Eleven, who was resting on the couch. Emily walked over and kneeled in front of her. "Do you know how we get there?" she asked her. "To the Upside Down?"