Stranger Things x reader

S1~The Flea and The Acrobat

After the boys had gotten back from school, they called for y/n to go to Mike's basement through their walkies. When she arrived, they told her everything that happened in the AV room
"What was Will saying? Like home... Like home... but dark?" Mike spoke, standing up and staring to pace
"And empty." Lucas sighed
"Empty and cold. Wait, did he say cold?" Dustin added
"I don't know. The stupid radio kept going in and out."
"It's like riddles in the dark.
"Like home. Like his house?"
"Or maybe like Hawkins." y/n spoke up
"Upside down." El mumbled from her position on the couch
"What'd she say?"
"Upside down." Mike said, almost as if he had a light bulb moment
"What?"
"Upside down. When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember?" he then demonstrated by flipping the board and y/n, Dustin and Mike all sat at the table with him
"Upside down. Dark. Empty."
"Do you understand what he's talking about?" Lucas asked Dustin
"No."
"wait, it sort of makes sense, just think about it. When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?"
"Yeah. And he wasn't there."
"But what if... what if he was there? What if we just couldn't see him? What if he was on the other side? What if this is Hawkins and..."  y/n spoke as she flipped the board right side up and then flipped it back over
"this..."
"this is where Will is?" Mike finished
"The Upside Down." y/n added
"Like the Vale of Shadows."

Dustin turned the pages of Mike's Dungeons and Dragons rule book and began to read
"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."
"An alternate dimension."
"But... how... how do we get there?" Lucas questioned
"You cast Shadow Walk."
"In real life, dummy."
"We can't shadow walk, but... maybe she can." Dustin spoke, making everyone look towards El who was still laying on the couch
"Do you know how we get there? To the Upside Down?" Mike asked her, she shook her head and they all sighed.

After y/n got dressed in all black, she went to Dustin's room and gently tapped her knuckles on his door
"you ready?" she asked. Even though he wasn't really dead, it was still heartbreaking that they needed to have a funeral in the first place

"Mr Clarke?" Mike spoke
"Oh, hey, there. How are you holding up?"
"We're... in... mourning."  y/n spoke
"Man, these aren't real Nilla Wafers." Dustin complained, y/n just side eyed him
"it's great to see you again, y/n" Mr Clarke said with a smile, when y/n was in middle school, she was also in AV club and he was her teacher "you too, sir" she smiled
"We were wondering if you had time to talk?"
"We have some questions."
"A lot of questions."

"So, you know how in Cosmos, Carl Sagan talks about other dimensions? Like, beyond our world?"
"Yeah, sure. Theoretically." "Right, theoretically."
"So, theoretically, how do we travel there?" y/n asked
"You guys have been thinking about Hugh Everett's Many-Worlds Interpretation, haven't you?" Mr Clarke asked, the boys had no idea what he was talking about so y/n just smiled and nodded, going along with what he was saying
"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." he explained
"Yeah, that's not what we're talking about."
"Oh."
"We were thinking of more of an evil dimension, like the Vale of Shadows. You know the Vale of Shadows?" Dustin asked
"An echo of the Material Plane, where necrotic and shadow magic..." Mr Clarke nodded
"Yeah, exactly. If that did exist, a place like the Vale of Shadows, how would we travel there?" Mike asked
"Theoretically." Lucas added. Mr Clarke picked up a spare paper plate and pulled a pen out of his blazer
"Well... Picture... an acrobat... standing on a tightrope." he spoke as he drew a stick an on a tightrope
"Now, the tightrope is our dimension. And our dimension has rules. You can move forwards, or backwards." he added arrows, pointing forward and backward
"But, what if... right next to our acrobat, there is a flea?" he added a flea onto the tightrope
"Now, the flea can also travel back and forth, just like the acrobat. Right?" he then drew smaller forward and backward arrows around the flea
"Right." Mike nodded
"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 then drew arrows on the side of the tightrope and underneath the tightrope
"Upside down." they all said in unison
"Exactly."
"But we're not the flea, we're the acrobat. " Mike said
"In this metaphor, yes, we're the acrobat."
"So we can't go upside down?" Lucas asked
"No."
"Well, is there any way for the acrobat to get to the Upside Down?" Dustin asked
"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 began to fold the paper plate in half and then punctured it with his pen
"you create a doorway."
"Like a gate?" y/n asked
"Sure. Like a gate. But again, this is all..."
"Theoretical."
"But... but what if this gate already existed?" Mike asked
"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 it's not very forgiving." Mr Clarke explained and the group just looked at each other