Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
In the basement of Jane's house that same night, the trio were there as well as Michael. All of them were wet, but Michael was the most soaked out of all of them. The kids all had their hoods down, their hair partially wet from the rain. Michael was wearing a coat Jane wore before, breathing heavily and still shivering a little. "Hey..." the tomboy said, making him look up at her. "Is there a number we can call? For your parents?" He didn't answer her because he didn't want "them" to know.
"What happened to your hair, dude?" asked Dustin, now making him look at him. "You have cancer or something?"
"Did you run away?" Lucas asked, the boy glancing at him now.
"Are you in trouble?" asked Jane.
"Is that blood?" Lucas and the others noticed a small red stain on his shirt, the dark-haired boy reaching for it before Jane smacked it away.
"Hey! You're freaking him out!" she shouted.
"HE'S freaking ME out!" he retorted.
"Maybe he's deaf," the curly-haired boy suggested before clapping his hands in front of Michael. He shot back at that motion. Dustin shook his head. "Never mind."
Jane sighed and spread her arms out as a notion to tell them stop. "Enough, you two! He's just cold and scared." She then looked around to see a laundry basket with some of her clothes in it. She walked towards it and grabbed a black long-sleeved shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants. She approached the boy and handed him them. "Here. These are fresh from the dryer, so you should be warm and comfortable in them."
He took the clothes from Jane and decided to rub them on one of his cheeks. She was right, they were warm. He then put them down next to him and stood up, taking off the coat before proceeding to take off his shirt. Jane turned back in shock, covering her eyes and exclaiming, "Ah!" Lucas and Dustin then stopped him from doing it by approaching him, grabbing his arms, and saying off-sync, "Whoa, no, no, no, no..." Michael gave them a very puzzled look.
"Just some good advice, buddy," Lucas stated. "Don't take off your clothes in front of a girl." He pointed at Jane, her back facing them. Michael looked at her, feeling bad.
"Yeah," Dustin added before looking suspicious of him. "Unless you wanna have sex with her." The shaved-haired boy was confused, unaware of the word. Lucas smacked his friend's arm in disapproval, him flinching back. "Ow, what? It's true!"
"U-um..." Jane murmured under her breath before pointing at the bathroom in the basement. "Th-there's the bathroom. You can have some privacy in there, alright?" She turned back to him, hoping he would finally answer.
He didn't, but understood what she was saying. He took the clothes and walked into the bathroom. He looked around in there before Jane walked to the door and closed it. He stopped her, grabbing the door with his hand. Her expression was puzzled. "You don't want it closed?" she asked him.
His expression was worried. "No," he answered in a quiet voice, almost like hers.
Her eyes widened a little at him speaking. "Wow, you can finally speak now." She smiled a little before asking, "Okay, then...how about I close the door to about..." She then slowly brought the door to its locked place, Michael's hand still on it. There was then an inch of a gap. "...here?"
"Yes," he answered. She smiled at him once again before walking back to her friends. He still looked around the bathroom before changing. So perhaps they were nice, after all?
...
"This is very mental," Dustin said worriedly.
"At least he can speak," Jane replied.
"'Yes' and 'No?'" Lucas asked. "Even a three-year-old can say more."
The tomboy crossed her arms in disapproval before her curly-haired friend spoke, "He tried to get naked in front of you, like it's nothing." He then made the motion of him taking off his shirt, Jane sighing.
"I think there's something seriously wrong with him, like wrong in the head." Lucas pointed at his head.
"Yeah, like..." Dustin did the motion again, his cap falling down. "In front of you."
"I know," she said, irritated.
"Maybe he escaped from Pennhurst," the black-haired boy suggested.
"What?"
"The loony bin from Kurley County?"
Dustin grinned. "What, you got a lotta family there?"
He glared daggers at him. "Bite me." Jane took a deep breath as he continued, "But really, when you think about it, it would explain his shaved head and why he's so crazy."
"And why he went like..." Dustin did the motion once again. "In front of-"
"Yeah, I get it," she replied in a voice sharp as nails.
"At this point, he's an escapee, a psycho," Lucas went on.
"Like Michael Myers?" asked Dustin, looking horrified.
"Yeah, exactly!"
Jane sighed once again and put a hand on her head. "We can't just leave him in the storm like that."
"If I were you, I would because we went to find Will, not another problem!"
She glared at him angrily before Dustin suggested, "We should tell your mom when she comes back."
Lucas nodded. "Second that."
She gave them wide, baffled eyes. "Are you guys crazy?!"
Lucas became shocked when he heard her ask that. "Oh, WE'RE crazy?! Yeah, like keeping some other boy here is perfectly normal!"
She rolled her eyes at him. "We weren't supposed to be out tonight, remember?!"
"So?"
"SO, if you tell Mama, and then she tells your mom, and then she tells Dustin's mom..."
Lucas then realized what she was saying. "Our houses become Alcatraz."
"And we'll never find Will," Dustin added.
She nodded. "Exactly."
Her curly-haired friend looked at him. "Still..." He did the motion once again.
She groaned. "Alright, Dustin!"
He held his hands up. "I'm just saying, a guy usually doesn't do that unless he wants to have sex with you." The tomboy looked at him with disgust while the other boy hit his arm again. "Ow, seriously..."
Jane took a deep breath again and said, "Okay, so here's my plan. He'll stay here for the night."
Dustin looked shocked. "You're REALLY letting some other boy-"
"Dustin!" He shut up after that shout. "In the morning, he'll sneak around my house, go to the front door, and ring the doorbell. Mama will answer and she'll know what to do. Once she sends him back to Pennhurst or wherever he came from, that solves this problem. And tomorrow night, we go out and look for Will again." The two boys communicated through glances about her plan.
...
They put on their coats again and began to walk back upstairs before stopping. They saw Jane give a fully-dressed Michael a yellow sleeping bag and a pillow. He was under a small fort she constructed in a few seconds, having a bed sheet on a table as curtains. They both looked worried about their only female friend. "Do you really think he's a psycho?" Dustin asked Lucas.
He sighed and answered, "I wouldn't keep him in my house." They both then went upstairs to leave. "She's probably keeping him there because she thinks he's cute or something."
Dustin chuckled. "Yeah, probably." He looked at him. "Don't know any chicks that dig a buzz-cut though." Lucas just shrugged at him.
...
"Hey, um...I never asked for your name," Jane said to Michael. He looked up at her, understanding what she said. He pulled up his sleeve and positioned his arm sideways. On his wrist was the tattoo Benny saw, "M11". Her eyes widened at the sight of it. "Is that a real..." She reached her hand out to touch it, but he pulled it back from her, looking at her in objection. She shook her head. "S-sorry. I just never seen a kid with a tattoo before." She then sat on the ground, crossing her legs. "What does it mean though? M11?"
He pointed at himself and answered, "Michael...Eleven."
"Your name's Michael?" He nodded at her, making her nod back. "Alright, then...my name is Jane. Jane Ives." She pointed at herself before dropping her hand to her lap.
He looked a bit curious. "Jane?" She nodded. He had heard that name before...at the bad place...but he couldn't remember when.
"Maybe we can call you Mike. Mike is short for Michael, after all." He liked the sound of "Mike", so he nodded at her again. She smiled at him. "Great." She stood up. "Well, good night, Mike."
As she was about to drop the curtains on him, he replied, "Good night, Jane." She stopped where she was, feeling her heart skip a beat hearing that. She wondered why. She finally dropped the curtains on him and left the basement. She hoped that he wouldn't leave when she comes back. That would cause more problems than needed.
When she left, Mike laid down on his side and curled up. It was warmer in this place than outside...almost like the diner. He frowned and furrowed his brows upward, almost looking to cry. It didn't help that it was dark and thunder was rolling in. He shook like a leaf and closed his eyes in fear, hoping to get through this night without any more trouble.
The next morning, the Ives were up, three pieces of waffles popping up from a toaster. Jane wore her coat, a black shirt with a grey logo on it and a red long-sleeved shirt underneath, dark loose fit jeans, and red and white Nikes. She always loved Eggos, so she wondered if Mike would like them too. She put one of the waffles inside the pocket of her coat while placing two of the others on her plate.
...
At the table, the tomboy began eating her waffles at a fast pace, cutting and eating whole of the pieces she cut out. Ms. Ives looked concerned for her daughter eating like that while Kali just looked disgusted. "Oh my God, Jane," she said to her. "I know you love Eggos, but stop that. That's gross."
As she swallowed the chewed piece in her mouth, she gave her an annoyed expression and asked, "So, did you do some good studying last night?"
She scoffed. "I actually did."
Teasingly, Jane asked, "You were studying for your sex-ed test, right?" Kali gave her a cross look. Both kicked each other's shins under the table.
"Hey!" Ms. Ives barked out, making the girls stop and look at her. "Stop it, both of you." Both of them sighed deeply and continued eating their food, still annoyed with each other.
...
Still in the basement, Mike began to mess around with Jane's walkie-talkie he found when he woke up, turning the knob and listening to the static that came out of it. He then heard footsteps coming down, stiffening up and turning it off. The footsteps came closer and the curtains were pulled up, showing that it was Jane, making him feel relieved.
She looked at her walkie-talkie on his hand and smiled. "Oh, you found my super-com?" she asked him. "It's pretty cool, huh?" He looked back down at it. "I use that to talk to my friends, mostly Lucas because he lives so close. The signal's pretty weak though." He looked up at her again, not saying a word. He kind of reminded her of how she was in school, quiet and timid. She was always like that with the exception of her friends, since they broke her out of her shell.
Jane took out the waffle she had in her coat pocket and gave it to him. "Here's your breakfast. It's an Eggos waffle, my favorite." He looked at it and grabbed it, taking a bite out of it and chewing. He nodded, thinking it tasted good, making her smile again. It slowly disappeared, however, as she decided to tell him her plan.
She sat on the floor again and said, "So, this is going to sound pretty weird, but..." Mike looked at her with a curious expression as she pointed to the door. "I need you to go out there, and then go to my front door and ring the doorbell." The expression was still the same. "My mama will answer the door and you will tell her that you're lost and need help. You can't tell her about what happened last night or that you know about me. Do you understand?"
Mike's expression remained unchanged, making her deeply sigh and give him a smile. "It's not that big of a deal, okay? We'll just pretend to meet each other again and my mama knows who to ca-"
"No," he answered, cutting her off. She was surprised, not expecting that answer from him.
"No?"
He shook his head. "No." He took another bite of the waffle and chewed it.
"You don't want my mama to call for help?" He shook his head again as he swallowed it. She wondered why before reaching a conclusion. "Are you...in trouble?" His face became worried, then hers mirrored it. "Who...exactly are you in trouble with?"
He looked down at his waffle with sad eyes, muttering, "Bad..."
"Bad? Bad people?" He slowly nodded. She began to worry even more about this situation. "Do these bad people...want to hurt you?" He then formed a finger gun and pointed it to his head...before pointing it to hers. That gesture answered her question, her eyes widening.
He put his hand down and asked, "Understand?" She nodded. This situation got deeper than she or the boys anticipated.
"Jane! Where are you?!" Ms. Ives shouted from upstairs. "We're going to be late!"
That made her jolt a little and shout back, "I'm coming!" She turned back to Mike and said, "I need to go. I'll come back, just stay here." Before he could answer, she dropped the curtains and began running upstairs. The freckled boy frowned, worrying about her and his safety.
Back in the laboratories, Dr. Brenner and Dr. Wheeler walked with two of their best operatives. "When was this?" asked Dr. Wheeler.
"Last night, two miles away from here," the woman answered.
Dr. Brenner looked at his watch. "And the boy?" he asked.
"Still missing," answered another agent.
...
In the recording room, both doctors heard Joyce Byers's phone call, hearing her mention that she heard her son on the phone and heard something similar to a growl. Both of them looked at each other, worried about the secret they were keeping within the labs.
In Hawkins High School, Kali wore a white long-sleeved shirt, dark skinny jeans, and flats. Barbara was holding her flashcards, quizzing her while they were walking. "'When alpha particles go through gold foil, they become-'" the red-haired female read to her friend.
"Unoccupied space," the dark-haired girl answered instantly.
Barbara nodded and went to the next card when suddenly, someone came by and snatched the cards away from her. She shot back a little in shock, the friends looking at who took them. It just so happened to be Steve. "Hey!"
"Hey, indeed," he replied as another guy his age with a bunch of freckles on his face appeared, poking Barbara at the ear and making her flinch. Another girl around their age joined him too. They were his friends, Tommy H. and Carol. "I think you studied enough, Kal."
The dark-haired girl sighed. "Steve-" she began.
"Seriously, I know you got this." He then put the flashcards in his back pocket, Kali crossing her arms and becoming irritated by his antics. "Now, onto more important things." He grinned. "My dad's out of town for a conference and my mom's with him because she doesn't trust him."
"Which is a good call," Tommy added.
"So, are you in?"
The dark-haired girl looked confused. "In for...?"
"Come on," Carol said. "No parents? Big house?"
Through those implications, that meant... "A party?"
"Ding, ding, ding!" Tommy chuckled a little.
"But it's a Tuesday."
"'But it's a Tuesday,'" the freckled guy imitated, mocking her voice and laughing. "Come on!" Carol joined him on the laughing.
Steve let out a big sigh and looked at her. "It'll be just us. Low-key, no one would know. You in or out?" Kali began to think. She was still under house arrest, but once her mother leaves for her night shift...
"Oh my God, look," Carol said. All of them looked where she was looking, seeing an auburn-haired guy pinning a missing poster for Will Byers. Kali recognized him as the boy's older brother, Jonathan, the school loner.
"Well, that's depressing," Steve commented, frowning.
Kali felt bad for him and suggested, "Maybe we should tell him something-"
"Girl, I don't think he speaks," the light-brown-haired girl stated.
"How much to bet that he killed him?" Tommy asked. Kali's boyfriend punched his shoulder in disapproval.
"Shut up..."
Since these guys didn't want to do it, then she will. She walked towards him and stopped next to him, greeting, "Hey."
He quickly turned his head to her as he finished pinning the poster. "Uh...hey," he greeted back a bit awkwardly.
Kali took a deep breath and said to him, "I just wanted to say that he'll be found and he'll be fine. I know it."
He nodded at her and smiled a little. "Yeah...thanks."
"Just don't worry about it too much, alright?" She moved her head to point to everybody. "Everyone's thinking about you." He nodded again as a reply, though his smile disappeared. The bell rang, making everyone but them hurry to their classrooms. Kali didn't want to miss her class, so she began to leave as well. "I need to go, but good luck."
"Thanks," he replied as he saw her go. He let out a deep sigh and looked at the poster again, mumbling, "How can I not worry so much about him...?" He didn't know and he didn't care, thinking her words were empty. He then left as the principal made an announcement about an assembly for his little brother.
In the middle school, the warning bell rang as some kids took their seats and put their backpacks next to them. As Dustin and Lucas did so, both noticed the empty seat next to Lucas, Jane's seat. "Oh no, this is weird," the curly-haired boy stated.
"I told you, her stupid plan failed," the black-haired boy replied.
"Wait, didn't you like her plan?"
"Yeah, but it was obviously stupid. Otherwise, she'd be here."
Dustin grinned nervously. "Man, if her mom knew she had a different boy stay over last night-"
"Then she's in some deep shit."
His friend then whispered to her, "What if he tried to sleep with her last night?" Lucas groaned at his question, thinking it was stupid since he talked about that last night...yet it WAS possible, since he was a psycho in his eyes...
"He does, we kick his ass."
He nodded. "Exactly. No one sleeps with our friend!" He realized he said that out loud, a good chunk of the class looking at him. He face-palmed and muttered, "Goddamn it..."
Outside of class, Troy and James heard that, making them snicker and leave for their class...
Lucas sighed and face-palmed as well. "Great, Dustin. Just great."
"Sor-ry!" He groaned. "Maaan, what happens when my mom hears about this?"
Lucas looked at him in disbelief. "Jane wouldn't rat us out like that, I know that for sure."
"I dunno, man..."
"Listen." Dustin looked at his friend. "By the time school ends, that strange boy will be back at the loony-bin and we can focus on what really matters: finding Will." The final bell then rang and class began. Lucas was keen on Mike being gone while Dustin remained unsure.
As Terry left for her day job, Jane hid behind one of the trees near her home. When the car was gone, she biked her way over to her home, getting into the backyard and into the basement to visit Mike again.
...
Meanwhile, Terry wore an old-fashioned green and white waitress uniform and was driving to downtown to work in Hideaway as a waitress. She was still worrying about her daughters though. Kali wanted to visit her boyfriend while Jane wanted to find Will. Both of them were mad at her last night, but they didn't know how dangerous it could be outside, especially with a child missing. Losing her children would be the worst thing that has ever happened to her. Especially if HE broke his promise and...
And...
Terry began thinking of something as she stopped at the exit of the neighborhood. What if...he took him, took Will? She shook her head. Why would he? He had...more than enough for that damn...ugh. Maybe it was just her undying hatred towards him and his endeavors that made her think of the most ridiculous shit. She heavily sighed and looked to her left before turning a right into the road.
Now with her coat off, Jane arrived upstairs with Mike, him looking around at her home. "Do you need a drink?" she asked him. "We got orange juice, skim milk...um..." She tried to think of what else her family had. She turned to the shaved-haired boy and saw him wander into the living room. He set his eyes on the TV in there, looking at it closely and trailing his fingers down on the buttons. She smiled a little and stood right next to him. "This is the TV. It's what this living room is for." She then placed her hand on top of the TV. "It's a 22-inch, bigger than Dustin's. Pretty cool, right?"
Michael nodded though he didn't understand much, then looked back at the pictures set up above the home's fireplace. Some had baby pictures of either her or Kali, others from childhood and recently. He looked to see both Kali and Jane from a year ago during a wedding reception, dressed up formally in dresses. He smiled at the picture. "Pretty," he said.
Jane blushed and felt her heart beating a little faster at that compliment, nervously smiling a little. "Uh...thanks?" she replied, sounding unsure since there might be the possibility that he was talking about Kali. She shook off her nervousness and continued, "That girl is my older sister, Kali." He thought that was weird, since they didn't look related.
He then looked at a family picture with not only her and Kali, but also Miss Ives. All of them wore sweaters, Terry and Jane wearing formal ladies' pants while Kali wore a skirt. "That's my mama," she said. "She takes care of the both of us." He looked closely at Terry, having an odd sense of familiarity with her...
He turned to her and asked, "Dad?"
She frowned, shook her head, and shrugged. "Never knew him. Mama said it's for the best." It wasn't the first time she was asked if she had a father, but the thought of not knowing about him kind of made her feel upset somehow. She always wondered why she never knew about him. He thought that was weird as well, since he had a dad...
"What are your parents like?" she asked him as he focused his attention on a recliner chair. "Or do you live with one of them, like me?" He didn't answer because he didn't listen, his sole focus on the chair. She noticed that and went to it. "That's my mama's La-Z-Boy. When she's tired from work, she usually sits here and goes to sleep." She looked at him and suggested, "You can try it if you want. You don't have to, but it's cozy."
He wondered if it really was, so he sat on it and shuffled a little in it. She was right again, it was pretty comfortable. She walked to the side of it and had her hand on the side handle. He looked curiously at her, making her look back at him. "Hold on," she said. "It might surprise you a little." He wondered again what she meant by that before turning the handle and reclining the chair. He gasped in shock, his heart racing a little at the sudden change. This actually felt better for him, making him smile and chuckle a little. She giggled.
"That's the fun part." She then turned the chair back to normal and let go of the handle. "How about you try it now?" He nodded as he put his hand on the handle and turned it, reclining the chair again. He began laughing with her. He never enjoyed something so much before, especially with someone else.
Done! How was this? Any typos I might've missed?
In this AU, I'm thinking that Lucas and Dustin would be like overprotective brothers to Jane, so that's why they're very concerned about her keeping a boy in her house, especially when he was about to undress himself in front of her.
There will also be more Terry-centric scenes during this fanfic (of course, I mean, it's a role-swap AU and I did say she's somehow connected to the events going on) and I'm thinking of having someone else close to her visit her for a few days. Can you guys guess who it is? ;)
Since I'm on Thanksgiving break now, I should publish more chapters of this every day, so stay tuned! :D I'll see you in the next chapter!