While Matthew simply paced around the inside of his own basement with his hands tugging at his own hair yet again, Mike asked, "What was Will saying? Like home... Like home... but dark?"

Lucas said to him, "And empty."

With a sigh, Dustin said, "Empty and cold. Wait, did he say cold?"

Lucas replied, "I don't know. The stupid radio kept going in and out."

With a sigh, Dustin said, "It's like riddles in the dark."

Then Mike said, "Like home. Like his house?"

With a point of his finger, Lucas said, "Or maybe like Hawkins."

It was then that El said to them, "Upside down."

While looking around at his two friends, Lucas asked them, "What'd she say?"

While looking over at El, Mike said, "Upside down."

In turn, Lucas said, "What?"

Then Mike said to them, "Upside down." After sitting down at his table, he grabbed their board game and said, "When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember? Upside down. Dark. Empty."

While looking over at Dustin, Lucas asked him, "Do you understand what he's talking about?"

Dustin replied, "No."

Mike said to them, "Guys, come on, just think about it. When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?"

Lucas replied, "Yeah. And he wasn't there."

Mike asked him, "But what if he was there? What if we just couldn't see him? What if he was on the other side?" After flipping the board over yet again, he asked them, "What if this is Hawkins and... this is where Will is? The Upside Down."

While he looked between his two friends, Dustin said, "Like the Vale of Shadows."

With a sigh, Matthew said to himself, "It's official. After this shit is done and over with, I'm gonna find my drug dealer and see if I can buy some drugs off of him because this shit is fucking insane."

After stopping on a page in his book, Dustin read aloud, "'The Vale of Shadows is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world. It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase. A place of monsters. It is right next to you, and you don't even see it'."

While staring ahead of himself, Mike said, "An alternate dimension."

Lucas asked them, "But... how... how do we get there?"

Dustin told him, "You cast Shadow Walk."

Lucas replied, "In real life, dummy."

Dustin said to him, "We can't shadow walk, but... maybe she can."

After the three of them turned their attention over towards El, Mike asked her, "Do you know how we get there? To the Upside Down?"

When she only shook her head at him, Lucas said with a sigh, "Oh, my God!"

It was only when they heard a groan that the three boys turned to Matthew, who said to himself, "You know what? Fuck it. I'm going to see if I can buy some drugs off of him right now."

With a shake of his head, Mike said, "What? No. You can't just go out and buy drugs. We're trying to find Will and bring him home." When Matthew only turned his back on them and started to walk towards the staircase to the basement, Mike told him, "Mom will kill you, if she finds out you're using drugs."

After turning around to look over at Mike, Matthew replied, "No, she fucking won't, if you keep your fucking mouth shut, Michael." When Mike only stared over at him with furrowed eyebrows, Matthew said to him, "Look, Mike, I need to wrap my mind around this shit, and I can't fucking do that while sober. So, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go find him and get him to give me something to calm myself down for the time being."

After walking out of the school and making his way over towards his van, Eddie Munson went to unlock it with the key to his van, only for his eyebrows to furrow when he found that the door to the van was already unlocked.

He silently looked between the key in his hand and the lock to his van before he shrugged to himself and went to get into the van.

He only stopped when he heard some thudding coming from the back of his van.

With furrowed eyebrows, Eddie slowly stepped away from the front door to the van and walked towards the back of it before he opened it up and saw Matthew Wheeler of all people sitting in the back of his van.

After silently staring at Matthew Wheeler for several seconds, Eddie asked him, "Wheeler, what the hell are you doing in my van?"

After taking a twenty-dollar bill out of his front pants pocket, Matthew replied, "To buy some drugs from you. Why else would I be in here?"

After a moment of silence, Eddie asked him, "And you couldn't have, I don't know, gone into the school and found me so that we could talk about it pretty much anywhere but inside of my van?"

With a scoff, he said, "No, Munson, I couldn't have done that. I'm still suspended for kicking Hagan's ass, remember?"

With a nod of his head, Eddie said with a chuckle, "Oh, yeah, I heard about that. From what I hear, you did a pretty good job with that one."

After a couple seconds of silence, Matthew asked him, "Look, can I buy some drugs from you or not? 'Cause I don't fucking have all day, Munson."

With a tilt of his head, Eddie asked him, "How long have you been in my van for?"

With a sigh, Matthew said to him, "Jesus fucking Christ, Munson. Is that really what you're worried about right now? How long I've been inside your fucking van?" When Eddie only sighed to himself and went to take Matthew out of his van, Matthew quickly backed away from him and said, "Fine. I've been in here since about ten this morning."

With his head tilted yet again, he asked Matthew, "You've been hiding out in my van since, like, ten this morning?" When Matthew only nodded his head, Eddie said with a chuckle, "Man, you must be real desperate, if you broke into my van and waited for me this long."

With a sigh, Matthew asked him, "Look, are you gonna sell something to me or not?"

After chuckling to himself, Eddie replied, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't worry about it, Wheeler. You'll get what you want. Just gotta make a pitstop first."

Then he closed the back doors to his van and quickly walked towards the front of his van and turned the key into the ignition before he sped out of the parking lot and towards the nearest liquor store.

After opening the back doors to the van yet again and carefully helping a distorted Matthew Wheeler out of his van, Eddie looked him over and asked him, "You doing alright? You don't look so good."

Matthew went to give him a smartass remark, only to stop when he saw just how close he was standing to Eddie.

After quietly gulping to himself, Matthew said, "I'm fine. I just wanna get this done and over with as soon as possible."

While Eddie went to close the back doors to his van, Eddie replied, "Oh, yeah? Why's that? You got yourself a hot date, Wheeler?" When Matthew repeatedly opened and closed his mouth, Eddie chuckled to himself before he said, "I'm kidding, Wheeler. Whatever shit you wanna get back to doing is none of my business. Now, c'mon. I'm sure I'll be able to get you whatever you need in there."

While walking behind Eddie, Matthew said to him, "I thought you had this secluded spot where you sell drugs to people."

Eddie told him, "I do, but you kind of ruined that when you decided to break into my van and hang out in there, so..." After opening the door to his trailer, Eddie said to him, "That's kind of on you, Wheeler."

While walking past Eddie and into the trailer, Matthew said to him, "Yeah, don't remind me."

As he went to walk into his own trailer and closed the door behind himself, Eddie said, "Speaking of which, how did you break into my van? I mean, with how your sister is, I wouldn't think that her little brother would even know how to pick a lock to someone's ride."

Matthew replied, "Just like I'm sure nobody would think that her little brother would get in fights with people, but here we are two months into my time at the school and I've gotten suspended, like, five times now, so..."

With a nod of his head, Eddie said to him, "Touché, Wheeler. Touché." Then he went to walk past Matthew as he said, "Now, just wait here. I'll be right back."

Matthew only rolled his eyes, which got Eddie to chuckle to himself with a mere shake of his head.

And while Eddie headed into his room, Matthew's face had suddenly fallen, and he was staring at Eddie's clothed back as he headed towards his room.

After letting his arms fall down from his chest, Matthew started to twiddle his thumbs together as he tried to process the fact that he actually managed to talk to Eddie without tripping over his words or being stupid in front of him.

Well, if he chose to ignore the fact that he broke into Eddie's van and hung out inside of it for hours before Eddie found him in his van.

With a shake of his head, he crossed his arms back over his chest, just in time to see Eddie walking out of his bedroom with a small case in hand and his denim jacket was off of him and more than likely lying on his bed in his room.

And while Eddie continued to walk towards him, Matthew could only hope that he didn't trip over his words and make a complete fool of himself in front of the person that had truly and quite differently caught his interest since he first started to go to Hawkins High School, compared to the interest Matthew had for the metalhead when he was only in the fifth grade.

While clutching onto the small bag of weed that was hidden deep into his suit pocket— one that Eddie Munson had sold to him only an hour ago— Matthew only stared down at the casket as Pastor Charles read aloud, "'Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous hand'. It's times like these that our faith is challenged. How, if He is truly benevolent... could God take from us someone so young, so innocent? It would be easy to turn away from God... but we must remember that nothing, not even tragedy, can separate us from His love. We are here today to find comfort in the truth of scripture, and to surround Will and his family..."

After nodding his head over towards one crying girl, Dustin said to his two friends, "Just wait till we tell Will that Jennifer Hayes was crying at his funeral."

It was then that Karen leaned in towards them and said, "Shh."

After turning his attention away from the table he was standing in front of and over towards the three middle-schoolers and the one high-schooler, Mr. Clarke said, "Oh, hey, there. How are you boys holding up?"

While Matthew forced himself to lightly pat his brother on the shoulder, despite just how much he wanted to get high off of the weed Eddie Munson had given him, Lucas told Mr. Clarke, "We're... in... mourning."

While Lucas and Mike stared down at the floor, Dustin said, "Man, these aren't real Nilla Wafers."

While Matthew slowly turned his head to look over at Dustin with narrowed eyes, Mike asked Mr. Clarke, "We were wondering if you had time to talk?"

Lucas told Mr. Clarke, "We have some questions."

With a nod of his head, Mike said, "A lot of questions."

While now sitting with his two friends, his brother and his teacher, Mike asked, "So, you know how in Cosmos, Carl Sagan talks about other dimensions? Like, beyond our world?"

With a nod of his head, Mr. Clarke said, "Yeah, sure. Theoretically."

Mike replied, "Right, theoretically."

With a wave of his hands, Lucas asked his teacher, "So, theoretically, how do we travel there?"

With a nod of his head, Mr. Clarke asked them, "You guys have been thinking about Hugh Everett's Many-Worlds Interpretation, haven't you?" After seeing the looks that each of them had on their faces, Mr. Clarke told them, "Well, basically, 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."

Lucas replied, "Yeah, that's not what we're talking about."

In turn, Mr. Clarke said, "Oh."

Then Dustin told him, "We were thinking of more of an evil dimension, like the Vale of Shadows. You know the Vale of Shadows?"

Mr. Clarke said to him, "An echo of the Material Plane, where necrotic and shadow magic—"

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

Then Lucas said with a wave of his hands, "Theoretically."

Mr. Clarke said to them, "Well..." After pulling a pen out of his coat, Mr. Clarke told them, "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. Right?"

With a nod of his head, Mike said, "Right."

With a finger raised, Mr. Clarke said to them, "Now, 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."

Then Mike and Lucas simultaneously said, "Upside down."

Mr. Clarke replied, "Exactly."

Mike told him, "But we're not the flea, we're the acrobat."

With a nod of his head, Mr. Clarke said, "In this metaphor, yes, we're the acrobat."

Lucas asked him, "So we can't go upside down?"

With a shake of his head, Mr. Clarke said, "No."

Dustin asked him, "Well, is there any way for the acrobat to get to the Upside Down?"

Mr. Clarke told him, "Well... you'd have to create a massive amount of energy. More than humans are currently capable of creating, mind you, to open up some kind of tear in time and space, and then..." After folding the paper plate in half and shoving the tip of the pen into the middle part of the half he was holding up, he said, "you create a doorway."

Dustin replied, "Like a gate?"

With a nod of his head, Mr. Clarke said, "Sure. Like a gate. But again, this is all—"

Then Lucas said, "Theoretical."

It was then that Mike asked Mr. Clarke, "But... but what if this gate already existed?"

Mr. Clarke replied, "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."

While Matthew repeatedly paced around the inside of the basement with his hands on his own head, Mike shoved a pencil into a folded piece of paper before he said to El, "It would take a lot of energy to build a gate like this. But that's got to be what happened. Otherwise, how'd Will get there, right?"

In turn, El said to him, "Right."

Then Lucas asked her, "What we want to know is, do you know where the gate is?" When she only shook her head, he asked her, "Then how do you know about the Upside Down?"

El only lowered her head before she looked over at Dustin, who was repeatedly walking back and forth inside of the basement, which got Mike to ask him, "Dustin, what are you doing? Dustin?"

When he didn't get a response, both Lucas and Mike yelled Dustin's name, Dustin told them, "I... I need to see your compasses."

In turn, Mike said, "What?"

Dustin said to them, "Your compasses. All of your compasses, right now!"

While staring over at Matthew, who was still pacing around the inside of the room and was now tugging at his own hair, El asked Mike, "Matt? Okay?"

Mike replied, "Yeah, he's fine. He's just really stressed out over this." When she only looked over at him with furrowed eyebrows, Mike told her, "Matt doesn't really handle stress all that well. Which I guess is why he started to go to that dealer of his to buy drugs off the guy in the first place."

In turn, El said, "Oh."

Then she brought her attention over towards Dustin, who was messing around with each of the compasses that were lying on the table.

It was only when Dustin stopped messing around with them that Mike asked him, "What's exciting about this?"

In turn, Dustin asked him, "Well, they're all facing north, right?"

Lucas replied, "Yeah, so?"

Dustin told them, "Well, that's not true north."

Mike asked him, "What do you mean?"

With a nod of his head, Dustin said, "I mean exactly what I just said. That's not true north." When neither of his friends said anything, he looked between them and asked them, "Are you both seriously this dense?"

When Lucas only shrugged his shoulders, Dustin said, "The sun rises in the east, and it sets in the west. Right?" Then he pointed a finger past Mike and said to them, "Which means that's true north."

In turn, Mike said to him, "So what you're saying is the compasses are broken."

With a sigh, Dustin asked him, "Do you even understand how a compass works? Do you see a battery pack on this?"

Mike replied, "No."

Then Dustin said to him, "No, you don't. Because it doesn't need one. The needle's naturally drawn to the Earth's magnetic North Pole."

Lucas asked him, "So what's wrong with them?"

Dustin told him, "Well, that's what I couldn't figure out, but then I remembered. You can change the direction of a compass with a magnet. If there's the presence of a more powerful magnetic field, the needle deflects to that power. And then I remembered what Mr. Clarke said. The gate would have so much power—"

It was then that Mike said, "It could disrupt the electromagnetic field."

With a nod of his head, Dustin said, "Exactly."

Then Lucas said to them, "Meaning, if we follow the compasses' north..."

With his eyes wide as ever, Dustin said, "They should lead us to the gate."

With a sigh, Lucas asked, "How much further?"

Dustin replied, "I don't know. These only tell direction, not distance." Then he looked over at Lucas and told him, "You really need to learn more about compasses."

Lucas said to him, "I'm just saying. How do we know when we get to the gate?"

Dustin said to him, "Uh, I think a portal to another dimension is gonna be pretty obvious."

With a sigh, Matthew quietly said to himself, "Oh, what I would give to be high right fucking now."

While Matthew messed around with the small bag of weed that he still had inside of his jacket pocket, Lucas glanced over at El before he asked Dustin, "Do you think she's acting weird?"

Dustin replied, "You're asking if the weirdo is acting weird?"

In turn, Lucas asked him, "I mean, weirder than normal?"

Dustin said to him, "I don't know. Who cares?"

After coming to an abrupt halt, Dustin said, "Oh, no."

Lucas asked him, "'Oh, no'? What's 'Oh, no'?"