-This nighT-

+Chapter Twelve+

*time skip*
^mikes house^
"What was Will saying? Like home, like home, but dark?" Mike questions.
"And empty."
"Empty and cold."Dustin adds.
"Wait, did he say cold?"
"I don't know. The stupid radio kept going in and out." Lucas complains.
"I think he did."
"It's like riddles in the dark."
"Like home...like his house?"
"Or maybe like Hawkins?" I suggest.

"Upside down..." El quietly mutters.
"The upside down!" Mike says out of realization, "When El showed us where Will was she flipped the board over, remember? Upside down."
"Do you understand what he's talking about?" Lucas asks looking between Dustin and I.
"No." We both chorus.
"Come on, guys, think about it! When El took us to find Will she took us to his house, right?"
"Yeah, and he wasn't there."
"What if he was there? What if we just couldn't see him? What if he was just on the other side." My eyes widen as Mike keeps talking, the 'upside down' is where I have been going in my dreams, I'm such an idiot because I didn't realize this sooner. That's why I saw him in my dreams, oh my goodness that was dumb.
"That's where I've been going all these years, you know in my dreams, I kinda blanked it out and ignored it instead of connecting the dots. The night Will disappeared, I saw him in my dreams. You know in the demented version of Hawkins."
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"I did! Or, uh, I think I did?"
"Wait so- he could be right next to you...but you can't see him?"
"Uh, yeah, assuming that what I said is true."
Mike then turns to Eleven. "Do you know how to get there? To the Upside Down?We know Y/n can in her dreams but that doesn't really help us any."
Eleven only shook her head.
*time skip*
-fill inY/n and Dustin are getting ready for 'Will's' funeral.(outfit at bottom)-
^funeral^
"Just wait till we tell Will that Jennifer Hayes is crying at his funeral." Dustin whispers but I quickly shush him.
"Mr. Clarke?"
"Oh, hey there. How you guys holding up?"
A crunch comes from Dustin.
"We're...in...mourning...."
"We were wondering if you had time to talk? We have questions..." I ask.
"A lot of questions." Mike adds.
"So you know how in Cosmos, Carl Sagan talks about other dimensions? Like another world?"
"Yeah, theoretically..."
"Right, theoretically."
"So, theoretically, how do we travel there?"
"You guys have been think about Hugh Everett's Many-Worlds Interpretation haven't you? Well, basically there are parallel universes, just like our world. But just, infinite variations of it. Which means there a world out there where none of this tragic stuff ever happened."
"Yeah- that's not, not what we're talking about." Lucas pipes up.
"We're thing more evil, like Vale of Shadows." Dustin says.
"An echo of the Material Plane where necrotic and shadow magic-"
"Yeah, exactly!" I say glad he understands perfectly fine.
"If that did exist, like the Vale of Shadows, how would we travel there?"
"Theoretically." Lucas finishes.
"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." Mr Clarke says drawing it out.
"Right..."
"Uh huh."
"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."
"Upside down"
"Exactly."
"But we're not the flea, we're the acrobat. In this metaphor, yes, we're the acrobat."
"So we can't go upside down?"
"No. You can't."
"Well, is there any way for the acrobat to get to the Upside Down?"
"More than humans are currently capable of creating, mind you, to open up some kind of tear in time and space, and then... you create a doorway."
"Like a gate?" I question.
"Sure. Like a gate. But again, this is all—"
"Theoretical." We all finish.
"But... but what if this gate already existed?"
"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."
"Could you get to the, theoretical, upside down through dreams?"
"Like astral projection? Uh, yes, I suppose so."
*really long time skip*
^mikes house^
"It would take a lot of energy to build a gate like this, but that's gotta be what happened. Otherwise, how'd Will get there, right?"
"Right." El says.
"What we wanna know is, do you know where the gate is?" El only shakes her head no.
"Then how do you know about the Upside Down?!" El then refuses to make eye contact. I follow her gaze to look at my brother.
"Dustin, what are you doing?" I ask.
"Dustin?"
"Dustin!" The boys yell due to the lack of response from him.
He suddenly looks.
"I...I need your compasses."
"What?"
"Your compasses, all of them, right now!"