𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙥! 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙤𝙣

SCENE TWENTY SEVEN. the upside down

she laid on nancy's bed, looking at the light in front of them grow, the others had turned on a light. nancy leaned forward to run her fingers through. hearing their voices from the otherside.

"try it now?'' dustin echoed and nancy motioned for piper to go, noticing how much the girl liked the feeling. she leaned forward, the warm tickling sensation spreading over her fingers as she drew a word.

h i

"hi!" dustin replied laughing, it sounded almost like they were in a dreamstate listening to them. it was cool. the four behind her squealing in delight. they were communicating.

s t u c k

"oh they're stuck in the upside down.'' lucas chanted and the flicker for yes returned back.

"uh you can't get back through the water gate?" dustin questioned

"what the hell's watergate."

"steve."

"cause it's in water and it's a gate."

"oh."

"that's cute."

g a u r d e d

"watergates guarded? we have a theory that can help with that."

"genius child."

"we think watergate isn't the only gate. we think there's a gate at every murder site."

"does anybody understand what he's talking about?" nancy inquired to the group. all piper wanted to do was ask about max. when no one answered and piper was frozen, nancy leaned forward to draw the question mark for her.

"wait. like what you said earlier. about the demogorgon. a gate must open for ever death by curse, right? he has to get them in here somehow." piper asked and it was now everyone's turn to look at her in confusion, before a lightbulb above nancy's head flickered above her head. the two were right. so she turned to eddie whilst piper turned back to the lights.

m a x

"max? what about her?"

o k a y ?

"she's okay, piper."

"so how far is your trailer?"

"seven miles."

"nancy? i know your house is like weirdly creepily frozen in time and shit, but haven't you always had bikes." robin added and nancy looked back at her. she was right. and the group ran out to the bikes. piper felt so much better knowing that max was okay. and on the other side, max felt alive to know piper was okay too. there were only four bikes. and piper had been last to get out the hose.

"come on sweetheart." eddie told her, batting the seat and steve laughed, grabbing piper's arm and dragging her to his bike.

"she's with me." and he motioned for her to ride on the handlebars. when she told him she would rather die and climbed onto the pegs on the wheels. her arms around around his chest as they rode. he felt he hair behind them. her face pressed into his back. and in the same place, on the other side in the future. the other four kids rode their bikes towards the munson trailer and away from the cops. something that piper and steve, their parents will most definitely kill them for in a normal situation. they rode fast, her arms getting tighter. something the corner of his lips twitched up with. thankful the stuck to rods, meaning they didn't have to dodge and weave through trees but it did mean they would pass the creel house. and they did. creatures of all kinds snarled and groaned at the doors. it didn't look like max's drawing. but piper knew he was around. that cold feeling deep in her bones, like an inescapable prison she's bound for life. forever fearing. she snuggled into the back of steve and he took note to ride faster by it. wasting no time heading towards the trailer park. nearly everything was covered in vines. much like everywhere else, it made her wonder about her house once more. wondering what the otherside parker house would look like.

"that's gotta be a guiness world record. most miles travelled interdimensionally.'' robin stated as they dropped their bikes on the grass outside the munson trailer. piper's eyes wandered to max's home. the vines cushing in on the building.

"just inhaled a bunch of that crap. it's stuck in my throat.'' steve whined as he followed them, coughing thanks to the ashy air around them. she thanked the heavens she was asthmatic, this seriously would be hell then. the door wouldn't budge at first, and once opened they knew why. he was trying to hide them. the vines curled the ceiling of the trailer and revealed an opening.

"this is where chrissy died, like right where she died." and piper found herself standing right under it, staring up at the red lining that seemed to cover the hole.

"hey, there's something moving in there." she commented looking up seeing a shadow touch against the red glow before digging into it, leaving a bump where it had touched but not broken though.

"piper!'' nancy cried, reaching forward to grab the girl's hand before the thing broke though, pulling the girl back as it made an awful sound, familiar to the sound one would resemble with skin ripping. the end of a broom and bright glow filled the room. unlike the red, it was warm, the otherside.

"max." she cried, pushing nancy off and rushing to stand under the opening once more. looking up to find the group of kids stood on the other side. them too staring up at the ceiling where they were. max grinned, waving to piper who smiled thankfully to see she was okay. afterall they hadn't seen vecna so far. the group followed her actions to find she wasn't tripping out. and they really were stood on the other side.

the two groups stood staring up at one another. this was fucking weird as fuck man.