METANOIA | Eddie Munson

The Massacre at Hawkin's Lab, Part 5

3rd Person's POV

"Right here."

Everyone parked their bikes right outside Eddie's trailer.

"There's gotta be a Guinness World Record. Most miles travelled interdimensionally." Robin said.

"Just inhaled a bunch of that crap." Valerie let out a cough.

"Yeah it's stuck in my throat." Steve scowled.

"Are you sure it's not just rabies?" Robin said.

"No Robin I don't have the goddamn...." Steve trailed off when he saw the gate on the roof, pulsating, ".. rabies."

"This is where Chrissy died." Eddie mumbled, "Like, right where she died."

"I think there's something in there." Robin said just as something started poking through from the other side.

"What the hell is that?" Eddie tilted his head.

Suddenly something broke the surface, slicing its way through, slimy substances gushing everywhere.

"Ugh." Valerie grimaced.

Steve was the first to go stand under the opening, slowly everybody joined him.

"No way..." He said.

It was Dustin, very literally upside down, and his laugh echoed through the whole trailer, "Hi there!"

"Hi.." They all let out a murmur, still awestruck by the scene happening in front of them.

"Holy shit, this is trippy." Robin said.

"Bada bada boom!" Dustin fist bumped the air.

Valerie rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless, "Do you children actually have any plans on getting us out or..."

"Yeah, yeah we do just wait a second." Lucas said and they all scurried away.

A minute later Lucas and Max came back with Eddie's mattress and placed it on the floor. It was covered with big patches of... something.

Eddie cleared his throat when he felt Valerie's glare burning holes into his skull, "Those stains are, uh... I don't know what those stains are."

Valerie sighed.

"Not quite sure how these physics are gonna work, but here goes nothing." Dustin threw the long rope of blankets he had created, and it fell through the opening straight into the upside down.

"And if my theory is correct..." Dustin let go of the sheets, "Huh, abracadabra."

Valerie let out a scoff at the rope that floated mid air in front of her, "Is it just me or is this cooler than the mind flayer?"

"Nerd." Eddie smiled.

"You haven't even seen the mind flayer!" Valerie's face turned to annoyed in seconds.

"No but it's called the mind flayer, that already sounds a lot better than physics."

"You're just saying that because you've failed highschool twice."

"Not everybody can be a smartypants like you Valerie Henderson."

"You say that like it's an insult." She crossed her hands over her chest.

"It's not." He grinned.

"I... know."

'It's hot.' He mouthed to her, making sure Dustin couldn't see it.

But Steve, Nancy and Robin definitely did.

"I am out of here, I want no part in this." Steve whisper-yelled to them and started climbing the rope.

Valerie's cheeks flared up.

"Still don't think he likes you?" Robin whispered in her ear.

"Oh no, he definitely does." Valerie whispered back, trying her hardest not to think about their kiss earlier. She still hadn't told Robin.

Once Steve was on the other side Nancy and Robin followed.

"Don't get yourself killed while I'm gone." Valerie said as she hoisted herself up the rope and wrapped her legs around it.

"I won't. Only you get to do the honours."

Satisfied with his answer, she continued climbing until she made it through the opening and let go. She closed her eyes as she expected her back to hit the mattress, but it never did.

She just kept falling.

A scream escaped her lips without warning, because when she opened her eyes, it was darkness all around. And it was empty.

She was falling inside a void that made her feel like death was creeping around the corner.

Her back finally hit the cold ground with a loud thud. She groaned and put her hand down on the floor to push herself up, but pulled it to her chest when a new sharp, stabbing pain shot through her.

Blood trickled down her wrist when she pulled out the shard of glass that embedded itself into her palm.

That's when she finally noticed her surroundings, she was home. Except it was covered in thick vines with particles floating through the air, in true upside down fashion.

Glass. Broken shards of glass on her floor. In the eighteen years that Valerie had lived in that house, it had only happened once.

She was up on her feet in no time, stumbling back as her chest heaved up and down.

The broken pieces of her mother's favourite vase, lying in the pool of blood served as a mirror to her former self.

"Moved on so soon darling?"