You've Fallen and You Can't Get Out

You have no idea how you ended up here, but you know that it's dark and terrifying. Something just brushed against your leg, there are things moving around you and you can't shake the feeling that you're not alone. The dim light of your phone screen illuminates wet, stringy things that writhe in the darkness, just out of your line of sight.

Dimly, you remember an old newspaper article you found during a series of procrastination-fueled Google searches. Something about a group of elderly friends coming forward with a story of some alternate dimension that threatened the world when they were children. The "Upside Down," they called it. You thought it was a bunch of delusional old people trying to get attention, but now...

You're stuck in the Upside Down. The following songs chronicle your journey.

1. "It Has Begun" by Starset

"Into the dark below, evading shadows, Blind in a rabbit's hole, we fall beneath the earth..."

Honestly, you will never understand how you managed to get yourself stuck in a creepy shadow dimension. Oh well. You're here, and you can't really do much about it except find a way out.

You have no idea where you are, but you can tell you're underground. That's a start. You suppose you should just walk until you can find the surface.

2. "The Ghost of Rattman" from the Portal 2 soundtrack

Man, there sure are some creepy noises in the Upside Down. You're walking down a series of unsettling, blue-gray tube-like corridors that look as if they're made of viscera. Your shoes sink into the fleshy ground with every squishy step you take. You've heard whispers, distant roars, and squelching noises that you're pretty sure you didn't make. It's hella freaky. You wish you could do more than just walk in one direction.

The smell gets to you enough that you finally take off your jacket and wrap it around your face. As you do so, your foot catches onto something. You nearly fall, but you clumsily manage to recover. You secure your jacket and turn your phone light down towards the ground.

It's a human skull.

3. "Help is On The Way" by Rise Against

"They said, they said help is on the way, But it never came..."

You admit to yourself that you probably need someone to rescue you. You've been down here a couple of days now, sleeping on the nauseating floor when fatigue overwhelms you and somehow not vomiting in the process. There's no way your disappearance hasn't gone unnoticed, and the local police are pretty diligent. They'll find you. The hope helps you ignore the hunger gnawing at your side. You had a half a bottle of water in your pocket, at least, and you've been careful about rationing it for yourself since the first time you fell asleep.

You haven't seen anything or anyone alive yet, though you've definitely had a few close calls— hiding around a corner when a something comes running by, closing your eyes and hoping the things don't notice you.

All you need to do is wait for someone to come save you.

4. "Actual Cannibal Shia Labeouf" by Rob Cantor

"He's following you, about thirty feet back, He gets down on all fours and breaks into a sprint..."

There's something following you.

If you had to guess, you would say it's about thirty feet behind you. It has been for quite some time now. You don't know what it is because you're too petrified to turn around. You can hear its quiet padding and snuffling behind you, along with the occasional wet growl.

"It's Shia Labeouf," your brain supplies helpfully.

It's not Shia Labeouf. If only it was. You know at they very least that you need a weapon of some sort, and well... the ground is littered with bones...

You bend over and scoop up a thick femur from the ground while barely breaking stride. It's slimy, and you have to refrain from dropping it reflexively. The growls from behind you have begun to slowly escalate in intensity. Your anxiety increases alongside the volume of the thing behind you. It's like you're in a real life-horror movie, except the creepy background sound is this terrifying rasp instead of ominous music.

There's no way it's not going to attack. It's now or never, you suppose. You turn around just as it leaps for you.

5. "Ready to Die," by Andrew W.K.

"You better get ready to run, Cause here we coooome..."

The good news? You're not dead. The bad news? You cam pretty darn close.

You stare numbly at the four-legged corpse of the thing you just killed. The past minute and a half is already a blur in your mind; all your remember is teeth and its mouth/face splitting into four like some kind of demented flower.

You have a nasty gouge to the shoulder, and you're pretty sure you're bleeding in more places than you can count. You can't really feel much pain right now— the adrenaline, probably. You're totally looking forward to when that wears off. You start to trudge away from the thing's body.

Who are you kidding? There's no way anyone is going to find you down in this hellscape. Honestly, you're just kind of walking for the sake of walking at this point.

The realization that you're likely going to die down here is a slap to your already-injured face.

6. "Cut the Cord" by Shinedown

"For one more hit and one last score, Don't be a casualty, cut the cord..."

You suppose you're faced with a couple of different options at this point. You can wallow in self-pity and let yourself be all depressed and probably get eaten... or you could step into the certified badass role you've always wanted.

You're so, so tempted to pick the first option. After all, getting your throat ripped out only hurts at first, right? But there are important people in your life. There are people who would miss you, people who care about you even if you don't realize it. You can't do that to them. You can't sit here and give up.

You heft your new weapon onto your shoulder, wiping away the blood from a scratch above your eye. You glare at the darkness ahead of you. Are you terrified? Heck yeah, you're this close to peeing yourself. But you're also not going to quit. Not this time. You refuse to be a casualty of your own fear.

7. "The End is Not the Answer" by Three Days Grace

"The end is not the answer, You and I are in this together!"

You can't believe it. You're actually out of the tunnel! For a moment, you think you're back home because you're surrounded by the familiar landmarks that define the place where you live. But... everything is wrong. The weird, wet vines from back in the tunnel are covering everything. The sky is bluish-gray. Cars are abandoned in the streets. There are no people anywhere, and any semblance of color is muted by the same uncomfortable bluish-gray the sky is.

You've decided to walk "home" through this twisted likeness of the area you live in. You're just passing by your old middle school when you hear the sound of a chilling screech.

Your heart threatens to evacuate your ribcage as your hands tighten into a death grip on your makeshift bludgeon. You almost turn around and walk right back towards the tunnel where you at least sort of had an idea of where your attackers were, but you don't. You don't because you hear a voice.

"If you can hear me... we're gonna get you out."

It's your best friend. The thick knot in your chest loosens, just a bit.

"I know you're by the middle school. The lights around town, they flicker wherever you walk. We've been tracking your progress with them. I don't have a lot of time, but I'm sorry. You're stuck there because I messed with something I shouldn't have. But now, I'm doing what I can to fix it.

"We'll get you out of there. Head to the woods by the grocery store. There's a glowing red portal in that one tree that fell a couple years ago, which I know sounds insane but just trust me on this. Just hang in there. You and I, we're in this together, all right? Don't you give up. Ever."

You have so, so many questions. More than anything, though, you're just relieved at the knowledge that you're not totally alone. You're gonna be okay.

"Oh, and another thing. Find a set of matches. Torch everything you possibly can, will ya? They like it cold... so light the place up."

8. "World on Fire" by Les Friction

"World on fire with a smoking sun, Stops everything and everyone..."

You've always wondered what it would be like to blow up a gas station. You thought it was pretty epic. The answering screeches as the fire spreads to the rest of the area seem to disagree.

9. "Legends Never Die" by Against the Current

"When the world is calling out your name Begging you to fight Pick yourself up once more..."

It turns out the things that live here really don't like it when you blow up gas stations.

The portal is just ahead of you, and you're sprinting towards it faster than you've ever gone before. You can see the silhouettes of your friends through it, murky but definite. You're so tired and hurt so much, but you're so you.

The things chasing you are close as well. You'd gotten a brief glance of one of them before you booked it; the burn marks make them look even more disgustingly horrifying than they already are.

The grunting, panting and snarling behind you are getting louder with every step. You're not sure if you're just imagining the feeling of hot, wet breath on the back of your neck. You try not to focus on them, though, because the way out is only feet away—

But then you go down. You can feel the claws digging into your back, tearing through your thin sweater, your shirt, your skin, like tissue paper. Their weight is pressing your chest into the ground. Are you breathing? You're not sure. You don't think so.

You realize that weird screaming sound is coming from your own throat. You stretch your arm for the portal, weakly trying to kick the things off of your back. The red glow is inches away from your fingertips. You can feel its gentle pull, but the things on you are pulling harder.

Your arm falls to the ground as you lose the strength to keep it in the air.

Dimly, you register figures coming out of the portal. You hear something like gunshots, an odd whooshing and... a music box? Your vision is going spotty at this point, but someone grabs you by the arm and starts dragging you to the portal.

On the other side, you feel yourself being gently cradled in someone's arms. You recognize those arms from years of hugs, and you let yourself be gently squeezed by your best friend. Your back is tingly. Around you, you recognize a forest, similar to the one you just left, except it actually looks right. The sky is blue. You never thought you'd be go grateful to hear actual birds.

You're home.

---

This work of fiction was inspired by the Netflix series "Stranger Things".

A version of this short story was also published on Odyssey in March of 2018 under the name "9 Chilling Songs You Listen To As You Traipse Through The Upside Down".