"The next words out of your mouth better be that you understand, Liza or so help me-"
"I understand" Liza nodded, fingers crossed behind her back.
~x~
In which Liza Henderson fights against the Upside Down with the help of her friends.
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~x~
Liza frowned as she looked around the Wheeler house, an uneasy feeling coating her as she moved further in. The real home was always cosy, it felt lived in and full of light. You could tell that a happy family lived there. The Upside Down version was like the Wheelers had abandoned it, gone in the middle of the day, leaving everything to decay.
Mr.Wheeler's chair was torn and covered in vines, the colour had faded and arm rests frayed. Holly's toys looked like they had been chewed on and thrown around. The pictures that Karen Wheeler had up were shattered and askew. The worst part was all around the house were those damned dust particles, floating in midair like feathers as they taunted the group.
"Might be time to get a maid, Wheeler." Robin joked as she came up beside Liza.
"Come on." Nancy ignored the girl. Seeing her home like this made her feel like throwing up. "I don't want to stay here longer than we have to." Nancy led them up the stairs, straight to her bedroom.
Liza only made it halfway down the hall before she stopped at Mike's bedroom door. She expected for the room to look the same as it had in the real world, just decrepit but that wasn't the case. It was the exact same as the day that Will had disappeared. The walls still had the drawings of the Parties campaign characters. On his bed was the stuffed Ewok that Liza had given all the boys after she had taken them to see the movie. The only difference was - like the rest of the house - you could tell the creatures that lived in the Upside Down had come in and destroyed it.
The wheels in Liza's head started to turn as she tried to put the pieces together. Nothing had changed in the Upside Down, not one single thing. It struck Liza all at once when she realised that her world had changed. Mr.Wheeler had replaced his chair in nineteen eighty four. Holly hadn't played with Astronaut Barbie since she had gotten Peaches and Cream Barbie that Christmas in nineteen eighty three. The picture outside of Mike's room was now of Sunflowers, not a lake and the hallway was pink now, not blue.
Liza grabbed the Ewok and ran to Nancy's room. Bursting through the door like a rocket. Nancy, Robin and Eddie stared at her wide eyed as she caught her breath. Eddie went over to the girl placing his hands on her shoulders, he thought she was having a panic attack with the way her breathing was laboured.
"We aren't in eighty six here." Liza panted as she informed them, completely unaware that they had also come to the same conclusion. "We are back in eighty three. The day the gate opened. The day Will got taken to the Upside Down."
"How the hell did you figure that one out, doll?" Eddie asked bewildered, bringing the girl's eyes to his. "You weren't even in here."
"Context clues, Rockstar." Liza held up the stuffed Ewok. "Context clues."
Steve yelling had Liza running again, her anxiety telling her the worst had happened to him. So she went back down the stairs and into the kitchen to find Steve as he spun around in circles. Liza felt the others come up behind her, all watching as Steve continued to yell Dustin's name. Liza's panic faded into confusion and worry.
