chapter twenty-four
curiosity door

        Alex breathes a sigh of relief when Hopper finally pulls to a stop in front of Will's house.  Night has fallen outside, giving them the coverage that they need to escape, and the junkyard is miles behind them.  Mike resides in the passenger seat, but the rest of them are squished into the back of Hopper's jeep.  Alex spends the entire ride with Dustin's elbow jammed into her side.  Alex doesn't look back at the crumpled and limp bodies as they leave the junkyard.  She's tempted to kick the one closest to the bus in the ribs, but with a warning glare from Hopper as she lingers just a little too long, she gingerly steps over the man.

Alex, who had been squished between the door and Dustin, is the first to tumble out of the jeep before Hopper even removes the key from the ignition.  Her cramped legs wobble slightly, but she regains her balance as Dustin tumbles out after her, followed by Lucas and El.  Mike's feet hit the ground as three figures emerge from the Byers' house—Joyce Byers, willowy and tired as ever, Jonathan Byers who she recognizes from Will's funeral, and Nancy Wheeler.  Before Mike can even take a breath, Nancy is running towards him and scooping him up in a tight embrace.

"Mike," she breaths.  As soon as she's done smothering Mike in a hug, she pushes him away and holds him at arm's length.  Alex blinks.  This is not the Nancy that she remembers from that night all those days ago.  This is not the Nancy who lies to her mother and shows up in Alex's backyard.  It seems that they were not the only ones who had grown considerably throughout the past week.  "I was so worried about you!"

"Yeah...uh, me too," Mike replies weakly, just as confused as the rest of them.

This interaction only makes Alex miss Steve's company even more.  She wonders if he's worried about her—he hasn't seen her in almost twenty-four hours, surely he and their parents must be worried.  Unless...what if the bad men had caught up to them, just as they had caught up to the Wheelers?  What if they're being fed lies at this very moment?  She can imagine what they're saying now.  Your daughter is dangerous.  And she is with a very dangerous individual.  She hopes that her family is okay.

Nancy's eyes flicker to the group of children just beyond Mike before zeroing in on El.  With furrowed brows and a flicker of recognition in her eyes, she asks, "Is that my dress?"

Alex lets out a small laugh. 

They have a lot of explaining to do.

Alex's eyes widen as she takes in the state of the house.  The house is a labyrinth of madness.  It's small, but Alex thinks that under normal circumstances, it's warm and homey.  Cold night air from outside drifts into the house through a hole torn into the wall in either a fit of rage, fear, or determination, Alex is not sure.  It is covered only by a blue tarp which flaps in the wind.  Christmas lights hang haphazardly from the ceiling, and some missing bulbs have been carelessly discarded on the ground.  Above the sagging couch is an alphabet painted over the wallpaper with black paint and Christmas lights strung above each row.  The overstuffed armchair is torn and ripped as if a rabid animal had torn through it.

She doesn't have time to linger in the living room, though, as she is tugged along by Dustin.  They gather around the rickety kitchen table, and for the second time that week, Mike recreates the model that Mr. Clarke had shown them in the funeral home.  Alex leans on her elbows, she's heard this explanation twice before, and yet each time, she leans in with curiosity.  It's still a concept that is captivating to think about.  Joyce, Nancy, and Jonathan are all clustered on the couch across from them, listening with rapt attention.

Mike takes a breath before launching into his explanation.  All eyes are on him.  He points to the acrobat in his drawing with the pen still in his hands.  "Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat.  Will and Barbara, and that monster, they're this flea."

Alex's breath stops at the mention of Barbara.  The same Barbara who had disappeared the night she was at their house.  This is all her fault.  Alex had thought that her absence in their backyard had just meant that she had gone home as she had said.  She should have known better.  She should have searched for her instead of retreating back into their house.  Maybe, if she had stayed out there with Barbara things would have been different.  Maybe, she would still be on this side of the universe.

Mike continues, pointing to the opposite side of the tightrope.  "And this is the Upside Down.  Where Will is hiding.  Mr. Clarke said the only way to get there is through a rip of time and space."

"A gate," Dustin clarified.

"That we tracked to Hawkins Lab," Lucas informs them.

"With our compasses," Dustin adds.  He only receives blank stares from the three clustered across from them in response.  He lets out a breath before he launches into his explanation.  "Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions of a compass needle."

Alex nods.  "The only problem is, it's inside the lab and we have no idea where it is, how big it is, or what it looks like."

Silence fills the house, and then Hopper speaks up.  "Is this gate underground?"

"I just said—" Alex starts.

"Yes," El interrupts.  Her voice is soft, just barely above a whisper.  It's a miracle that she's heard at all.  She's been so quiet and still that Alex had forgotten that she was there.  Alex understands though, the girl is most likely overwhelmed by the sudden influx of new faces.  She's regained most of her energy; her eyes are wide open, and she can stand upright without any external support, but Alex thinks that it'll be a long time until she's back to where she used to be. 

"Near a large water tank?"

El nods.  "Yes."

"H-how do you know all that?" Dustin questions.

Hopper only replies with a hard stare.

"He's seen it," Mike realizes. 

Joyce speaks up, now.  She sounds tired and fragile and looks it too—one ice cream cone drop away from a mental breakdown.  Her heart aches for Joyce, who seems to have gone through more mental anguish than Alex ever will have.  "Is there any way that you could...that you could reach Will?  That you could talk to him in this—"

"The Upside Down," El finishes.

"Down," Joyce whispers.  "Yeah."

El nods.

"And my friend, Barbara?" Nancy pipes up.  "Can you find her, too?"

El nods once more.  But this time, there's a small, confident smile on her face.  Alex only hopes that she doesn't burn herself out.

They all gather around the long kitchen table.  The lights overhead are dimmed and the sound of radio static fills the air.  Nobody dares to make a sound.  El sits at the far end of the table with memorabilia of those missing spread on the surface before her.  They all watch as her eyes move rapidly under her lids.  She's off again, lost running in the mind palace that she keeps guarded in her head.  Alex wishes that she could cut her open and pick apart the girl's brain to see what fundamentally sets her apart from the rest of them gathered in the room.  It's fascinating and Alex wishes that she could get a closer glimpse at the world between worlds that El's subconscious has taken her to.

The silence seems to drag on for hours, though when Alex glances at the clock hanging on the wall, she finds that it's only been minutes.  Still, she worries for El.  The girl feels the need to sacrifice herself to feel worthy of their attention.  She's only important to them if she does something for them first because that's how it worked in her world.  But in this world, it's not the case and it never will be the case.  But if El is too tired, she doesn't say anything. 

Suddenly, the lights above them flicker before clicking off, bathing them in darkness.  The static increases and the movement behind El's lids intensifies.  And then the lights flicker back on and the static decreases.  El sits there, and the end of the table, eyes open and chest heaving.  Her nose twitches and her bottom lip trembles and suddenly, she's on the verge of tears. 

"I'm sorry," El whispers.

"What?  Wh-what's wrong?" Joyce asks, clinging to Jonathan's hand which rests on her shoulder, her voice trembles as she fears the worst.  Alex feels her own heart accelerate in her chest.  Are they too late?  "What happened?"

El's voice breaks as she tells them, "I can't find them."

Joyce lets out a strangled sob and turns to bury her face in Jonathan's chest.  Before anybody can reach out to El and assure her that it's not her fault, she pushes back her chair and scurries off somewhere into the depths of the house.  Alex rises from her chair, ready to follow after her but Dustin puts a cautioning hand on her shoulder.  The message is clear.  Give her space.

"Whenever she uses her powers, she gets weak," Mike explains when Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy all look to the pre-teens for answers.

"The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets," Dustin adds.

"Like, she flipped the van earlier," Lucas says.

"It was awesome."

"But she's drained," Alex tells them.

"Like a bad battery," Dustin agrees.

"Well...H-how do we make her better?" Joyce asks faintly.

"We don't," Mike answers with a shake of his head.  "We just have to wait and try again."

"Well, how long?" Nancy questions.

Mike only shrugs.  "I don't know."

"She's strained herself a lot these past few days," Alex adds.  "It might take a while for her to get all of her strength back.  And she's not gonna say anything either.  She thinks she needs to do this to prove herself."

"The bath."

Everybody gathered in the kitchen whirls around to see El hovering in the threshold.  They hadn't heard her approach.  Her eyes are red and puffy from crying, but she's cleaned her face of the tears that had threatened to spill over only several minutes before.  She seems to shrink under the sudden attention that shines on her, but Alex only gives her a reassuring smile. 

"I can find them," She tells them.  Her voice is barely a whisper again.  "In the bath."

"Bath?" Alex repeats, tilting her head in confusion.

Hopper nods in understanding.  "The tank.  In the lab."

El nods.

Dustin snaps his fingers.  "Like a sensory deprivation tank?  That would make sense.  El needs white noise to help her focus and find people.  A sensory deprivation tank might enhance that."

"Okay, well, it's not like we can just go waltzing into the lab and use it," Lucas points out.

"Well..." says Alex, "thinking out of the box here a bit, but can we just make one?"

All heads turn to Dustin who recoils at their sudden gaze.  "Why are you all looking at me?"

"You're the science genius," Lucas replies.

"Okay, well, contrary to your popular belief, I don't know everything," Dustin retorts, crossing his arms over his chest.  But Alex can see the beginnings of an idea forming in his mind.  "But I do know someone who might."

Alex twiddles with her thumbs as listen to Dustin's side of the conversation with Mr. Clarke.  A part of her itches to prop her feet up on the table, but Joyce has enough grievances and Alex thinks it's for the best not to add a muddy table to that list.  It's a miracle that their teacher had even picked up.  Alex just hopes that Dustin's call has not woken Mr. Clarke out of his slumber. 

"Mr. Clarke?  It's Dustin." Pause.  "Yeah, yeah.  I just...I have a science question." Pause.  "Do you know anything about sensory deprivation tanks?  Specifically how to build one?" Pause.  "....Fun?" Alex cringes.  "You always say we should never stop being curious.  To always open any curiosity door we find.  Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?"

This seems to work, as Dustin is thrusting an arm out.  When nobody moves, he leaps into action, scrambling to find a notepad and pencil.  He spends the next few minutes with the phone tucked in the crook between his shoulder and head as he murmurs uh-huhs until the phone, all the while scribbling directions furiously.

"Uh-huh," he says one last time.  "How much?  Uh-huh.  Yep, all right.  Yeah, we'll be careful.  Definitely.  All right, Mr. Clarke.  Yeah, I'll see you on Monday.  I'll see you on Monday, Mr. Clarke.  Bye."  Alex grins to herself.  Mr. Clarke may have just unknowingly saved Will and Barbara.  Dustin sets the phone face down on the table and points at Joyce with the eraser end of his pencil.  "Do you still have the kiddie pool we bobbed for apples in?"

"I think so," Joyce answers with a nod.  "Yeah."

"Good," says Dustin with a satisfied grin.  He whirls around to face Hopper.  "Then we just need salt.  Lots of it."

"How much is 'lots'?" Hopper inquires.

Dustin looks down at his notepad and slowly back up at Hopper.  His mouth is pressed into a grim line.  "Fifteen-hundred pounds."

"Well, where are we gonna get that much salt?" Nancy asks the question that nobody else dares to ask.

Alex slumps in her seat at the sheer enormity of the number.  It only takes two words for their hope to be dashed out like the flame of a candle. The others seem to share the same sense of defeat.  But they haven't met their end just yet.  Because now it's Hopper who speaks up.

"I have an idea."

author's note: guys....we're in the home stretch!!