Against all odds || Stranger Things 4 | Hellcheer

Chapter 42

The van drifts and comes to a stop in a cloud of dust, right in front of the Munsons's trailer. Eddie jumps out of the driver's seat and zooms toward the front door, Dustin on his heels. The yellow police tape is reaped off carelessly. Discretion isn't Eddie's top priority at the moment.

A shiver runs down his spin as he steps in and looks up. The gate is staring down at him like the eye of Sauron, casting its eerie gloom over the living room. It has grown wider since this morning, although not as big as the gate at school, and the vines have spread as far as Eddie's bedroom door.

Through the walkie, he can hear Lucas calling out in the blind. No one from the upside down has been answering since Eddie failed to remotely wake up Chrissy.

"I told you to keep the line free," snaps Dustin. "Max, can you please handle your boyfriend?"

That's the only good news they had so far: Red escaped from Vecna, with the help of both the girl with the superpowers and Chris. Because yes, Chrissy was with Maw in there, somehow. Eddie isn't sure what to make of that last piece of information - he's not sure he understands anything about what's going on - but he prays it means Chrissy can still be saved.

One thing he knows for sure, because that's the last part of Nancy's plan and she made everybody swear to stick to it before they left, is that if anybody is alive on the other side, they'll be coming here to cross back to this world - dimension, universe, whatever it's supposed to be called.

"He's not my boyfriend," is saying Max. "Are you guys sure you don't need help?"

"Yeah, we're good," replies Dustin, although Eddie thinks the opposite. "Just wait for El and make sure nothing comes out of the gate until then."

Eddie stares at the ceiling warily. The membrane that separates them from the Upside down is intact, meaning nothing is hiding somewhere in the trailer, ready to attack. At least not on this side... But they are about to tear it open, and he hopes it won't be the last stupid thing he does in his life.

If the instructions are simple - they need to make sure the others can cross over easily - the execution, not so much. Because the Upside Down is literally upside down! Once they've pierced the membrane and can look through the gate, they can see the living room in reverse, as if the gate was a mirror that makes everything look scarier. Eddie doesn't know what he was expecting. After all, it was the same with the other gate, except it was on a wall, so it didn't feel so...out of reach.

It took no time for Dustin to find a way around this setback. Eddie watches him, bemused, producing a mass of ropes and wooden stick that turns out to be a ladder rolled up on itself. How the kid thought about buying it at the hardware store will probably remain a mystery to Eddie.

Under Dustin's instructions, he drags a chair underneath the gate and climbs onto it while the other unrolls half of the ladder and hands him the other half. With all his strength Eddie throws the roll towards the ceiling, aiming at the gate but expecting the ladder to fall back on him. It doesn't. Eddie has to blink his eyes a few times to believe what he's seeing. The roll of rope ladder is levitating in the gap of the gate, half of it dangling in front of him.

"Here," says Dustin, holding out a broomstick. "Give it a little nudge."

Still awestrucked, Eddie obeys without thinking and watches the ladder unrolling up toward the floor of his alternate living room. Eddie looks down at Dustin who pulls at it, it doesn't move an inch. They glance at each other and grin, forgetting for a second the dire situation they're in.

It all comes back when Dustin offers to wait for the party on the other side. Eddie hates it. The wait. Not knowing how Chrissy is doing. Not knowing why nobody is answering. But the idea of crossing over terrifies him and the fact that Dustin could get hurt in the process even more. He glances at the vines on the ceiling and jumps as the walkie crackles to life.