THEY ENDED UP BACK AT THE WHEELERS, Eleven laid on the couch tiredly as Mariella fretted about her wellbeing, moving the wigs hair out of her face and checking for burns from the blown fuse or cuts or anything.

"What was Will saying? Like home... Like home..." Mike ponders to himself, hands stuffed in his pockets. "But dark?".

"And empty," Lucas adds, resting his hands on his forehead. Mike stands up and paces around.

"Empty and cold. Wait, did he say cold?" Dustin asks, sitting on the steps.

Mariella drops a strand of the wig and turns to him, nodding. "He said, 'It's so cold'," She answers.

"The stupid radio kept going in and out," Lucas groans, Mariella shakes her head.

"I can't believe we damaged school property," She sighs and ties her hair up with the scrunchie which resided on her wrist.

"It's like riddles in the dark," Dustin responds to Lucas, staring up at the ceiling exasperated.

"Like home. Like his house?" Mike asks.

"Or maybe like Hawkins!" Lucas points out, nodding.

"A replica!" Mariella agrees.

"Upside down," Eleven speaks up, quietly. Mariella turning to her curiously.

"What'd she say?" Lucas asks, confusion written on his face.

"Upside down," Mariella and Mike say at the same time.

"What?" Lucas asks again.

"Upside down!" Mike repeats, rushing over to the game board Eleven had flipped seemingly so long ago.

"When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember?" Mike recalls the occurrence, flipping the board as Dustin, Lucas, and Mariella crowd around him. "Upside down. Dark. Empty,".

"Do you understand what he's talking about?" Lucas deadpans, looking to Dustin and Mariella. They both say no.

"Guys, come on, just think about it. When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?" Mike explains, on the brink of a revelation.

"Yeah, obviously," Mariella nods, confused on where this is going.

"And he wasn't there," Lucas adds.

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

"What if this is is Hawkins and this is where Will is?" Mike flips the board over twice and points at the black side. "The Upside Down".

"Like the Vale of Shadows," Dustin says, looking between the three with wide eyes.

"What the hell is that?" Mariella sighs, throwing her hands up in frustration as Dustin gets up and pulls out the well-worn Dungeons and Dragons gamer manual and flips to the Vale of Shadows page.

"The Vale of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world," Dustin reads out, "It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase. A place of monsters," He continues. "It is right next to you, and you don't even see it," He looks up, voice faltering as they all look at their hands fearful.

"An alternate dimension," Mike mumbles.

"But... But, it can't be real! This is just a game!" Mariella says, pointing to the board and manual and stammering.

"I don't think so, Mars. I think... Somehow everything got crossed over and now the dimensions are intersecting," Dustin explains to her, knowing that she didn't know how to even play D&D.

"But... how... how do we get there?" Lucas asks, nervously.

"You cast Shadow Walk," Dustin says.

"In real life, dummy," Lucas shakes his head.

"We can't shadow walk, but... Maybe she can," Dustin looks towards Eleven who still laid on the couch drained.

"Do you know how to get there? The Upside Down?" Mike asks, kindly. She shakes her head, no.

"Even if she did, she's too drained and weak to do it," Mariella speaks up in Eleven's defence.

"Oh, my God!" Lucas groans, looking up towards the ceiling agitated.

"She's trying, settle down," Mariella sighs before looking down, "It's dead end after dead end," She says and places her head on the table.

"We're close, I can feel it," Mike moves the hair which pooled around Mariella's face and assures her.

"That makes one of us," Lucas grunts.

♧

Mariella stood in front of the mirror and sighed as her mother pulled the curlers from her hair gently. Today was the day of the funeral. The day they'd bury the body of her best friend which wasn't really his body because Will was alive. She heard it and she knows it.

♧

The boys clambered down the stairs noisily, words flying out of their mouths regarding the DeGray girl, filling the quiet basement. They had been trying to convince Mike to realize the feelings he had about Mariella. Eleven peeks her head from the fort, shyly.

"Mars?" She questions, looking between the boys curiously.

"She's at home, El. Apparently her mom's curling her hair right now. Not that she needs to, she's already pretty with straight hair. I don't really notice, though, cause that'd be weird right? Right. She just... Never mind. Anyways, she's at home," Mike rambles as he flops onto the couch, laying down and sighs.

"That's what we're saying, Mike!" Dustin shouts out, pointing at Mike's confused face excitedly.

"What? No way! I do not like Mars!" Mike defends, throwing his arms up in annoyance.

Lucas snorts, "You sure? You don't even find her pretty?" He asks, eyebrows raising and a smirk forming on his lips. Eleven crawling out of the fort and listening in with a small smile.

Mike scoffs, sitting up and sighing once again. "Obviously I find her pretty. You'd be crazy not to. She's a DeGray! Look at her parents, they're both good-looking. Of course, she's pretty with her blue eyes and brown hair," He responds, looking between the three who listened and hung onto each of his words.

Dustin snorts, nudging Lucas while they watch as Mike rants about the party's declared 'gem'.

"She's just... I don't know. Mars is... She's Mars! She's my... Our... Best friend," Mike shrugs. "Why're you guys even here? Shouldn't you be with your families getting ready to go to the cemetery?" He asks as he stands up and grabs both their hands and pulls them up the stairs and to the front door.

"Go home! Get ready!" He sighs before pushing them out and slamming the door, sliding down and sitting he thinks to himself, 'Mariella DeGray is simply my best friend' before getting up, locking the door and sighing.