𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐔𝐄! ✽ 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

18

❝𝐒𝐎, 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐈𝐍 𝐂𝐎𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐒,❞ mike wheeler began. sheridan snacked on a donut, as steve plucked a few nilla wafers from her plate. the harrington boy's other hand remained on the back of her chair. at the table with them was dustin and lucas, as well as their science teacher and a.v. club sponsor, scott clarke. "carl sagan talks about other dimensions? like, beyond our world?"

"yeah, sure. theoretically," scott responded. his voice was quiet and quaint, and sheridan found solace in that fact.

"right, theoretically," mike agreed.

"theoretically?" steve questioned, to which sherrie shrugged.

"so, theoretically, how do we travel there?" lucas inquired.

"you guys have been thinking about hugh everett's many-worlds interpretation, haven't you?" the older man asked with a smirk. the three young boys glanced around for answers to the question, making eye contact with sheridan.

"hey, don't look at me, man, i have no clue what's going on," the girl piped up through her donut. powdered sugar outlined her lips.

"well, basically, there are parallel universes," scott explained. "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-"

"yeah that's not what we're talking about," lucas instantly stated.

"oh." the boy's abruptness had cut his sentence short and taken him by surprise.

"we were thinking of more of an evil dimension, like the vale of shadows," dustin added. his argument sounded less harsh than lucas's interrupting. "you know the vale of shadows?" the young boy asked of his teacher before stuffing another nilla wafer into his mouth, just as steve did the same.

"an echo of the material plane where necrotic and shadow magic-"

"yeah exactly," mike cut into the man's sentence once again. "if that did exist, a place like the vale of shadows, how would we travel there?"

"theoretically," lucas appended.

"well..." mr. clarke began. he nabbed one of the paper plates in front of him, causing sherrie's brow to furrow. her and steve exchanged glances before ultimately fixating their gaze back towards the teacher. they watched intently as he pulled a pen from inside his blazer. "picture... an acrobat... standing on a tightrope," he explained as he drew the stick-figure gymnast on a rope spanning the plate. "now, the tightrope is our dimension. and our dimension has rules." scott drew an arrow on either side of the figure. "you can move forwards or backwards. but, what if, right next to our acrobat, there is a flea?" the man drew the small circle with legs along the rope. "now, the flea can also travel back and forth, just like the acrobat, right?"

"right," mike and sheridan answered simultaneously. all five men at the table shot a look the girl's way. sherrie held her hands up in defense, "hey, this stuff is interesting!"