Not Just Another Number

The Gate

Sarah's POV

Nancy leads the way inside, shoving the door open. Quickly, we all follow. The inside of the house is covered floor to ceiling with vines and dust hangs in the air. Ozzy chitters at the sight from atop my shoulder. Robin carefully steps over a vine, wincing at the sight. "Might be time to get a maid, Wheeler."

Nancy ignores her. "Come on, I don't want to stay here longer than we have to." She turns away from us and starts climbing the stairs to the second floor. I start to follow them, but Steve doesn't follow us. I stop and turn back to him, resting my hand on the railing. "Steve?" I call. Steve shakes his head, like he's clearing his mind, and walks over to me. ""I'm all good. Let's head on up."

I nod back at him and head up the stairs to Nancy's room. Vines wrap around paintings hung on the walls. I push open the door to Nancy's room, finding everyone else huddled near her closet. Nancy pushes the others out of her way as she carries a small shoe box. I walk over to her and look over her shoulder. We're gonna need all the fire power we can get. 

Nancy opens the box.

It's filled with a pair of shoes.

"Those aren't guns."

"These heels are a bit pointy, but I was hoping for more along the lines of a deadly projectile."

"I don't understand." Nancy shakes her head. Her voice is filled with confusion. Christine rests a hand on her shoulder, trying to come up with a possible answer. "Maybe you left them somewhere else?" she suggests. Nancy rolls her eyes, glaring at her. "There's a six-year-old in the house. I know where I keep my guns. And also," she turns back to the shoebox, "I threw these away years ago."

I take a step back and look around her room. Some of the posters hung up on her walls don't look familiar. These weren't hanging up when we were at her house. I walk up to a poster, wiping off some of the dust. "Hey Nance, have you always had this poster?" I ask her. I look over at her from over my shoulder and am met with confusion. She shakes her head, stepping closer. "I took that down years ago. And this...this wallpaper, this is old wallpaper." She turns and points at a mirror. "And this mirror, this went to a yard sale. And you," she walks over to her bed and picks up an old stuffed dog. "You're not supposed to be here. No, I gave you to Cousin Joanna two years ago."

Ozzy chitters nervously, brushing his tail along my back as he watches Nancy pace. I can't help but feel nervous too. How is any of this possible? Shouldn't her room look exactly the same? Nancy walks over to her bed side dresser, breathing heavily. She picks up a journal and flips through the pages. She shakes her head once she finds what she's looking for.

I step closer, trying to see what she found. "What is it?" Eddie asks. Nancy doesn't respond. Robin takes a careful step forward. "Nancy? You're freaking me out."

"I think the reason that my guns aren't here is because they don't exist yet."

"They don't...exist?"

Nancy finally turns to us, showing off the journal's pages. "This diary should be full of entries. It's not. The last entry is November 6th, 1983."

It's like my blood runs cold at her words. That day. I wrap my arms around my body and shake my head. "The day Will went missing. The day the gate opened. How?" I ask. Nancy shakes her head, just as confused as I am. "We're in the past. Somehow?" 

Goosebumps raise along my arms and the back of my neck. How is this even possible? Why would the Upside Down be stuck in the past? I look around the room again, trying to come up with an answer, any answer, but something stops me. I look at everyone.