In case you don't live forever

Chapter 9: Vale of Shadows

Peter's Pov:

We left the school and rode our bikes to Mike's house. We parked our bikes outside and went down into the basement. El laid down on the couch as she was drained from trying to find Will. "What was Will saying? Like home... Like home but dark?" Mike asked getting up from the couch. "And empty" Lucas added. I sat quietly in the floor. "Empty and Cold. Wait did he say cold?" Dustin sat at the bottom of the stairs. "I don't know. The stupid radio kept going in and out" Lucas turned to look at Dustin. "Its like riddles in the dark" Dustin sighed. "Like home. Like his house?" Mike paced a little. "Or maybe like Hawkins" I spoke after being quiet. "Upside down" El spoke softly. "What'd she say?" Lucas asked looking around.

"Upside down" Mike looked at Lucas. "What?" Lucas asked again. "Upside down" Mike told him walking up to the table we play D&D at. "When El showed us where Will was, She flipped the board over remember?" Mike sat down and turned the board to face right side up. Dustin, Lucas and I all walked up to him and sat in the other chairs. He flipped the board back upside down "Upside down. Dark, Empty" Lucas looked at him like he was crazy "Do you have any idea what he's talking about?" He asked and Dustin shook his head while I shrugged my shoulders. "Come on guys just think about it. When El took us to find Will ,she took us to his house right?" Mike made eye contact will all of us. "Yeah, and he wasn't there" Lucas spoke. "But what if was there? What if we jsut couldn't see him? What if he was on the other side? What if this is Hawkins and this is where Will is? The Upside Down" Mike flipped the D&D board right side up then upside down. "Like the Vale of Shadows" Dustin's eyes widened and Lucas looked at Mike like he was crazy. Maybe Mike was right though.

Dustin got Mike's D&D handbooks and flipped to the Vale of Shadows pages. "The Vale of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world" Dustin read before looking up at us. "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" Dustin continued to read. "An alternate dimension" I spoke quietly. "But... How... How do we get there?" Lucas asked. "You cast shadow walk" Dustin answered. "In real life dummy" Lucas rolled his eyes a little. "We can't shadow walk, but... maybe see can" Dustin looked at El laying on the couch. Everyone else's eyes landed on El as well. "Do you know how we get there? To the Upside down?" Mike asked her just to get a small head shake in response. "Oh my god" Lucas sounded annoyed turning back in his chair to face the table again.

Time squip

I stood in front of my mirror at home trying to tie the stupid bow tie I had to wear to Will's "funeral" which felt awfully weird going to knowing that he is alive. My dad Harry walked in noticing me struggling and came behind to help. "There you go sweetie. Are you ok?" He asked and I just nodded my head. He gave me a small smile before exiting my room to join my other dad. I gelled my hair a little and fixed my suit jacket before joining them downstairs. Ever since Will's "death" I had been very quiet and I could tell it was worrying my dads. They constantly asked me if I was okay and all I did was nod. Even though I knew Will was alive it was still hard being without him, knowing that the place he is is probably not very safe. I hated to admit it but I needed to see Will. I needed Will. I can't live without Will.

My dads led me out of the house and into their car. I hoped in the backseat and we drove straight to the location of Will's "funeral". When we arrived I went straight to Mike, Lucas and Dustin and the ceremony began. I didn't hear much of what the priest dude was saying as I was too focused on how we were going to save Will. Dustin nudged me a little and pointed to Jennifer Hayes crying. "Just wait until we tell Will that Jennifer Hayes was crying at his funeral" Dustin spoke just above a whisper so Mike and Lucas could hear, only to be shushed by Mrs. Wheeler.

When the ceremony ended I saw my dads talking to Joyce and Lonnie. Lonnie, I hate his gut so much. After everything he had done to Will why was he here. I joined my dad, Harry who was talking to Joyce and gave her a huge hug which she returned quickly. When the hug ended my other dad joined us and we walked away joining everyone else at the funeral. I left my dads and joined Mike, Lucas and Dustin and we went to go find Mr. Clarke

We walked inside and saw Mr. Clarke by the table with food on it. We slowly approached him "Mr. Clarke?" Mike spoke. "Oh, hey there. How are you boys holding up?" Mr. Clarke asked us. "We're... in... Mourning" Lucas told him. "Man, these aren't real nilla wafers" Dustin complained with a full mouth and I smacked his arm before rolling my eyes. "We were wondering if you had time to talk?" Mike asked. "We have some questions" Lucas added. "A lot of questions" Mike spoke. Mr. Clarke nodded and we went to find an empty table to sit at. "So you know how in Cosmos, Carl Sagan talks about other dimensions, like beyond our world?" Mike began. "Yeah, sure theoretically" Mr. Clarke answered. "Right, theoretically" Mike nodded. "So theoretically, how do we travel there?" Lucas asked. "You guys have been thinking about Hugh Everett's many-worlds intheoretically haven't you?" Mr. Clarke asked us and we gave odd looks to each other. "Well, basically, there are parallel universes. Just like our world, but just infinite variations of it. Which means there's a world out there where none of this tragic stuff ever happened" Mr. Clarke explained.

"Yeah, that's not what we're talking about" Lucas interrupted. "We're talking more about an evil dimension like the Vale of Shadows. You know the Vale of Shadows?" Dustin explained. "An echo of the Material plane, where necrotic and shadow magic..." Mr. Clarke was interrupted by Mike "Yeah, exactly. If that did exist, a place like the Vale of Shadows, how would we travel there?" "Theoretically" Lucas added. "Well... Picture an acrobat standing on a tightrope. Now, the tightrope is our dimension. And our dimension has rules. You can move forwards, or backwards. But, what if right next to our acrobat, there is a flea? Now the flea can also travel back and forth, just like the acrobat. Right?" Mr. Clarke explained drawing a diagram on a paper plate. "Right" I responed nodding. "Here's where things get really interesting. The flea can also travel this way, along the side of the rope. He can even go underneath the rope." He continued to draw on the paper plate as he explained.

"Upside down" Lucas, Mike, Dustin and I said in unison. "Exactly" Mr. Clarke nodded. "But we're not the flea, we're the acrobat" Mike had a concerned look on his face. "In this metaphor, yes, we're the acrobat" Mr. Clarke told him. "So we can't go upside down?" Lucas asked. Mr. Clarke shook his head "No." "Well, is there any way for the acrobat to get to the Upside Down?" Dustin chimed in. "Well... You'd have to create a massive amount of energy. More than humans are currently capable of creating, mind you, to open up some kind of tear in time and space, and then.." Mr. Clarke stuck his pen through the paper plate "You create a doorway." "Like a gate?" Dustin asked. "Sure. Like a gate. But again this is all..." Mr. Clarke was cut off by Lucas "Theoretical." "But... but what if this gate already existed?" Mike asked Mr. Clarke. "Well, if it did, I... I think we'd know. It would disrupt gravity, the magnetic field, our environment, Heck, it might even swallow us up whole. Science is neat, but I'm afraid its not very forgiving" Mr. Clarke answered

Word count: 1437