•••
Nancy was the first to step inside, followed by Steve who was holding the flashlight so it would shine in front of them. Robin, Harper, and Eddie followed close behind. Steve turned towards the living room, lighting up the area.
"Might be time to get a maid, Wheeler." Robin joked nervously.
Nancy pressed her lips together, "Come on. I don't want to stay here longer than we have to." She immediately started walking up the stairs. Harper immediately followed after her, they all marched up the stairs carefully, making sure not to step on any vines. Nancy made her way into her room and opened the closet doors before pulling down a box that looked like a shoe box. She placed it down on her vanity and opened it, moving aside the thin yellow paper revealing a pair of heels.
"Those aren't guns." Eddie pointed out.
Robin nodded, "I mean, these heels are a bit pointy, but I was hoping for something along the lines of a deadly projectile."
Nancy looked down at the weapons confused, "I- I don't understand." She said, looking next to the box.
"Maybe you left them somewhere else?" Harper asked.
Nancy shook her head, "There's a six-year-old in the house. I know where I keep my guns." She turned back to the guns, "And also, I threw these away years ago." Harper looked into the box.
"Last time I saw you wearing these was when you went to that party with Barb. Like, two years ago." Harper agreed.
The curly-haired brunette grabbed some flashcards from the table next to the box, she flipped through them slowly.
"I get that grades are important to you, but perhaps studying can wait till we get out of here?" Robin pointed out.
Nancy frowned, before looking up from the cards, "These are from sophomore chemistry..." She set them down on the table, "And this... this wallpaper, this is old wallpaper." She stepped around the room pointing towards the wall before pointing at a mirror on her wall, "And this mirror, this went to a yard sale. And..." She turned to a stuffed animal on her bed, "you. You're not supposed to be here." Nancy said, picking it up, "I gave you to cousin Joanna two years ago." She put the stuffed animal down and stepped over to her bedside table, she picked up a notebook and started reading through it before stopping.
"What is it?" Eddie asked.
Robin took a step forward, "Nancy? You're freaking me out."
"I think the reason that my guns aren't here is because they don't exist yet." She said, looking down at the book completely in shock.
Harper and Eddie shared a look, "They don't... exist?" Eddie asked, looking at her as if she was crazy.
Nancy nodded, turning around, "This diary should be full of entries. It's not. The last entry is November 6, 1983." She had a serious look on her face, "The day Will went missing. The day the gate opened." She shook her head slightly, "We're in the past."
"Dustin! Dustin!" The four upstairs heard Steve yelling from downstairs. Robin immediately ran down the stairs, "Dustin? Can you hear me? Dustin!" The four teens stared at Steve like he was crazy, he was looking around, shining his flashlight at things, "Du-- Hello? Hel- Hello?"
Robin leaned over towards Nancy, "Maybe he really does have rabies."
"Steve, what are you doing?" Nancy asked.
Startled, Steve turned towards the group of four, pointing his flashlight at their faces. They covered their eyes blocking out the light.
"He's here. Henderson. That little sh*t, he's here. He's like..." Steve walked towards the group, "Here- he's in the walls or something. Just listen."
Harper nodded, "Yep. Rabies."
"Dustin... DUSTIN! DUSTIN!" Steve called out again turning around again, "DUSTIN! Can you hear me?"
Harper rolled her eyes before hearing something, "That brings us to the question you first raised. How-" Her eyes widened.
"Holy sh*t." She breathed.
Nancy stepped away from the group, "Dustin!" She called out while Eddie looked behind the curtains.
"Dustin?" He called out.
Robin followed their actions quickly, "Dustin?"
Steve let out a sigh, "Alright, either this kid can't hear us or he's begin a total douchebag."
"Will found a way," Nancy explained.
"What?"
Nancy repeated herself to Steve, "Will. He found a way to speak to Joyce through the lights." She stepped over to a lamp and tried to turn it on. It didn't work.
"The switch. Try the switch." Steve said, pointing towards the light switch. It still didn't work. Steve pointed his light up to the chandelier, "Guys... You seeing this?"
A slight dim glow surrounded the lights, and little sparkles that looked like lightning bugs shone brightly. Harper and the others stepped over to it. Nancy lifted up her hand carefully and placed it within the glow. The specks surrounding her hand brightened, and she waved her hand around slightly.
"Woah..." Eddie breathed. Harper raised her hand and put it into the glow. It felt warm as if she put it near a crackling fire. It felt like tiny soft shocks all over her hand.
"It... tickles." Steve breathed.
Eddie lifted his hand up too and placed it next to Harper's followed by the others.
"It kinda feels good." Harper breathed, causing Eddie to let out a small laugh and look over at her.
Nancy pulled her hand out, "Does anyone know morse code?" Everyone pulled their hands out of the light, the majority murmuring a soft no.
Eddie's eyes widened, "Wait does SOS count?" He asked, everyone looked at him in disbelief, "Is that-" He turned to Harper, "Is that good?" Harper gave him a light smack on the shoulder.
"Duh, dumbass! That's kinda our situation right now." She said, gesturing up to the light.
"Oh!" Eddie exclaimed, lifting his hand once more and moving it rhythmically through the lights. Harper and Robin stepped back while Harper crossed her arms and watched his hand move through the lights.
"I think- I think I wanna bang him." Harper breathed, her face turning red as she watched his hand, as he opened and closed it.
Robin turned to her with a deadpan face, "Uh, yeah. We all know that."
"Guys! Can you hear me?" Dustin called out. Eddie quickly pulled his hand out of the light pulling it to his chest with a smile on his face. Robin stepped forward and opened her hand and closed it in the light causing it to shine brightly before fading, "Good! Go up to Nancy's room! We have a plan!" The group shared a look before they ran up to Nancy's room quickly. They kneeled next to her bed waiting for something to happen.
Eddie nodded waiting for something to happen while Steve breathed out, "Come on... come on."
"Seeing this?"Dustin called.
Nancy stuck her hand forward and a glow of energy lit up in front of her.
"Okay, we are unplugging it... try it now!"
Nancy stuck her hand out and wrote the word 'hi'.
"That worked!" Dustin called out.
"Yess!" Eddie cheered, wrapping his arms around Harper in celebration, "Hi!" He said, letting her go and leaning forward.
Nancy reached out and started writing out more letters... S, T, U, C, and K.
Eddie nodded, "Mhm."
"You can't get back through Watergate?"
"What the hell's Watergate?" Steve asked.
Robin answered, "'cause it's in water and it's a gate."
"Oh."
"That's cute," Eddie said, tilting his head slightly.
Nancy shook her head, "Uhm, no. It's..." She started writing out guarded. Eddie clapped.
"We think we have a theory that can help with that," Dustin called.
Harper smiled, "Genius child." She chuckled, earning a look of approval from Eddie.
"We think Watergate isn't the only gate," Dustin explained, "That there's a gate at every murder site."
Nancy turned to the group, "Does anybody understand what he's talking about?"
They all shook their heads followed by a chorus of no's. Nancy drew a question mark in the light source.
"Okay, seriously? How many times do I have to be right on the money before you guys just trust me?"
"Jesus Christ. This kid's gotta get his ego in check." Steve breathed.
"It's his tone. Right?" Eddie agreed with him.
Steve nodded, "I know."
Harper chuckled, turning to Steve, "He gets it from you."
Nancy quickly cut off Steve's gasp, turning to Eddie, "Okay. So... so how far is your trailer?" She asked.
"Seven miles," Eddie said almost immediately.
Robin looked at Nancy confused, "Nancy? Uh, I know your house here is, like, weirdly, creepily frozen in time and sh*t, but haven't you always had bikes?" Everyone turned to Nancy and quickly nodded and the group of them got up running down to the first floor. Harper stayed behind for a second to write in the light source.
E.D.D.I.E.S T.R.A.I.L.E.R.
She then followed the others seeing the four of them getting on four bikes.
"Only four bikes?" Harper asked.
Eddie chuckled, "Guess it's me and you sweetheart." He said, gesturing to the stands on the back of the bike. Harper rolled her eyes before hopping on the back, gripping Eddie's shoulders tightly.
The bike ride took longer than Harper thought it would, and by the end, her legs were cramping. Harper heard some screeching in the distance before seeing a large group of bats swarming around a house. They drove past the sign for the trailer park and pulled in towards Eddie's trailer. Eddie lifted his hand pointing to his.
"It's right here," Eddie said before stopping the bike and letting Harper get off first before dropping it.
Robin spoke up, putting her bike down, "That's gotta be a Guinness World Record. Most miles traveled interdimensionally." Harper laughed at her joke.
"Just inhaled a bunch of that crap." Steve said, coughing and turning on his flashlight, "It's stuck in my throat."
Eddie and Harper walked up to his trailer first before Eddie opened the door and stepped inside. Harper looked up at the ceiling.
"Last time I checked Munson, your trailer didn't have a portal through the ceiling," Harper commented.
Steve pointed his flashlight up to the gate, "Goddamn."
"This is where Chrissy died." Eddie said, his voice full of sadness and hurt, "Like, right where she died."
A shadow covered the red light that was being emitted from the gate, "I think there's something in there." Robin breathed.
Something from the other side started pressing on the film of the gate, "What the hell is that?" Eddie asked. A pole broke through and Eddie pulled Harper back in a protective motion. The gate opened and a white stick stabbed at the gate removing the film.
Steve was the first to step forward, "No way." He breathed seeing Dustin looking up at the group and laughing. Harper stepped forward, and Eddie still has a nervous grip on her arm. She looked up and saw Dustin, Lucas, Erica, and Max standing waving down at them. From her point of view, they looked like they were standing on the ceiling.
"Hi!" Dustin called out.
The small group of five older teens smiled up at them and waved, "Hi..." They responded.
"Holy sh*t, this is trippy." Robin breathed.
"Bada- bada- boom!" Dustin called out.
Dustin and the other younger teens started tying together some bedsheets and cloth while Max and Lucas placed Eddie's mattress under the opening of the gate.
"Those stains are, uh..." He began nervously taking a small glance over at Harper, "I dunno what those stains are."
Robin let out a soft, "Ew."
Their conversation was interrupted by Dustin, "Not quite sure how these physics work. But, uh..." Dustin tossed the makeshift rope through the gate, "here goes nothing." He held onto the rope, "There we go. And if my theory is correct." Dustin smiled before letting go of the rope. It hung right in the middle, "Huh. Abracadabra." He looked back up, "All right, pull on it! See if it holds!"
Robin grabbed onto the rope and put her full weight on it.
"This is the craziest sh*t I've ever seen in my life." Erica looked up, "And I've seen some crazy sh*t."
Robin smiled, "Guess I'm the guinea pig." She pulled herself up, the kids moved out of the way of the mattress before robin made her way through the gate and fell to the ground on the other side, "Oh, thank God. That was fun."
The rest of the group looked in between each other, Harper, Nancy, and Steve turned to Eddie, "All right, I guess I'll go." Eddie said, grabbing onto the rope and pulling himself to the other side. He fell onto the mattress before sitting up quickly, "That... was fun." He stood up quickly and moved to the side, "Sh*t."
Nancy went next supported by Steve as she climbed up the rope, "See you on the other side." He said to her. She landed successfully and Harper was next.
She reached out for the rope before feeling an uneasy feeling in her stomach, she was sure that it was just excitement for finally being home. She pulled herself up and over to the other side before falling down like the others. But she didn't hit the ground, she let out a shout as the room around her turned into the void.
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