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― season one, episode six;
THE UPSIDE DOWN
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5021 words
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*.✧ 𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐘 ✧.*
I slipped my white sneakers on, tying them up as fast as I could.
I didn't want to be home any longer, the tension in the air between us all was just too much.
I was going to go to Mike Wheeler's house, Will's best friend. He deserved to know about everything that was happening. And maybe he'd know something about Will that Mom, Jonathan and I don't. I always tell Hannah all my secrets, maybe Will was the same way with Mike.
I finished putting my shoes on, and I went to grab my coat but then I noticed that Jonathan was standing in the hallway.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"None of your business," I huffed, still upset at him from the very public commotion earlier.
"Well, I'm going down to the funeral home to look at caskets if you want to come." He came closer to me.
"I have things to do." I answered, snatching up my coat and hurriedly putting it on.
"Like what? Talk to some more lights with Mom?" Jonathan glared at me.
I paused to shoot him a nasty look. "Don't even start." I finished zipping up my jacket before turning and opening the door. Then, I stepped outside, slamming it on Jonathan's face.
I started to march down our driveway and towards the street. I heard Jonathan come outside but I didn't even look behind me.
"Can I at least drive you to wherever you're going?" He called after me.
I looked over my shoulder at him briefly to say, "I'd rather you not." Then I turned my back to him and continued down the street.
It took me around twelve minutes to walk to Mike's house, but I had so much adrenaline going through me that I hadn't slowed my pace once and I wasn't even tired.
I knocked on the door and I heard footsteps running across the carpeted floor and then the lock turned.
Mike opened the door and then just stared at me. "What are you doing here?" He asked.
"I want to talk about Will." I stated.
"Well, you can't come in right now." Mike looked around nervously.
"Why not?"
"Because."
"That's not a good reason, Mike."
He sighed. "There's just some stuff that you don't know about, and you don't want to get involved."
He went to shut the door on me but I wedged my shoe in the way, propping the door open.
"I think that I know more than you think." I said sternly.
Mike and I stared at each other for a minute then his face softened and he gave in, openimg the door wider. I smiled mockingly at him, proud that I had won, and then I slipped inside.
*.✧ 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄 ✧.*
I was doodling flowers on my schoolwork as the teacher paced the room talking about something to do with atoms. However, I had other things on my mind.
"Miss Holland?"
I looked up when my name was said, and saw two police officers standing in the doorway. I furrowed my brow as the class fell silent.
"Um, yes?" I spoke softly, setting my pencil down on the table and sitting up straighter.
The officers moved over to the side and I saw Nancy was standing behind them. She was staring at the ground, her fingers picking at the hem of her sweater.
"Come with us, please." I did as I was told and followed the police, and Nancy, down to the cafeteria.
We sat at a table, me next to Nancy, and the officers across from us.
The first officer put his hands on the table, fingers interlocked, and sighed at us. Then he turned to me.
"This morning we got a call from Miss Wheeler," he nodded towards Nancy. "And she reported your sister, Barbara, missing."
I swallowed hard before nodding.
"So, we want to speak with you both because you two were the last to see her. Let's start off with you, Belle."
I cleared my throat before telling them, "I had gone downstairs in the middle of the night to get a glass of water," I took a deep breath to try and steady my voice. "And I saw that Barb was getting her shoes on. We...we had a bit of an argument then she just left. I haven't seen her since."
I looked over at Nancy, who was hanging her head.
"Okay, so I believe that's where the story is passed on to you, isn't that right Nancy?" The policeman turned to her.
"Yes," Nancy looked up and held eye contact with him. "She left to go pick me up and then we went over to a friends house-"
"In the middle of the night?" The second officer cut in.
Nancy narrowed her eyes subtly at him. "Yes sir." She stated, then she went on, "We hung out and went swimming, and then I went inside to change into dry clothes. When I came back down, Barb was gone. I thought that she had just gone home, but I know now that's not the case."
"Over the phone you told us that you went back to the friend's house yesterday? Both of you?"
Nancy and I nodded unanimously.
"And you saw...a bear?" The officer cocked his head to one side.
Nancy shook her head quickly. "No, I said that I don't know what it was. But Belle saw it too."
I nodded, backing her up.
"I think..." Nancy sighed before leaning forward in her seat. "I think maybe it took Barb."
I felt my stomach start to churn at her words. I hadn't wanted to admit it but I was thinking the same thing. The more days that go by, and the more things that we find out, the more I feel like this whole thing might be a lot darker than I had originally thought.
The officers exchanged a questioning look, causing Nancy to tense up.
"You need to check behind Steve's house, I-" Nancy started to plead with them but was interrupted by the second policeman again, who told her that they already did and there is nothing there.
"No sign of a bear," the first officer gave his partner a warning look to watch his tone with us. "And no car."
"What?" Now I leaned forward in my seat. What do they mean no car? Nancy and I had just seen it yesterday!
"We figure that Barbara came back last night and then she took off and went somewhere else."
I started to shake my head, scoffing. This is ridiculous, they aren't listening to a thing we are saying! wI shouldn't be surprised though, these are cops we are talking about.
"Has she ever said anything about running away? Leaving town, maybe?"
"No! Absolutely not! Barb would never do anything like that!" I exclaimed. "She was really happy here."
"Are you sure that she wasn't upset about your fight? Or upset with you, Nancy?"
"With me?" Nancy looked offended. "Why would she be mad at me?"
"Well, maybe because you had been spending time with this boy. Steve Harrington, is it?"
"What? No!" Nancy defended herself. "Steve and I are just friends!"
"Uh huh. And was this before or after you changed out of your clothes?" The second officer snapped.
Nancy leaned back in her seat, falling silent. I felt my blood boil and I slammed my hands on the table.
"Are you being serious right now? My sister is missing and you are slut shaming a teenage girl? What is wrong with you? Why don't you just do your damn job, officer?" I spat out the last word, seething.
"Whoa! Calm down little girl! We are doing our job!" He snapped back at me.
I opened my mouth to say something else but then our fight was interrupted by the bell.
"You two should be getting to class. We will let you know if we find anything." The first officer told us.
Nancy just nodded silently, but I didn't bite my tongue, snapping, "Why don't you let me know when you decide to make yourselves useful and listen to us?"
With this I pushed myself up from the table and stomped out of the cafeteria. I felt tears starting to prick the corners of my eyes so I made a beeline for the bathroom.
I locked myself in a stall and leaned my forehead against the door, letting my tears fall. I can't believe that nobody even cared that Barb was gone. And nobody was listening to me and Nancy, the only two people who know something is going on here.
I heard the bathroom door swing open and I recognized the sound of Nancy's shoes against the floor.
"Belle?" She spoke softly and I couldn't stop myself from opening the stall door. She looked at me with a heartbroken look in her eye. I wiped my tears and sniffled.
"I'm sorry that he said those things to you Nancy," I croaked. "I don't know anything about what he's talking about, but you don't deserve that."
"Thank you, Belle, but I'm more sorry that they don't believe us." Nancy said, stepping towards me and laying her hand comfortingly on my arm.
My eyes welled with tears again and I looked down at the floor. "Yeah, it sucks. They're probably not even going to do anything about it. They'll just say she ran away so they can close the case and then go home and sit on their lazy asses."
Nancy was quiet for a minute, and I knew that she was planning something.
"What are you thinking?" I looked up and tried to search her face to read her expression.
"You're right. They won't do anything. But that doesn't mean we can't do it ourselves."
She got this determined look in her eye that really scared me, and then she grabbed my hand and started to pull me towards the door.
"Follow me, I have an idea." She told me, although I didn't have much of a choice, as she was already dragging me out of the bathroom and down the hallway.
Nancy dragged me right out of the school building and out to her car.
Then, she drove us to Ashley Byers' house, telling me to wait in the car while she went up to the front door. She talked with Ms. Byers for a minute, then she came marching back.
She wouldn't answer any of my questions as she drove off again, this time going into town.
"Nancy, why the hell are we at a funeral home?" I demanded as Nancy parked the car and turned off the engine.
Nancy finally looked over at me, taking a deep breath. "Okay, so hear me out. Jonathan was there the night that Barb went missing."
"Jonathan Byers was at a party? You've officially lost it!" I laughed.
"No, he wasn't at Steve's. He was in the woods, looking for Will, and he was taking pictures." Nancy explained.
"Okay? What does this have to do with Barb?" The more she spoke, the more confused I got.
"Just listen to me, Belle!" Nancy grabbed my hands and looked into my eyes, face serious. "The other day, Steve and his friends were harassing Jonathan over taking pictures of us at the party, and they ripped up the photos and threw them on the ground. Well, I managed to grab some of the pieces and I took them home, taped them together, and..."
Nancy reached into the backseat and grabbed her school bag, taking out a small piece of paper that was taped together. She held it out to me, and I took it, seeing that it was of Barb. She was sitting on the edge of the diving board, staring into the pool. I felt my heart ache at the sight of her.
"What's your point?" I looked up from the photo to make eye contact with Nancy. Nancy placed her pointer finger in the top right corner of the picture.
"Do you see that?" She whispered, keeping her finger there as I squinted.
My muscles tensed when I saw it. It appeared to be a giant, open mouth with thousands of teeth. But it was blurry, like it had been moving, so I couldn't be sure. I thought back to the dark figure in the woods yesterday and I got chills.
The energy inside the car shifted and Nancy took the photo back from me. She put her hand on the door handle and opened it, pausing to tell me one last thing.
"I think that Jonathan might know what took Barb."
Then she shut the door on me, leaving me to scramble out of the car and chase her down the sidewalk. Nancy had mastered the "determined fast march" and I was taking extra long strides to keep up.
Nancy pushed the door to the funeral home open and walked right over to Jonathan, who was standing in the corner, looking at caskets. Oh God, we picked a horrible time to want to speak with him. Probably the worst timing in the history of the world.
He heard us approaching and turned to look at us, giving a confused expression. "Um, hey." He spoke quietly.
"Hi." Nancy replied. "Your mom said that you were here. I just..." She paused, pulling out the photo from behind her back. "Can we talk for a minute? Outside?"
Jonathan glanced at the photo and then over at me, and I just gave him a small nod, keeping my face serious. Then, he took a step towards the door and Nancy and I followed him and we slipped into a quiet, empty hallway. The three of us sat down on a bench and Nancy set the photograph in Jonathan's lap. She pointed out the ominous shape in the corner just like she had done with me.
"What do you think that is?" She asked.
"I don't know..." Jonathan held the photo up to his face to look closer at it. "It looks like it could be some kind of distortion, but that would be..." His voice trailed off and he shook his head. "I wasn't using the wide angle. So, I don't know. It's weird."
He handed the photo back to Nancy, who was silent for a moment.
"And you're sure you didn't see anyone else out there? Or anything?" Nancy's words sent yet another chill down my spine.
"No, I mean, she was there one second, and then...gone. I figured she bolted or something." Jonathan replied.
"The cops think that she ran away. But they don't know Barb." Nancy glanced over at me before continuing. "And we went back to Steve's and we saw...something. In the woods. Some weird man, or an animal of some kind. I don't know what it was."
Nancy shifted in her seat before she jumped to her feet. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come here. Especially not today. This was really disrespectful, I'm sorry." She grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. "C'mon, Belle, let's go."
Nancy and I started to make our way to the door.
"What did he look like?"
Nancy froze and turned around, and I did the same. Jonathan had risen from his seat, and was looking on edge.
"This man you saw in the woods. What'd he look like?" Jonathan pushed.
"I-I don't know." Nancy shook her head.
"He was really tall," I cut in. "And he looked like he didn't...he didn't have a-"
"He didn't have a face?" Jonathan finished my sentence and I shot him a confused look.
"How did you know that?" I asked, my voice breaking. I felt Nancy tense up beside me.
Jonathan gave us a somber look. "Cause my mom has seen it too."
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I swung my legs as I sat on a table in the school's darkroom. Nancy and Jonathan were in the corner, hovering over a piece of equipment.
"And what are you doing, exactly?" Nancy questioned as Jonathan pulled down on some kind of lever.
"Brightening and enlarging the picture." He replied, turning some dials.
"Right." Nancy sighed. "Did your mom say anything else? Like, um, where it might have gone, or anything like that?"
"No, just that it came out of the wall." Was all Jonathan said. The machine made a dinging noise and Jonathan pulled the picture out of the clamp it was in. He moved across the room until he reached a table with a bunch of trays on them, then he set the picture in the liquid, letting it float.
Nancy came over to him and I climbed off my table and went over there too. I watched as Jonathan moved the picture around in the tray.
"How long does this take?" I asked.
"Not long." Jonathan didn't look up at me, staying focused on his task.
I sighed and looked up at the ceiling, feeling bored.
"Have you been doing photography for a while?" Nancy asked, making small talk.
"Yeah. I guess I'd rather observe people than, you know, talk to them." Jonathan replied, taking his hands off the tray and looking over at Nancy. She gave him a small smile.
"I know, it's weird." He said, looking down. Nancy shook her head quickly, trying to reassure him.
"No, it is." Jonathan said. "It's just sometimes...people don't say what they're really thinking. But when you capture the right moment, in a picture, it says more."
"What was I saying when you took my picture?" Nancy asked.
Jonathan looked down at the floor, seeming embarrassed. "I shouldn't have taken that. I'm sorry. It's just-"
"That's it!" Nancy cut in, looking down at the photograph in the tray. I hurried to look as well and I gasped when I saw it.
The same tall, lean, dark figure that I had seen in the woods with Nancy was looming over Barb in the photograph.
"That's what was in the woods," I breathed.
"I thought my mom was crazy." Jonathan sputtered. "Cause she said that's not Will's body. That he's alive. And if he's alive-"
"Then Barb..." Nancy's voice trailed off and I could hear my heart thumping in my ears. The three of us looked at each other, and I brought my hand to my mouth.
"Oh my god," My voice broke. "Barb is alive."
*.✧ 𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐘 ✧.*
I went down the basement stairs, following Mike, pausing at the bottom step. Lucas Sinclair and Dustin Henderson, Will's other friends, were here too, but that wasn't the weird thing. The weird thing is the fact that there's a girl laying on Mike's couch.
She had a blond wig on and a pink dress that was way too big on her. I could've sworn I've seen Nancy, Mike's sister, wear that dress to school before.
I made eye contact with her and she sat up, looking afraid. I glanced at Mike. "Uh...who is this?"
"This is Eleven, but we call her El for short. We found her in the woods the night that Will went missing. She has figured out how to talk to him through the walkie talkies." Mike explained quickly.
I'm sorry, what?
"And she has superpowers." Dustin spoke up. I looked over at him and he gave me a big grin. "Hi Ashley." He beamed.
I ignored him and turned back to Mike. "What the actual hell are you guys talking about?"
"It's all true, I swear!" Mike exclaimed. "Will is alive."
I crossed my arms. "Okay, so where is he?"
Mike sighed. "I don't know."
"Can't supergirl over there just tell us or something?" I said, looking over at her. "I mean if she knows so much."
"That's what I've been saying!" Lucas chimed in. "She can lift things with her mind, but she has no clue where Will is? I call bull."
"Lucas, I swear you were just coming around." Dustin groaned.
"Somebody has to remain skeptical." Lucas snapped.
"Hold on," I interrupted their argument that was beginning. "Move things with her mind?"
"Telekinesis!" Mike said eagerly.
"Normally I would say that I would have to see it to believe it," I sighed. "But I've seen a monster's hand come out of Will's bedroom wall, so anything is possible at this point."
"A monster?" Lucas questioned.
"What did it look like?" Dustin asked.
"I mean, I only saw its hand, but it had long fingers and the sharpest claws." I shuddered as the memory flashed across my mind.
"Sick!" Dustin exclaimed.
"No, Dustin, it's not sick! It's crazy!" Lucas argued. "This is all crazy!"
"Everybody shut up!" Mike said. "We have to stop arguing! Focus on what Will said earlier!"
"What Will said-" I started but Mike held up his finger. I shut my mouth and watched as Mike paced around the room, staring at the ground. "It's like home, it's like home..." he repeated under his breath.
"But dark and empty." Lucas chimed in.
"He said it was cold," Dustin added. "Wait, did he say cold?"
"I don't know," Lucas sighed. "The stupid radio kept going in and out."
They spoke to Will on a radio? Okay, maybe they did know more than I originally gave them credit for.
"Like home...like his house?" Mike stopped his pacing.
"Or maybe like Hawkins?" I butt in. The boys looked at me.
"Upside down."
We all turned to look at Eleven, who had just spoken. She had laid back down and was staring straight ahead.
"What?" I asked.
"Upside down..." Mike muttered.
"Yeah, I heard her." I snapped, getting frustrated. I should've known that middle school boys wouldn't be any help. "But what does that mean?"
"Upside down!" Mike took a seat at the small table in the center of the room. Lucas, Dustin and I went over and sat around the table with him. Mike flipped a game board over on the table, so the black, non-printed on side was facing up.
"Dark, empty." He spoke like it was obvious.
"Do either of you understand what he's talking about?" Lucas looked at me and Dustin.
"Nope." Dustin said.
I shook my head. "Not a clue."
Mike sighed. "Guys, just think about it. When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?"
I watched Dustin and Lucas' reactions, since I wasn't there, and apparently I hadn't been home either. They were still giving Mike confused looks.
"Yeah. And he wasn't there." Lucas said.
"Obviously. Or else I wouldn't be here right now. I could only dream of being that lucky." I added the last part in a sing song voice.
"But what if he was there?" Mike ignored my snarky comment and continued on. "What if we just couldn't see him? What if he was on the other side?"
I felt goosebumps prick my arms. Dustin and Lucas' faces suddenly got really solemn as well.
Mike flipped the board right side up again. "What if this is Hawkins," Back to the dark, blank side. "And this is where Will is. The Upside Down."
"Like the Vale of Shadows." Dustin breathed.
"What, exactly, is the Vale of Shadows?" I asked, my voice quiet.
Dustin reached behind him to a stack of books and pulled one out. He set it on the table and opened it, flipping the pages frantically until he found what he was looking for. He pressed his pointer finger against the page as he read aloud, "The Vale of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection of our world. It is a place of decay and of death. A place filled with monsters."
I held my head in my hands as my heart began to race. This can't be true, it's impossible. But the monster in the wall, the lights...all of it, it was too real.
Dustin carried on, "It is right next to you and you don't even see it."
"An alternate dimension." Mike spoke up.
"How did Will get there?" I asked.
"And how do we get there?" Lucas said.
"We cast Shadow Walk." Dustin replied confidently.
"In real life, dummy." Lucas snapped.
"We can't shadow walk, but...maybe she can." Dustin was staring at Eleven, and the rest of us slowly turned to look at her.
"Do you know how we get there? To the upside down?" Mike asked, voice soft.
We all stared at her expectantly, and then...
She shook her head no.
Lucas threw back his head and groaned. "Oh my God."
I looked back over at the open book in front of Dustin and stared at the big photograph at the top of the page. It showed a dark, scary looking forest.
I can't even imagine what that could possibly feel like, to be trapped, stuck in an alternate dimension. And a dark and scary one at that. Will had to be terrified.
If Will was seriously there, we had to get him out. We had to.
No matter what.
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I had practically run home from Mike's, my mind racing and my heart thumping. I flung the front door open, planning on running right to my bedroom to think, but the scene in front of me made me freeze in my tracks.
Dad was sitting on the couch with his arms around Mom, comforting her.
In case you hadn't figured it out by now, Jonathan and I aren't too fond of our father, and I thought that Mom wasn't either. Seeing as he used to hit her, and that she had divorced him. And yet there they were, canoodling on the couch like some loved up teenagers. It was making me nauseous.
Jonathan was in the room too, glaring at them and breathing heavily. I put it together that he had just gotten home as well and had come in to find them like this.
Jonathan turned to face me, looking angry. "Are you seeing this, Ash?"
"Yeah but I really wish that I wasn't." I said, looking past him and staring down Dad. He just rolled his eyes at me and stood up.
"C'mon, you guys," Dad scolded. "Don't be so happy to see me. I'm here to comfort your mother and to help look for my son."
Jonathan scoffed.
Mom leaned forward, giving us a guilty look. "Dad is going to stay here for a bit."
"I'm here as long as you guys need me, okay?" Dad gave a smile before sitting back down with Mom.
Jonathan's gaze fell on the wall and I followed his eyes, seeing a tarp hung up on the wall. I pushed past him and went over to it, pushing the tarp to the side revealing a big hole in the wall. I turned to look back at Jonathan, who looked concerned.
"What happened here?" He asked Mom.
"Don't worry about that." Dad cut in.
"Mom?" Jonathan ignored him. "That thing you saw before, did it come back?"
"Jonathan, that's enough." Dad said firmly.
I stepped away from the wall, letting the tarp fall back over the hole. I stepped back over to Jonathan who was tensing up.
"Can we talk?" He asked Dad sternly.
Dad sighed and pushed himself off the couch once more and then the two of them went into Jonathan's bedroom and shut the door.
I took Dad's place on the couch next to Mom and took her hand. "Mom," I spoke softly. "Just remember that I saw it all too. You're not crazy. Don't let him tell you that you are."
Mom sighed, looking down at the floor. "Maybe he's right, honey. Maybe we are just grieving and we are making things up to help us cope."
"No, no way." I squeezed her hand tighter. "Do you really think that the both of us had the same hallucinations at the same time? It's impossible. It had to have been real."
Mom just shook her head, her eyes filling with tears as she still refused to look at me.
"Did the thing come back?" I asked.
No response.
"Mom?"
This time she shook her head slowly. "No, it wasn't...it wasn't the hand like before. It was Will. I put my hand against his and I felt him." Mom's voice cracked. "I really felt him, Ashley. He was right there." She pointed at the tarp and I bit my lip.
"Mom," I took a deep breath. "I'm starting to realize that this might be a lot darker than everybody is thinking, even you."
Mom looked over at me finally, her eyebrows furrowed together. "What do you mean?"
I opened my mouth to explain what the boys and I had discovered earlier but then Jonathan's bedroom door opened and Dad burst out. He stopped to look at me. "Ashley, you better not be feeding into her delusions." He pointed an accusing finger at me.
"They're not delusions!" I snapped back, standing up.
"Just...stop it." Dad took a deep breath. "The funeral is tomorrow, so please, behave."
Then he walked right out the front door. I didn't care where he was going, I was just glad that he was gone. He always makes things so much worse.
"Wasn't planning on it," I muttered under my breath even though he couldn't hear me. Then I walked down the hallway and shut myself in my bedroom.
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ೃ༄ author's note!
hey guys! thanks for reading! i hope you liked this one!
ashley met el! i'm thinking about giving them a big sister little sister dynamic. i'm really excited to write that and see where it goes! ☺️
belle and nancy are teaming up for real now, and they are piecing things together fast. they might end up in a bit of trouble from their curiosity... 🤔
and ughh lonnie is back? he is hands down the worst stranger things character on the whole show. 🙄
anyways, thanks for reading!! i would love if you would vote for this chapter and follow me to be notified when i update.
love ya,
catie ♡