CHAPTER TWELVE
DIARY UNDER THE BED
"So, you're sure this is it?" Sloane questioned, taking in the sight of the nearly unrecognizable Wheeler house.
"Hey, maybe after this, we can go to the Harrington's, check under Sloane's bed and see if there's a monster version of that di--"
"DIARY!" Sloane slapped her hand over Eddie's mouth, giving a shut-up-or-you're-dead look to the curly headed boy, who winked in her direction, clearly trying to rile her up.
"WHAT?" Steve whipped his head around, careful to not blow a gasket right then and there. He knew he had to be quiet, but honestly, he was having a hard time remaining quiet and civil whilst thinking of two things: Eddie in his sister's bedroom and what the hell was under her bed. He didn't even want to know.
"Guys, shut up and come on!" Nancy groaned, turning the cold and slimy knob into her house. This shell of a house was not her home. Even though Sloane had only ever been inside the Wheeler's house a few times during their adventures over the past three years, this alternate dimension of the house didn't offer the same warm comforting welcome it did before. There was definitely no Mrs. Wheeler baking chocolate chip cookies for her guests in the kitchen.
The thought alone reminded Sloane of yet another reason she didn't like Nancy Wheeler. Nancy never had to beg for a mother's love, Nancy never had to be the best of the best in order to get a smile from her mom. When it came to Steve and Sloane's own mother, good was disappointing, great was tolerated, and perfection was expected. When Steve struck out in little league baseball, Mrs. Harrington left, not bearing to watch another moment. When Sloane was a finalist in the spelling bee but only ended being runner up, her mother let her know how much she failed. Perfection was the only thing the Harrington's would reward, because if you aren't first, you're last, they so often told their children.
"Might be time to get a maid, Wheeler." Robin smiled through her mini-mental breakdown Sloane could tell she was having.
"Just, come on. I don't want to be here longer than we have to." Nancy grunted as she trudged up the stairs, and the rest of the gang was soon to follow.
***
"Those aren't guns." Eddie panicked, pointing to the heels in the shoe box that lay in front of the teens.
"I don't understand." Nancy whispered to herself, running a stressed hand through her hair - a nervous habit she'd picked up from Steve, no doubt. Sloane thought something seemed weird between the two the passed few days, but she couldn't quite place the feeling.
"Maybe you put them somewhere else?" Eddie suggested frantically, causing Nancy to snap. "There's a six year old in the house. I know where I keep my guns." The curly headed girl immediately glanced at Sloane after snapping at Eddie, half-heartedly expecting the Harrington girl to reign hell on her.
"She's six now? Really?" Sloane asked, completely diverting from the real matters at hand. Sloane only remembered when Steve first came home talking about Nancy and her three-year-old little sister, which felt like yesterday. It surely made Sloane feel old, and she wondered if she'd ever make it home alive to have her own kids one day - far into the future, of course, after her big fat degree from Vanderbilt was shining bright on her wall.
"Um, where is Steve?" Sloane looked around, no sign of her brother anywhere.
Nancy ignored Sloane's question as she looked frantically around her room, like she was taking notes on every item she met eyes with. She was inspecting every inch of her room, talking about objects and things and something about how they shouldn't be here. She opened up her diary and flipped through the pages messily, face morphing into fear as she read the page.
"What is it?" Eddie broke the silence in the room.
"This diary entry is from November 6th, 1983."
The date alone sent chills down Sloane's spine. The day Will Byers disappeared. She felt like Nancy knew that, but nonetheless, she tried to lighten the darkened mood from their setting.
"Let me guess. 'Today, I woke up and brushed my hair. I put on my bubblegum lipstick and went to school. Steve Harrington looked at me. We smooched and smooched all night long because we are in love,'" Sloane mocked, talking like a little girl and twirling her hair. It was a downright horrible impression of Nancy, but it made Eddie chuckle, at least.
"Didn't you just say Eddie found a diary under your bed?" Robin pointed out innocently.
"Psht, yeah, okay, a diary that you stick up your--"
"STEVE!" Sloane screamed, running out of the room to find her brother. Anything to get out of that conversation and Eddie's jabs at her. Thanking Vecna that the darkness of the Upside Down shielded her flushed cheeks, she ran down the stairs to find Steve, who was wandering aimlessly with his flashlight in the dining room, screaming for Dustin.
"Oh, great, the rabies are setting in. STEVE! It's me, Sloane!"
Robin, Eddie, and Nancy quickly ran to Sloane's side, taking in the sight of Steve, still yelling at the walls.
"Steve, what are you doing?"
"HENDERSON! Henderson's here, the little shit, he's, he's, he's -- here! He's in the walls or something. Listen. Listen!"
Sloane tilted her head and remained quiet, questioning her brother's sanity when she heard nothing. Just as she was about to suggest a trip to the hospital in their own world, she heard a distorted voice come from thin air. It wasn't Vecna, like before, this voice was a lot less creepy and a lot higher pitched. It sounded like -- Dustin?
Well, shit, maybe she had rabies too. Hallucinations are a symptom, after all.
Sloane erred on the side of sanity and realized she wasn't hallucinating when she saw her friends screaming Dustin's name, looking behind curtains and under carpets for the boy.
"Will found a way."
"Huh?" Eddie chirped up, "who the hell is Will?"
"Long story short, he got wrapped up in this shit, too, and survived in this hell whole for like, weeks. He was only, like, ten. Talk about a badass, you would've loved him." Sloane put a hand on the small of Eddie's back, his shoulders relaxing as she did so.
"Oh, I'm, uh - sorry for you guys' loss."
"Oh, he isn't dead. He just moved to California." Sloane looked up at Eddie, who just nodded dully in response.
"He talked to Joyce through the lights!"
"Try the lamp," Sloane suggested, but Nancy's attempts were unsuccessful. It wasn't until Steve shined his flashlight on the fixture above the dining table that the lights lit up - dimly, but some. Sloane blinked as she tried to figure out if the lights were really on or if she was just delusional again.
"You guys seeing this?"
The kids marveled as they looked at the fixture, its dim light seemed like the sun itself in the darkness of the Upside Down. Nancy reached her hand up to touch the fixture, revealing glittery particles in the dark, thick air. It looked - magical? Beautiful, even?
The rest of the teens followed suit, reaching their hands up high to touch the fixture, light shining brighter with each finger that inched closer to the ceiling. The dancing glitter around Sloane's fingertips kind of tickled.
"It tickles." Steve seemed to read Sloane's mind as he fumbled with the dancing glitter.
"Does anyone know Morse code?" Nancy asked, earning a couple of no's and head shakes.
"Wait, does SOS count?" Eddie chimed in, tempting Sloane into smacking her head into her palm.
"Yes. SOS counts, honey," she rubbed his back gently, thinking how he's lucky he's pretty.
***
Back on their own home field, in the Wheeler's cozy dining room, Erica, Dustin, and Lucas sat, conjuring up plans to get their asses saved from the cops that were grilling them about Eddie's location. Lucas was fiddling with his thumbs and Dustin was rambling on about something, but Erica stayed still as she looked at the flickering light.
"Hey, remember when you said Vecna travelled through lights? Well, um, I think he's here..." the girl said worriedly, earning a concerned glimpse from Dustin and her brother. Dustin whipped his head to look at the light fixture, blinking ever so slightly that only those paying close attention could notice. He squinted as he tried to figure out the pattern to the flickering.
Tap-tap-tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap-tap-tap.
S.
O.
S.
"Hey, remember when I said they wouldn't be stupid enough to go through that Watergate?" Dustin paused, "I overestimated them."
***
Sloane was irritated with Dustin Henderson, no doubt. He'd been cocky and arrogant and simply just off his rocker the passed few days. But when his goofy laugh echoed through Nancy's alternate dimensional bedroom, Sloane had the brightest look on her face.
The kids fumbled with the twinkling glitter in front of them - friends from their own world on the receiving end, shouting in celebration as Holly's Lite Brite toy lit up like a Christmas tree. Something about the scene had a strikingly similar vibe to the Byers' Christmas lights, which went crazy as Will was communicating with his mom from the Upside Down.
Sloane drew a little heart in the shimmery air, listening as she heard Erica Sinclair's Ooos and Ahhs echo in the air. "That worked!" Dustin screamed, and the teens celebrated, Sloane grabbing Eddie and giving him a big bear hug.
Nancy traced more letters as the groups in both dimensions watched.
S - T - U - C - K.
"Stupid? Stuff? STUCK! They're stuck in the Upside Down - okay." Dustin's voice echoed through the Upside Down. "You can't go back through Watergate?"
"What the hell is Watergate?" Steve asked, looking at his sister. "The one at Lovers' Lake? The gate in the water?"
"Cause it's water and a gate?"
"Ohhh, that's cute." Sloane sighed, running a hand through her damp hair.
Nancy wrote GUARDED in the air, trying to figure out the way they could get the hell back home.
"There's a gate at every murder sight!" Dustin echoed throughout the walls, and Sloane's heart stopped as she and Eddie met eyes. Something flashed in Sloane's eyes, as Eddie saw, but he didn't know what it was dancing it her ocean eyes. Chrissy. Nancy drew a question mark in the air, causing Dustin's groans to echo through the dark setting.
"Okay, seriously! How many times do I have to be right on the money before you guys just trust me!"
"Holy shit, this kid needs to be humbled," Sloane shooed Nancy's hand and took over the canvas for herself, drawing two letters in the air, illuminating their faces as she smirked to herself.
F.
U.
"Okay, that was definitely Steve!"
The kids in the Upside Down laughed at Steve, who was rolling his eyes in annoyance. "He's talking about Chrissy." Sloane blurted suddenly, causing Eddie to flinch. Now the rest of the kids understood Dustin's theory.
"How far is your trailer, Eddie?"
Seven miles seemed like an eternity. Especially when Sloane was trying to keep up with her friends, who all had normal sized bikes, while she was on an old toddler's bike with training wheels and pink sparkly handles. Despite her sassy protests, being the smallest frame of the five teens, she was obligated to take Holly's old bike. It was a bike that was entirely too small for Sloane - but surely smaller for the rest of the crew. She rang the bell on said bike obnoxiously loud at an attempt to slow the teens in front of her down, burning her thighs and ass to try and keep up with Eddie, at least, who looked like he'd never ridden a bike before.
They pulled into the trailer park quietly, and Eddie opened the door to his trailer, letting the ladies and gent head in first. It was eerily similar to the night Sloane and Eddie first hung out. The night she decided the trailer park wasn't so bad. The night Chrissy died.
"Holy shit," Robin mumbled as the teens stared at the ceiling, looking at the fleshy red cavity in the roof. "That was where she died. Like, right there." Eddie said, grabbing Sloane's hand and giving her a comforting look. The two were connected in that sense, like their shared trauma involving Vecna and getting them wrapped up in this disaster was what kept them close. And in a way, a part of Sloane was grateful for the monsters trying to take over Hawkins. It led her to Eddie -- and for that, she'd be forever thankful.
"There's something in there." Sloane whispered, as the cavity pulsed, like it was a heartbeat or rhythmic breathing. The teens screamed as the cavity burst open, revealing a broom-like stick swinging madly through the cavity. It seemed oddly finicky for Vecna to be attacking with a broomstick. Liquid seeped and dripped from the now gaping hole as Steve slowly stepped towards it, to scope out the hole.
And when Sloane walked over behind Steve, not realizing she was holding onto Eddie's arm for dear life, expecting to see the slimy monster who'd possessed her once before, was thoroughly relieved and nonetheless excited to see Dustin Henderson, a cocky smirk wiped across his face - completely upside down.
"Woah," Sloane marveled, looking at the three kids on the ceiling-slash-floor of Eddie's trailer.
"I have an idea," Dustin tapped his chin, marching to Eddie's room to do who knows what. The teens stuck in the darkness occasionally asked questions when given the chance, when Dustin would come to the ceiling and ask Eddie where is this or that. The young boy's plan didn't make sense until the three kids from their own world were practically turning Eddie's own trailer upside down, moving furniture and flipping things over.
"I uh, I don't know what those stains are." Eddie stuttered as they all looked up at his stain-ridden mattress. Albeit unbelievable, they chose to ignore the idea that they would soon land on those stains and be home safe, for now.
Dustin chucked the tied bedsheets, that now resembled a rope, up towards the ceiling, causing them to fall into the Upside Down from the ceiling.
"I'll be the guinea pig." Robin hopped onto the rope, climbing herself up through the whole, and seemingly falling upward onto Eddie's mattress. "That was fun." She smiled, thankful that she made it back to her own dimension in one piece.
"Ladies' first," Eddie led Sloane's hand he was holding to the rope and she smiled, "thank goodness I'm stronger than Steve. These biceps beat your ass by three seconds, remember that." She blew Steve a kiss as she hoisted herself up back into her dimension. She fell flat on the mattress, giggling like a child as she flew through the air, "that was fun!" Eddie was next, having no takers between he, Steve, and Nancy. He fell a lot less gracefully than Sloane did, hitting the mattress with a hard thud.
"That, was fun. Shit," Eddie laughed as he grabbed Sloane's hand, pulling himself up.
"Nancy! NANCY! Stay with me! Wake up! Wake up!" Steve's screams prompted Sloane's hairs on her neck to stand straight up. Something was happening. Something was wrong.
"It's Vecna."
***
hmmmmmmmmm what are we thinking ???