Adolescence, m. mayfield

07. traitors

El was collapsed out on the couch back in Mikes basement, Ten sat on the floor in front to lean against it, the pair briefly listened in on the conversation the boys were having, "What was Will saying? Like home... like home... but dark?" Mike recalled their friends hurried words over the radio.

"And empty" Lucas added on

Dustin sighed with his head in his hands, "Empty and cold. Wait, did he say cold?" Ten felt a little bad, he could've helped more and maybe the radio wouldn't have failed. He knew about what they were trying to figure out about Wills words- Ten knew all to well about the cold dampness of the mirrored world hidden below theirs.

"I don't know. The stupid radio kept going in and out"

"It's like riddles in the dark"

Mike was starting to pace around the floor, "Like home. Like this house?"

"Or maybe like Hawkins"

"Upside down"

The boys turned their heads to the couch at El's weak explanation, "What'd she say?"

Ten looked up at Mike who's face had some sort of realisation as he stormed over to the desk with the d&d set up, "Upside down" as he flipped the board Dustin and Lucas came to sit down with him, "When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember?" He demonstrated for them, "Upside down. Dark. Empty"

Lucas looked across the table at Dustin, "Do you understand what he's talking about?"

"... No"

"Guys come on, just think about it" Mike said with desperation and looked into space to think  before punctuating his words with a nod in Lucas' direction, "When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?"

"Yeah. And he wasn't there-"

"But what if he was there? What if we just couldn't see him... what if he was on the other side" he turned the board back to normal again, "What if this is Hawkins and..." flipped it over one last time, "This is where Will is. The upside down"

Dustin's eyes light up, "Like the Vale of Shadows" he sprung to his feet and retrieved Mikes d&d manual from a shelf and started reading the description, "'The Vale of Shadows' is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world. It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase. A place of monsters... it is right next to you and you don't even see it"

The air got very tense as the words sunk in. Ten glanced back, connecting with El's mirroring wide eyed look at the eerie similarities of the two places. Dustin slowly looked up from the book to his friends, "An alternate dimension"

"But... ho- how do we get there?"

"You cast shadow walk" Dustin said confidently and was met with a blank expression from Lucas.

"In real life, dummy"

He shrugged as his eyes trailed over the other's shoulder, "We can't shadow walk, but... maybe they can"

The trio looked over at Ten and El hopefully, "Do you know how to get there? To the upside down?" Ten shook his head almost instantly- a lie, El slowly going along with it.

But it was for their safety. The party didn't know the upside down. Didn't know what it held. How truly dangerous and frightening it was. And Ten didn't want to ever go back through there.

☆彡📻----📰ミ☆

The boys left for a lot of the next morning for Will's funeral but congregated back in Mikes basement to talk about what their science teacher had told them about how one would get into alternate dimensions.