Chapter Seventeen: Upside Down

(The Flea And The Acrobat)

***

Alistair's leg bounced up and down from where he was sitting beside El, picking at the skin around his thumbnails. He looked at El periodically, the girl curled up on the couch and wearing a blue jacket, still drained, then back out to space, wrapping his mind about what they had heard, but always coming back to one important thing:

Will's alive.

Around him, his friends also shared similar looks, as they processed what they had heard, what Will had said, over the radio—Dustin, sitting on the stairs, Lucas on a chair, Mike sitting in another chair.

Finally, after hours of silence, Mike spoke, saying what was all on their minds.

"What was Will saying?" he muttered as he got up and started pacing around, like he always did when he was thinking. "Like home. Like home... but dark?"

"And empty," Lucas murmured, pitching in as he remembered what Will had said over the radio.

"Empty and cold," Dustin added. He frowned and asked, "Wait, did he say cold?"

"I don't know. The stupid radio kept going in and out," Lucas snapped, frustration edging his words.

"No, he definitely said cold," Alistair pitched in—he knew Will did. Will's words were imprinted in Alistair's mind with startlingly clarity despite the radio static, refusing to be forgotten or muddled. They were the first words Alistair had heard from his best friend since he'd vanished, and he wasn't willing to let them go, even if their meaning stumped him.

Dustin sighed, muttering, "It's like riddles in the dark."

Alistair nodded; it felt both like that, and like they were playing a game of Telephone, trying to piece together the original meaning from the bits and pieces drifting down the line, piecing together what Will had said over the distortions from the radio.

"Like home. Like his house?" Mike theorised out loud.

"Or maybe like Hawkins," Lucas said, offering up his own piece to the puzzle. It definitely felt like a puzzle—like all they needed was one more piece for it to make sense, to know where Will definitely was.

"Upside Down."

Everyone turned to look at El.

"What'd she say?" Lucas asked.

"Upside Down," Mike muttered, Alistair seeing his best friend making a connection with El's words.

"What?" Lucas questioned, still not getting what Mike and the weirdo were saying.

"Upside down," Mike repeated, moving to the table as thoughts raced behind his eyes.

Sitting down, he said, "When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember? Upside down. Dark. Empty."

Alistair nodded; she had.

"Do you understand what he's talking about?" Lucas asked Dustin and Alistair.

Dustin shook his head. "No."

"Kinda," Alistair replied.

"Guys, come on, just think about it," Mike insisted, drawing back their attention. "When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?"

"Yeah, and he wasn't there," Lucas reminded Mike.

"But what if he was there?" Mike fired back. "What if we just couldn't see him? What if he was on the other side?"

Alistair's eyes widened as he got what Mike was saying at last, Dustin and Lucas sharing similar looks.

"What if this is Hawkins," Mike continued, flipping the board over right way up, "and this is where Will is."

He flipped it back over, placing his hands on the dark surface. 

"The Upside Down."

"Like The Vale of Shadows," Dustin said.

Alistair looked at Dustin in confusion, as the cap-wearing boy raced to where their D&D manuals were. Slamming one down, he flipped through it until he landed on what he wanted to find, revealing the picture of a forest filled with shadows and darkness, and at last, Alistair finally realised what Dustin was getting at.

"'The Vale of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world'," Dustin read out. "'It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase. A place of monsters.'"

He looked at them all and finished, "'It is right next to you and you don't even see it.'"

Silence rang, until Mike muttered, "An alternate dimension."

"Holy shit," Alistair breathed, eyes wide. "Holy shit."

That made sense. That made an extreme lot of sense.

The reason why Will hadn't been found, how only El could contact him... he was in another dimension. He had been taken to another dimension.

A dimension with a monster like the Demogorgan.

At that, Alistair felt his body freeze, and he whispered, voice trembling in slight fear for his best friend, "Holy shit."

"But... how do we get there?" Lucas asked, voice soft and like he was keeping back his own fear.

"You cast Shadow Walk," Dustin said, thinking it was related to the Dungeons and Dragons Vale of Shadows.

"In real life, dummy," Lucas clarified with a roll of his eyes.

"We can't shadow walk, but..." 

Dustin looked at El and finished, "Maybe she can."

Alistair looked at Dustin, frowning.

"Guys, I don't think she can do it right now, she's pretty drained from contacting Will," Alistair reminded his friend. Dustin winced.

"Sorry. I forgot."

"It's cool."

Mike looked at El, and asked softly, "But, do you know how we can get there? To the Upside Down?"

El didn't say anything and Lucas threw up his hands in frustration, sighing.

"Oh my God. Great. We finally have an answer for where Will is, and the weirdo won't tell us how to get there," he muttered irritably.

"Lay off, Lucas. She probably can, but she did use a lot of energy to contact Will," Mike defended.

Alistair nodded. "Exactly. Just give her a minute."

The other boy frowned, but he didn't press, sitting in his chair and crossing his arms.

An awkward silence rang, before Alistair cleared his throat.

"I, uh, I have to go back, or my aunt and sister are gonna start a manhunt for me," Alistair said, giving a smile.

His friends all nodded and said goodbye and "See you later"'s. 

Alistair looked at El and said, "See you tomorrow, Marvel Girl. Get better, okay?"

El gave a tiny smile. "Bye, Al."

Alistair gave El and his friends another smile, then headed out, waiting by the garage as his aunt came to pick him up.

"You okay, kid?" she asked, concern in her eyes.

Alistair nodded. "Fine."

Aunt Aco frowned, but didn't ask questions as she drove back home, believing he was just putting up a tough front.

But Alistair wasn't lying.

He really was fine.

Will was alive.

And now, they just had to open up a way into the Upside Down and get Will out of there.

***

When Alistair stepped into his room, the slit-throat 18th century ghost lady was gone.

And in her place, was the ghost who'd haunted the Wheelers' place.

"Go away," he muttered, not looking at her. "I'm not in the mood."

The ghost apparently didn't get the memo, and Alistair felt a chill on the back of his neck that told him the ghost had moved closer to him.

Hey. Look at me. Please.

Alistair walked toward where his walkie and tapes were, picking up the Metallica tape Eddie had left for him to listen to and put it in the Walkman, putting his headphones on.

Something was knocked off his desk, and the ghost screamed, Please! Look! I—No one—Afraid—Nancy doesn't—PLEASE!

"STOP! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Alistair screamed, pressing the headphones against his ears tighter, the music near-deafening, curled up on his bed. "I don't want to deal with this ghost bullshit right now! Please, just go away! Go away!"

Please. Please, look! PLEASE!

"GO AWAY!"

The split-second after he'd screamed, his sister ran into his room, eyes wide, obviously hearing his scream. She noticed Alistair curled up on the bed, Metallica screaming out from his headphones, mumbling, "Go away, go away, go away," while the ghost still hovered over him, still pleading.

"Hey!" Rowan shouted. "Hey, ghost! Whoever you are, get out of here! Leave my brother alone! He already has enough shit to deal with, so stop haunting him and get the fuck out!"

The ghost paused, and Alistair heard her whisper, Rowan?

"Rowan?" Alistair said out loud, voice hoarse.

Rowan turned to Alistair and moved to his side, wrapping him up in a hug.

"I'm here, squirt. I'm here. I'm sorry I can't do more to make them leave you alone. I'm sorry you have to go through this, especially with Will."

Alistair gripped his sister tightly, ducking his head. "It's enough. It's enough."

Rowan didn't say anything, only just held her little brother and glaring at the room; though she couldn't see the ghost, she could damn well let them know she could still glare at them without seeing them.

Pulling away, she asked gently, "Is the ghost gone?"

Alistair looked up, looked around his room, and saw... nothing.

He nodded. "She's gone. I think you scared her off."

Rowan grinned. "I hope I did. No ghost is gonna bother you while I'm here."

Alistair smiled. "Thanks."

Ruffling her brother's hair, Rowan looked at the tape in his Walkman and hummed in approval.

"Metallica, huh? Eddie's gonna love you for listening to it."

"He already loves me. More than you," Alistair said, wearing a shit-eating grin as Rowan scowled and punched him in the arm.

"Seriously? After scaring the ghost off, you dare imply Eddie, my best friend since forever, loves you more than me?" she asked.

"Yup. Especially since between the two of us, I play D&D and am a definite member of Hellfire Club when I get into high school," Alistair said, still wearing that grin.

Rowan sighed, shaking her head. "Betrayed by my own flesh and blood."

"You sure you don't want to play D&D and be an actual member of Hellfire? You're dramatic enough for it," Alistair questioned.

"Oh, piss off," Rowan muttered, shoving her brother as he flipped the bird at her. She returned it.

"KIDS, DINNER TIME!" Aunt Aco shouted.

At that, the siblings got off the bed and raced to the kitchen table, laughing and snarking as their aunt smiled fondly, but there was sadness in her eyes, because she knew what was tomorrow.

Because even though both Alistair and Rowan knew Will was definitely alive, the rest of Hawkins didn't.

And that tomorrow... would be his funeral.

***

AND DONE!

Our boys are one step closer to finding Will! And I have to say, the scene where Dustin talks about the Vale of Shadows and narrates over Hopper descending into the Upside Downified part of Hawkins Lab? One of my favourites from the show by FAR! 'Course, couldn't implement here, but I have to say it is one of my fave scenes 🥰

And yeah, Barb... Barb just wants Alistair to see her and Alistair is both terrified and wants nothing to do with ghosts tonight. And because Alistair didn't tell Rowan what the ghost looks like, she doesn't know it's Barb and thinks it's one of the usual spectres haunting her little brother and tells it off and still has hope Barb is alive. And I loved writing their little sibling moment; the Graveswood siblings give me life 🥺

Also, check out the amazing mood boards @harringtonssss did for Rowan in the new graphic gallery!

Next chapter will be soon! 

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!