𝟎𝟎𝟓
♡❀˖⁺. ༶ ⋆˙⊹❀♡
𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 since I opted to take them. I flattened out my black dress and looked in the mirror. It feels weird going to a funeral for a 'body' I don't even think is real. This whole situation, doesn't feel real. I wish it all were just a dream.
I sigh as I walk over to Dustin's room so we can go pick up the others, and they can fill me in. "Com'on Dust, time to go." I say. He turns to me in a black suit. I slightly smile. "You look handsome." I say reaching my arms out. He walks over and hugs me. I put my head in his curly hair, rubbing his back. "It's going to be okay." I mumble. He nods and we walk out to my car.
~~~
After we get Mike and Lucas they tell me about yesterday. "So you guys were able to get back into contact with Will yesterday at the ham shack?" I ask. "Yes. And he was calling for his mom and you. We tried to talk to him but it didn't work. And he said It's coming. And it's like home but dark..and -and cold. And empty." Mike said. I nod.
I was thinking about telling the boys what I saw with Joyce. But I didn't. Not yet at least. We are still missing a few parts of this puzzle, but I don't know what.
"We think Will his here. But we can't see him, and he can't see us. Maybe that's why El took us to his house. She said he was hiding. And when she explained it to us, she flipped the board, remember?" I nod. "What if he was on the other side? What if he was Shadowalking, and he's in the upside down. Like the Vale Of Shadows. It's right next to you and you don't even see it." Dustin says.
"So what you're trying to tell me, is that Will is here, but not here and he's in a place that's like, upside down Hawkins?" I ask pulling into the cemetery. They all nod. I park my car running my fingers through my hair. 'This is crazy.' I think. But it could be true, I mean, Me and Joyce talked to him. I think. But i'm not sure.
"Okay, we'll talk more about this later. Right now, we need to be here for 'Will'." I say with quotations. They nod and we get out.
~~~
As they lower the body into the ground, we all throw white tulips onto the casket. There weren't a lot of people here, assuming they didn't really care. It was just friends and family. I was standing by Jon holding his hand, Dustin and the boys in front of me, and Nance on my other side.
When the funeral was over Jon pulled me and Nance to the side. We sat on the ground as he pulled out a map. "Okay, so this is where we know it's been right?" he says pointing at X's on the map. "So that's-" Nance says. "Steve's house. And that's the woods where they found Will's bike, and this is my house." Jon continues. "They are all so close." I say. He nods. "Yeah, exactly. I mean it's all within a mile or something. Whatever this thing is, it's not traveling far." he looks up.
"You wanna go out there?" Nance asks. He nods. "But we might not find anything" he says. "But I found something. And Lil saw something. I mean..." she continues. "It may be a little to no chance, but we can still try." I say. They look over and nod.
"But if we do see it..then what?" I ask. Jon pauses. "Then we kill it." he says. He stands up taking our hands to help is up and we follow him to a car. Lonnie's. "What are you doing?" I ask. "Just, give me a second." he says.
He pulls out a revolver and some bullets, putting them in his pockets. "Are you serious?" Nance asks. "What? You wanna take another photo? Yell at it?" Jon says closing the door. "This is a terrible idea." Nance says. "Yeah, well, it's the best we've got." he says.
I begin to walk towards the church. "You comin Lil's?" Jon asks. I nod. "Yeah, just need to talk to Dust for a sec." They nod and follow.
~~~
I walk over to the boys who is talking to Mr. Clarke. I smile and walk over. "Mr. Clarke, hi." I say. He looks up. "Hello Delilah, one of my favorite students. How have you been?" he asks. "I've been okay just dealing with these knuckleheads." I say sitting down next to Dust.
"Okay so back to our conversation. So, theoretically, how do we travel to that gate?" Lucas asks. I'm assuming they are asking him how to cast shadowalk, or go to the upside down.
"Well, picture an acrobat. Standing on a tightrope. Now the tightrope, is our dimension. And our dimension has rules." he grabs a plate and draws on it, showing us. "You can move forwards, or backwards. But, what if...right next to the acrobat, was a flea? Now, the flea can travel back and forth like the acrobat, but, he can also travel along the side of the rope. but also, underneath the rope." he says.
I realize what he's saying. "So, how can we, theoretically, become the flea?" Mike asks. "Well...you'd have to create a massive amount of energy. To open up some kind of tear in time and space-"he says. "Or like a gate." I finish. He smiles. "Yes, exactly. And then..." he says folding the plate then puncturing it.
"You create a doorway."
"But, then again, this is all-" he says. "Theoretical." we all say in unison. "But, what if this gate already existed?" Mike asks. "Well if it did, I think we'd know. It would disrupt gravity, the magnetic field, our environment." he says. "Heck, it might swallow us up whole." he finishes.
We all look at each other.
~~~
We go back to Mike's so he can explain the concept Mr. Clarke told us to her.
"So, do you know where the gate is?" Lucas asks. I feel El tense up next to me. She shook her head. "Then how do you know about the upside down?" he groans. We look at her while she plays with her fingers. I sigh then look over to Dustin, who is pacing back and forth.
"Dust, what are you doing?" I ask. He ignores me and keeps going. "Dust." I say again. Suddenly his head pops up. "I need you guys' compasses. Quick!" he yells. I get up and run out to my car to get mine and I come back to put it on the table. "What?" Lucas asks.
"I knew it. They are all facing north." he says. "So?" Lucas says. "Well, that's not true north." he continues. "What do you mean?" I ask. "It means exactly what I said. That's not true north. Are you seriously this dense?" he says. They both shrug.
"The sun rises in the east, and sets in the west. Right? Which means that's true north." he says pointing in front of us.
"So what you're saying is that our compasses are broken." Mike says.
"Do you even understand how a compass works? Do you see a battery pack on this?" Dust says sighing. "No." Mike says.
"No you don't. Because it doesn't need one. The needle's naturally drawn to the Earth's magnetic North Pole." he says.
"So what's wrong with them?" Lucas asks.
"Well, that's what I couldn't figure out, but then I remembered. You can change the direction of a compass with a magnet." he says and I realize.
"Mr. Clarke's theory." I say. He nods.
"The needles deflecting to the presence of a more powerful magnetic field. The gate." I say. They look at me realizing. We all smile. We are getting closer to finding Will.
♡❀˖⁺. ༶ ⋆˙⊹❀♡
I walk upstairs to get my bookbag out of the car so we can go find the gate and I see Steve. I haven't seen him since I slapped him.
"Hey.." he says meekly.
"What do you want?" I say grabbing a bat.
"We haven't talked in a while." he continues.
"Well I have nothing to say to you." I say.
"I do. I wanted to say sorry for my behavior. I was just upset and not thinking straight." he says.
"I forgive you, but i'm not the one you should be saying sorry to. I understand you were upset, but that doesn't mean break his things. I talked to him. And you could've too. But it's in the past." I say.
"We cool? I miss my best friend." he says opening his arms.
I walk over and hug him, god I missed this. We haven't hung out or talked since him and Nance got together. We just stopped talking and I envy her. Because she has what I wish I did. When we let go I felt cold again. "So, do you want to hang out with me, Nance bailed." he asks shoving his hands in his pockets. "Later, right now i'm gonna hang with Dustin and the boys. You know, to help them cope?" I say. "Oh. Sure, sure. Later. 8:00?" he asks. I nod. "Movie at my house. As usual."
~~~
I walk with Dust and Lucas ahead so they can follow me. We are following the compasses on the tracks towards the gate. "How much further?" Lucas asks. "I don't know. These only tell direction, not distance." Dustin says. "You really need to learn more about compasses."
"I'm just saying, how do we know when we get to the gate?" Lucas asks.
"Uh, I think a portal to another dimension is gonna be pretty obvious." Dustin says rolling his eyes. Lucas sighs and looks back at El and Mike.
"Do you think she's acting weird?" Lucas asks. "You're asking if the weirdo is acting weird?" Dustin asks. I slap him upside the head. "You both need to stop calling her a weirdo." say shaking my head. "Sorry." they both say. "I'm mean, weirder than normal?" Lucas continues. "I don't know. Who cares?" Dustin says looking down.
~~~
The sun is setting as we continue our walk until Dustin suddenly stops. "Oh no." he says. "Oh no? What's oh, no?" Lucas says. I look up, sighing. "We are headed back home." Dustin says. "What?" Mike says. "Are you sure?" Lucas asks. "Yes, i'm sure. Setting sun, right there. We looped right back around. " Dustin says.
"And you're just realizing this now?" Lucas says. "Why is this all on me?" Dustin asks. "Because you're the compass genius!" Lucas says.
"Alright, everybody calm down. We'll figure this out." I say. We all sigh. Lucas looks over to El.
"Maybe the gate moved, or something stronger is screwing with the compasses. Something with a stronger magnet." Dustin says.
"It's not a magnet. She's been acting weirder than normal. If she can lift and slam things with her mind, she can definitely screw up a compass." Lucas says. "Why would she do that?" Mike asks. "Because she's trying to sabotage our mission." he continues.
"Now wait a minute Lucas. I don't think she'd do that. Calm down." I say.
"Admit it!" he yells walking up to her and snatching her sleeve. "Fresh blood. I knew it." he says throwing her arm down. "I saw her wipe her nose on the tracks, she was using her powers!" he yelled. "Bull! That's old blood. Right, El?" Mike says. She didn't say anything. "Right? El?" he asks.
"It's not safe." she says.
The boys all start arguing until it gets physical. "Alright. Boys, Boys! Knock it off!" I yell trying to pull Lucas off of Mike. Then suddenly Lucas flies back into some old metal, hitting his back hard. I scream in horror running over to him trying to wake him up.
Mike starts yelling at El and Lucas soon wakes up in my arms. "Get off of me!" he yells pushing me away, walking home. "Let him go. He needs space." I say sighing. I stand up and turn around, not seeing El anymore.
"Guys. Where is El?"