Any Time At All

Chapter Twenty-Three

You wake up in the morning and just lay there thinking about the day ahead of you. This week has been absolute torture. You have to work later and you really don't want to. Maybe the kids will want to play some games afterwards. They could use some cheering up. Should you tell them about what you know? Probably not. If you don't think Steve can handle it, you probably shouldn't tell them, right? 

You finally get out of bed and get dressed. You put on a basic black dress with black flats. You carry a small black handbag to hold your belongings. Walking to your car, you see your father pull into the garage. You park in the extended driveway, so you don't have to converse with him. You get in your car and drive off. 

You get to the cemetery and see that they've just begun. You quickly make your way over to the plot. As you approach the crowd of sorrowful people, you see many faces that you don't recognize and some that you do. Dustin, Mike, and Lucas are there with their families and, of course, Jonathan and Joyce. You walk up and stand behind the lot of them. You listen to the man reading passages from a book out loud. Before you know it, it's over and you go to the church basement for food and conversation. 

You get to the church and see Joyce. You call her name, "Joyce!" You catch up with her and she holds her arms out for a hug. More tears spill down from her eyes as she embraces you. You hold her close and comfort her. She knows that you and Will were good friends. "I am so sorry," you say to her and wipe away your tears.

"Oh, honey, thank you. It's not gonna be the same, ya know?" she moves her lips into a flat line and raises her eyebrows quickly. Mr. Byers places a hand on Joyce's back and leads her inside. You notice the cold that bites your nose and you follow after them. Right as you get inside,  you see the boys talking to Mr. Clark. You walk over to them.

"Man, these aren't real Nilla Wafers," you hear Dustin say. You can't help but smile and continue walking.  

"We were wondering if you had time to talk?" Mike asks him. You put your arm around Dustin and the boys flash you smiles before they turn back to Mr. Clark.

"We have some questions," Lucas adds.

"A lot of questions," you look at Mike in confusion as he finishes his sentence and you follow them over to a table. You take a seat next to Lucas on his right. Mike continues to speak. "So, you know how in Cosmos, Carl Sagan talks about other dimensions? Like beyond our world?" He directs the question to Mr. Clark.

"Yeah, sure. Theoretically," he responds.

"Right, theoretically," Mike says.

"So, theoretically, how do we travel there?" Lucas asks. What are they up to?

"You guys have been thinking about Hugh Everett's Many-Worlds Interpretation, haven't you?" Mr. Clark asks them. The boys look at him, confused. They have no idea what it is. "Well, basically," Mr. Clark begins to explain it. "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."

"Yeah, that's not what were talking about," Lucas says and sighs.

"We were thinking of more of an evil dimension, like the Vale of Shadows," Dustin pipes in. "You know the Vale of Shadows?" He points his finger towards Mr. Clark.

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

"Yeah exactly," Mike cuts Mr. Clark off. "If that did exist, a place like the Vale of Shadows, how would we travel there?" 

"Theoretically," Lucas adds.

"Well..." Mr. Clark says and lifts up a white paper plate. "Picture an acrobat..." he draws one on the plate in the middle, walking on a tightrope. "Standing on a tightrope. Now, the tightrope is our dimension and our dimension has rules. You can move forward or backward." He draws the arrows on the plate. "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, right?" He looks to see if the kids are following. "Here's where things get really interesting. The flea can also travel this way..." he draws more arrows. "along the side of the rope. He can even go...underneath the rope."