Long Night
A/N: Here's the next chapter, I hope you guys enjoy. As always feedback is appreciated.
Barb's Volkswagen Cabrio hummed down the road as Alex turned onto a street he and Eddie nicknamed Mirkwood thanks to it's surrounding wooded area reminding them of The Lord of The Rings. Letting out a yawn, Alex glanced over at Barb who was still holding her hand tightly through his jacket. The warm air engulfed them like a blanket and he honestly could fall asleep right now. It was the middle of the night, no car or person in sight. "Don't worry Barb." Alex said, trying to reassure her that she'll be okay "I'm gonna get you home, and your gonna be fine."
His words did help her calm down a little bit, though she was worried what her parents would think. The whole town knew who Alex Hopper was, Jim's delinquent son who basically caused chaos just for the hell of it and he got away thanks to his dad along with his charm and good looks. At school, he always seemed full of himself, since he's in a band and he's good looking, there were always a handful of girls near him. Now he's driving her home and this whole time, he's been nothing but nice to her. It made her wonder if there was more to this persona of his, maybe he acted the way he did because he comes from a broken home? She didn't know but she finds the human mind fascinating.
"Do you think it's gone for good?" Barb asked, looking in his direction. He didn't say anything but the silence was enough of an answer for her to suffice. They don't know. Alex rubbed his eyes as he was beginning to struggle to focus on the road. "I'm not sure." Alex answered "I hope so. If your worried about it grabbing you again I don't think it's possible in a moving vehicle. I don't know if distance plays a factor or if it has teleportation or what." He trailed off thinking of more of what had transpired this evening.
"What if-what if it comes back?"
Turning on the high beams, Alex turned right onto Cornwallis street. Tucking some loose strands of hair behind his ear Alex shrugged "I don't know, if it does we know it has a weakness to fire and if we can keep it on fire, that might just kill it. Well that and severing it's head from it's body." He looked at her "Afraid it's gonna grab you again and pull you back there to the other side?"
"Yes." She said without any hesitation. Returning his gaze to the road they passed a few houses, some with there lights on. Alex rested his head in his hand against the driver door "If it does, well I at least know of one way to get to the other side."
Hearing that surprised her. Would he really come and save her again if it happened? Adjusting his hand position on the steering wheel, Alex let out another loud yawn "How are we going to explain this to people, more importantly your parents and Jim?"
This was something she had been thinking about since they first made it back through the tree. She didn't know, honestly in a way this defied her logical way of thinking and perceiving things and the world around her. This was something straight out of a sci-fi movie and yet it happened in real life, to them and possibly others. Before she could say anything Alex answered his own question "I think I have an idea but it's gonna require them to suspend disbelief."
"What's your idea?" Barb asked, genuinely curious as to how he was going to talk his way out of this. Her parents will most definitely disapprove of her spending time with him. As far as she knows this is a one time thing, he'd probably ignore her in school and act like it never happened or that they don't know each other and that hurt her a bit on the inside. Here she had someone who literally saved her life and out in public, nothing happened. At least that's how she envisioned it going.
"I'll get a piece of paper and color in one side black and leave the other side untouched. Then I'll explain it to them to the best of my abilities while demonstrating on the paper by folding it in half and poking a hole in it. Either that or I show them the tree in which we crawled through."
"Right here" Barb pointed to a single story tan house which the headlights illuminated it. The lights were on inside as Alex pulled into the driveway. Putting it in park, he turned the key and killed the engine. Pulling the key out of the ignition, he gave it back to Barb who put it back in her pocket. Alex climbed out of the car and shut the door behind him, heading around to the passenger side he opened the door as Barbed got out the car. Shutting the door behind her, he let out a sigh as he didn't know what was about to happen but it'd either go smooth in the end or a complete shit show.
Helping her keep balance and walk up the pathway leading up to the front porch, the porch light flicked on and the front door swung open revealing a somewhat heavy set man with dark hair and a mustache that had a few grey hairs and woman with more of a auburn color to her hair and greyish-blue eyes. Judging by the look on their faces, they weren't happy.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Her mother shrieked as she hurried down to greet her daughter. Noticing Barb holding onto her hand, her mother quickly removed the jacket and saw the wound. "Oh my lord! get inside before you catch a chill and let me sew up your hand!" Her mother wrapped her arms around Barb and escorted her quickly inside the house, Alex could still hear her asking questions as the two of them disappeared somewhere inside.
As for her dad, he had crossed his arms and looked down at Alex. "What did you do to my daughter?" His voice was surprisingly calm. Then again maybe he was trying to control his anger as it was late at night and he didn't want to wake any of the neighbors up or cause a scene.
"Nothing sir, I was walking home from playing a show at The Hideout and I saw her at Harrington's house while I walking through the woods, she was by herself and when I got to the house I saw she needed help and her hand was cut and bleeding. So I asked her if she wanted me to take her to the hospital and she said no and to just take her straight home so I did." Alex answered, not telling the whole truth as to any rational thinking person the truth would sound impossible.
"Uh-huh I see." Mr. Holland said. By his tone Alex could tell he didn't entirely believe him, and he had good reason to doubt him. A teenaged boy finding a teenaged girl in a vulnerable position and possibly trying to take advantage of her.
"Get inside Alex." Mr. Holland stepped aside and Alex walked in. 'Fuck he knows me!' Alex thought to himself. Their house was tan on the inside and was decently sized for a small family. A very 60's-esque styled home. Alex figured he'd could find some Jazz records in the home somewhere. They seemed like the kind of people to like Jazz music, he didn't look like the type but he loves Jazz music.
Alex looked around the house before Mr. Holland put a hand on his shoulder before quickly retracting it and wiping his hand on his pants before he pointed to the corner of the living room where a wooden chair sat. Alex took a seat as Mr. Holland sat in a rocking chair adjacent to the couch and leaned on one side of the arm rest. The whole feeling in the room shifted and Alex didn't like it.
"You know, I've driven by the Harrington's house and it's a short drive there from here. So what are you two doing back close to midnight?"
Alex cleared his throat and before he could begin, Mr. Hollands followed up with a short speech and a question "I know your type Alex, the James Dean type the live fast and die young. Well I'll tell you something young man, my daughter is not like that and she will never be like it. She's a good girl, who goes to church every Sunday and is a straight A+ student in school and I will not have some delinquent future high school dropout like you, ruin her chances at a good and happy life. Yet I still must ask, did you have sex with my daughter?"
Looking him in his eyes Alex answered "No sir I did not and as for your first question time wasn't a factor."
Mr. Holland's face changed from a angry accusatory look to disbelief "Time wasn't a factor, what does that mean?" Just before Alex could answer, Mrs. Holland and Barb returned, her hand properly cleaned up and bandaged and she was wearing clean clothes. Barb sat on the couch and her mother sat in her own rocking chair, facing them. Looking at his wife, Mr. Holland cleared his throat "Honey I was just asking Alex here what happened with Barbara, he says nothing happened and they lost track of time."
Her mother looked at Alex and stared daggers at him. He was the bad guy in this situation. "David" His wife looked at him "Barb was telling me about what happened and I wholeheartedly believe her." Now looking at her daughter "Sweetheart you wanna explain what happened?"
Barb looked at Alex before she began explaining everything. From her going to pickup Nancy and drive her to Steve's house to them trying to shotgun a beer at the pool and accidentally slicing her hand, then sitting at the pool before getting snatched by this creature and waking up in this mirror world similar to ours, thinking she was dead and then Alex saving her and vice versa to finally driving home and getting to where they are now.
Taking a deep breath "Alex will tell you the exact same thing." Barb exclaimed.
"He seemed to miss some details when I asked him." Mr. Holland leaned back in his chair "Explain to me how you got to this 'upside down world" He said using his hands as quotation marks. Alex looked at the coffee table and noticed there was a chessboard under it. Pulling the wooden chair up to the coffee he table Alex adjusted himself. Grabbing the board he opened it up on the table and laid it down right side up.
"Okay." He said, looking at her parents. "So this is our world right, this side think of it like a coin as how a coin has two sides." He then took the board and flipped it over to the dark side "This is the dark side or upside down world as you said. It's like our world, has the same things and locations but it's a dead world, there's spores floating around and everything is overgrown and dilapidated, devoid of life. Well human life anyway."
Alex then pointed to the middle of the board where all the foldable sides met "Now if I were to get a drill and drill through this side, I could reach the other side, and this hole would be the entrance to do so. I was walking home when I found this hole in a tree." Alex leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms.
"I went through it, out of my own curiosity after hearing Barb scream and then instant silence as if her scream was cut short. I found her at Harrington's house in the pool with this creature which looked like a human with a human body but it's face or head looked like a Venus fly trap if you cut into 4 sides." Tucking his hair behind his ears, he continued "I burned it with fire and me and Barb ran through the woods, it attacked me and I told Barb to save herself and she could've left me there to die." He glanced at Barb "But she didn't." He turned his attention back to her parents "I know this sounds like we must've been taking drugs or something but I can assure you we're telling the truth."
Mr. Holland looked at Barb, almost as if he just completely dismissed his story "Any of this true?"
She nodded her head "All of it."
Stroking his mustache Mr. Holland sat in silence for a moment, trying to absorb everything he's just heard and come up with an answer. "Tomorrow after school I want you two to show me this tree that leads to this other world. Barb, it's past midnight and I think it's best for you to try and get some sleep. As for you Alex, I'm calling your father. You can stay here tonight, unless your father decides to come get you. I'm too tired to drive you home. Also if you do sleep here you aren't sleeping on our couch in those clothes. I don't want to know what substance covers them and you for that matter but I have some clothes from when I was a young man that should fit you pretty well."
Alex nodded "I understand, thank you sir." He knew when to be polite and mature, though he didn't do it all the time. Barb and her mother bid them both goodnight. It was a long night but at least for Alex and Barbara it looked like it was over and hopefully they could put it behind them, at least they hoped to.
A/N: That was the next chapter, I hope you guys enjoy and as always feedback is appreciated.