Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

"Goodbye, Jane."

The sight of her crying more and sobbing at that broke Mike's heart. He had no other choice.

He had to die with it.

He turned and began killing the Demogorgon with his power. It screamed at the pain, he screamed as he used his powers the best he could to kill it. Then...he remembered flakes, dark flakes, coming from it...

And then he was met with darkness for what felt like a long time. He thought he was dead...

Until he actually shot his eyes open and gasped a large amount of air.

He wasn't dead after all...he thought killing it would...

His nose was bleeding and he coughed out some bile, wiping some off of his lips with his sleeve. He then slowly stood up and looked at where he was...

He was at the school, in the same classroom...but it looked so different. There were white flakes in the air, plant-like vines being everywhere he looked. Everything was lit blue...

Where was he? What was happening?

...

Once he exited the classroom, he felt so bogged down, so tired, but he kept going. He needed to escape from this place, no matter what...and he needed to find Jane and the others.

Especially Jane.

He felt a bit of nausea, so he stopped and leaned against the wall for a bit until it resided. As he breathed heavily, he looked around, becoming worried. "J-Jane...?" he called out, his voice echoing throughout the hallways. There was nothing but silence, his worry skyrocketing. Once the nausea was gone, he walked straight down in the main hallway, where most of the lockers were. It was so eerily quiet...and there was no one else around. This made him feel so unpleasant, so...scared.

"Jane?" he asked, getting no answer and making him feel more worried and scared. He didn't have the energy to run, but he had the energy to speed-walk. "Jane?! JANE?!"

No answer.

His eyesight began to blur since they were filling with tears. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. What happened to her?! What happened to everyone else?! What was going on?! He wanted to know!

"JANE!" He turned to another hallway, leading to a wall as he looked at both directions. There was still no answer and still no sign of Jane or anybody...that led him to thinking if they were...

No, no, they couldn't be. She couldn't be...they-

A distant voice made him break away from his thoughts, making him look at the direction it came from. He saw a hole...a small, glowing red hole. Slowly and carefully, he began to approach it, just in case anything...scary happens.

He finally got in front of it, looking straight at it. It wasn't bright enough to hurt his eyes, thankfully. Was this where the voice came from?

He heard more voices as through the hole, he saw two people with flashlights roaming around on the other side of it. His eyes widened before one of them got close and examined the hole with the flashlight. He instantly got out of sight and stood right next to it, hoping he wasn't caught. It could be the bad men looking for him...or maybe good people? Whatever the case, his heart was racing anxiously.

"Bravo Team, come in!" said someone on a radio from the other side. Mike closed his eyes and kept hoping that they would go away. They were nothing more than a bunch of strangers, after all. He had to keep himself safe, just in case.

He heard the voices on the other side fading after a moment, making him open his eyes. He looked through the hole and saw nobody else. It must be safe then, right? He then slowly reached his hand towards the hole, wondering if he could break through it. When his fingertips felt the texture covering the hole, it felt more smooth and slimy. It felt weird, but he kept going. Finally, his hand managed to break through the texture. He pulled it back to see it was gooey. He just touched goo. Mildly disgusted, he wiped his goo-covered hand on his pants.

However, he discovered that this hole could be his only way out of here. He could go find Jane, and Terry, and Lucas, and Dustin. He had to get through there.

Since it was too small, he stepped back and tilted his head down, bringing his hand up and using his power to make the hole even bigger than it was so he could fit through it. When it was big enough, he stopped, feeling a little more tired, but not caring. He got close to it again and used both of his hands to break away the goo. When it did, he got covered in it and finally got through, landing on his knees and taking in the fresh air.

He looked around, seeing that this was the same hall he escaped out of, but with blood tracks on the floor. Did this mean that everything was alright? He stood up and looked back at the hole, which repaired its goo. His eyes widened again. That meant he was in...

The Upside Down.

He could have been trapped there forever, but he was thankful that wasn't the case. He got to live...and now he'll find the girl he cared about so much, Jane. He walked to the left, to the exit doors straight ahead.

Once he was out of the school and off of the campus, he walked through the woods before finding the power lines. He knew those power lines meant Jane and Terry's home wasn't that far, so he walked towards them. As he got closer, he spotted red and blue lights flashing, puzzling him. When the house was in sight...he saw police cars lined up in the driveway. He felt very tense, since he thought this could be a bad sign. He walked towards the house, but tried to be out of sight as much as possible if he saw anybody outside.

Meanwhile, inside the house, the entire Ives family was there, including Becky and Carl, as well as some detectives and police. "What about the Russians?" the short-haired woman asked two detectives. "What if they find him?"

"He seems really dangerous," her husband added.

"They don't know where he is," one detective answered them.

"And he wouldn't contact you or Teresa without us knowing," another detective added.

In the kitchen, another detective was talking to Terry, asking her quietly, "Did you get the card?" The woman nodded, taking it from her pocket and showing it to him, including the message on the back, before putting it back.

"This Dr. Samuel Owens...who is he, exactly?" she asked him.

"He's one of the leading doctors from another facility in Chicago." The reminder that there were more facilities similar to Hawkins Lab sickened her. "All that I can tell you right now, he will help you get your life back together if you keep all of this-"

"Top secret?" He nodded. "I can do that." She hoped it would be a good decision to make contact with him though...

In another room in the house, a couple more detectives were questioning Jane, the female one asking, "Let's go back to the beginning, sweetie-"

"I told you everything," the girl responded, interrupting her.

The male detective sighed and said, "I can understand how difficult this is for you, Jane-"

She looked up at him in disbelief. "I swear, I don't know where he is!"

"That's how your mother responded before Detective Hayemore took her away."

"And she's right." She grasped the arms of the cushioned chair hard. "Even if I did know where he is, I'd die before I tell you." She may be young, but she knew she wasn't stupid. These adults thought otherwise, though, much to her dismay.

Outside, Mike looked through the window, peeking through the crack of the curtains and seeing Jane...with two other adults. They had to be bad people since she looked upset talking to them.

"Listen, Jane," the female detective told her. "You must understand that the stories he told you are not true. He's a very dangerous boy." He wasn't, not to her, and she knew that better than this lying woman and her stupid comrade ever will.

"If he gets in contact with you, you have to tell us," the male detective also told her. "Or even if you find out that he contacts your mother, you must tell us immediately." She sighed before looking at her window...suddenly seeing someone look at her through it and locking eyes with...him.

"Otherwise, not only would you be putting yourself at risk, but also your entire family. Do you understand, Jane?" She didn't listen to the woman as she slowly figured out who was at the window, making her expression slowly shift from upset to shocked. Was that...?

Outside, the shaved-haired boy looked so melancholic. He saw Jane again and she was looking at him, but...those people...what were they telling her? It couldn't be anything good...

"Jane?" There was no answer from her. "Jane?" Still no answer. However, the male detective put two-and-two together, figuring out why she was looking at the window the way she was...

The police and detectives exited out of the Ives household, checking out every side of the home, every place that was close to it to find Michael. There was even a helicopter looking for him.

Some of the detectives looked into the woods for him not finding him anywhere. The boy, however, was hiding underneath a fallen tree on the descending slope, the trunk keeping him out of sight. He curled himself up, looking both scared and downcast and hoping he wouldn't get caught. He would never go back there, no matter what. If he had to kill those that will, he would.

Still...as long as these people were around...he wouldn't see Jane. He wouldn't see her again until they were gone...

That meant...he was on his own.

It was the dead of night. Mike had been tucked into bed while Hopper watched some TV with Terry...in low volume, of course. While a few commercials were playing, the man looked at the woman and asked quietly, "So, what do we do about tomorrow?"

She gave him a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

"Tomorrow's Halloween." She felt like an idiot for not noticing that. "The kid knows about it because of some commercials he watched. He told me he wanted to go trick-or-treating."

She let out a sigh and crossed her arms. "He can't go out there, even if he's in costume."

He nodded. "That's what I've been thinking. The Lab got all eyes on the both of us..."

"And bringing him out will make them question us."

"And we'll have to bring him back there."

"I would die before doing that. I could never betray him like that."

"Right. Still..." He paused. "He's probably not going to like this."

She sighed again and stopped crossing her arms. "You were his age before, maybe you can talk to him and tell him why he can't go out."

Now he sighed, looking at the TV screen. "I'll try, Terry." Even when he was Mike's age back in the 60's, the boy went through much more and much worse than him back then. Besides, he's never had a son before...at the same time, neither did Terry. They were both trying their best and they weren't going to stop now.

When she looked at the clock, she saw that it was now midnight, so she got up from the couch and whispered to the police chief, "I need to go."

He nodded, whispering back, "Gotcha." As she got her things, he began to think about...what happened in the past with them, some time after they found Mike. Before she could leave, he said, "Wait." She stopped and turned to him with a grin.

"What, you need me to shop for groceries?" she jokingly asked him.

He let out a quiet chuckle before looking serious. "No, I..." He released a heavy sigh and turned off the TV, walking towards her and gently grabbing her shoulders. "I've been thinking about..." He trailed up, drawing his lips to a fine line. "That time we..." She got the memo quickly, frowning.

"Jim..."

"I know I told you that you can think about it and I don't wanna rush you, but it's been months. Sooner or later, you need to make up your mind, okay?" She let out a deep sigh, looking away from him and unlocking the door.

"Good night, Jim." She then exited out of the cabin and walked to her car. She had nearly forgotten about that, wishing Jim never brought it up. She placed a hand on her chest, taking a deep breath. Even now, she didn't have a concrete answer...and she hated that.

He deeply sighed as she did before, going back to the couch to sleep. As he said before, he wanted her to think about this and didn't want to rush her. But he will admit, he was getting impatient. Still, whenever she's ready to answer and whatever the answer will be, he'll be ready with it.

...

Now it was morning. He began cooking breakfast for him and Mike, who hadn't woken up yet. The breakfast was french toast. Usually, his french toast wouldn't be as good as it was when...Sara was alive. But thanks to Terry teaching him her handy cooking skills, he could actually make not only decent french toast, but also decent food. The kid wouldn't want to eat mediocre food anyway.

As he turned around, he suddenly saw the freckled boy himself in a ghost costume, which was just a white blanket with holes where the eyes were. That actually made him tense up and exclaim, "Jesus Christ!"

Under his costume, Mike grinned a little at his reaction and spread his arms out. "I'm a ghost," he said plainly.

The man sighed and looked back at the french toast he was cooking. "Yeah, I can see that, buddy." He then carried the pan of french toast to the counter that had plates.

"It's Halloween."

"Yep, it is." He slid the french toast to each of their plates, which also had two strips of bacon on them. "But now it's breakfast, so take that off and we'll eat." He put the pan back on the stove and carried both of the plates.

The freckled boy frowned at his response. "They wouldn't see me."

He set the plates at the dinner table and went back to get his cup of coffee and the boy's glass of orange juice. "Who wouldn't see you?"

"The bad men."

He set the drinks at the table and looked up at him in concern. "What are you talking about?"

"Trick-or-treat."

To be honest, Jim wished it wasn't Halloween. Time flies fast when you're getting old, he guessed. "Are you sure about that?" The boy simply nodded, making him sigh again. He and Terry had talked about this last night. They came to the conclusion to not make an exception, even for this day. He stood up and replied, "You know the rules."

"Yeah, but-"

He grabbed his shoulders and added, "You know the answer."

He shook his head. "They wouldn't see me."

"No."

Now Mike felt upset. "They wouldn't see me," he repeated coldly.

"Hey-"

"They wouldn't see me! Terry could-"

"Hey!" Now his grip on his shoulders was firm, making the boy silent and look at him straight in the eye. "Terry and I talked about this last night and we both agreed that you're not going out, even for today."

Now Mike looked dumbfounded at that statement. "She hasn't seen me in this yet."

"We both agreed, okay?" The boy frowned under his costume again. "We both agreed that, costume or not, you're not going out there. It's a risk, and we don't take risks." He paused to release his hands from his shoulders. "They're stupid, and..."

The boy sighed, feeling defeated as he replied in a bitingly frustrated voice, "We're not stupid."

Jim had noticed the tone in his voice being frustrated, but since he was his age way back when, he had to hammer it home. "Exactly." He pointed at his costume. "Take that off, sit down, and eat. Your food's gonna get cold." The man then proceeded to sit at his spot.

The boy let a huff and removed his ghost costume. He wore a gray polo with blue and yellow stripes and dark jeans. He visibly looked upset as he sat down, trying to tone down his look although Jim could clearly see that he was frustrated. He got that, he was the kid's age back in the 60's. It happens.

As he poured maple syrup on both of their pieces of french toast, he thought of something. The boy didn't look at him, but he decided to say, "Okay, bud, look." He rested his forehead against his hand. "How about this: I visit Terry and convince her to buy some candy and I get off early, then we can all sit around, eat them 'til we're fat, and watch a scary movie, all three of us? How's that for a compromise?"

The boy looked puzzled at the word. "Com-promise?" he asked, separating "com" from "promise" as he spoke.

Jim leaned forward to him a little. "C-O-M-promise. Com-pro-mise." Mike looked away from him again, playing with his fork. "How about that be your word of the day? Compromise?" He still didn't look at him. "It means something kind of in-between, halfway-happy."

Halfway happy? It sounded better than not being happy. Besides, that plan didn't sound bad at all. It could be fun. He looked back at the man and asked, "By...seven-zero-zero?" It was usually the time Terry comes in, so...

He nodded. "Seven o'clock. Sure."

"Promise?"

He leaned forward at him again. "Yes. I promise, Mike."

A promise...something that can never be broken no matter what. He hoped he and Terry didn't. He also hoped it would be fun. He gave him a half-smile and said, "Halfway happy." He then began to cut his pieces of french toast.

Jim smiled, knowing the kid would come around. Since his own father was an asshole, he had to make a deal a boy like him wouldn't deny. He glad that worked. Besides, he knew Mike meant well. He reached over and ruffled his shaggy bed hair, making him grin and chuckle a little. The two then peacefully began to eat their breakfast, hoping the rest of the day will be alright and the plan comes to life.

In the front yard of the Sinclair household, Mrs. Sinclair was taking pictures of Lucas in his Ghostbuster costume, posing rather confidently. His little sister, however, was not enjoying this. "God, you are SUCH a nerd," she told him.

He gave her a disapproving look and replied, "Shut up, Erica."

"I still don't know why a girl hangs out with you." Because she was his friend? It should be common knowledge to her.

"Ericaaa..." Mrs. Sinclair said sharply through her teeth demandingly.

The little girl looked up at her. "I'm just stating a fact!" The woman continued taking pictures of Lucas while Erica mouthed, "Nerd." He swore, she couldn't be any more annoying...

In the Ives home, Terry was taking pictures of Jane in her Ghostbuster costume, who was looking annoyed by the amount of pictures the woman took of her. "Please let that be the last one, Mama..." she pleaded, stopping her pose.

She took out the picture and replied, "Sorry, sweetheart! Just one more! You look so pretty in that!"

The girl looked baffled that she even said that. "I'm not even supposed to look-"

"Okay, strike a pose a Ghostbuster would do and say, 'Who you gonna call?'"

The girl groaned and struck a pose, unenthusiacally saying, "Who you gonna call...?"

Later, Jane, Dustin, and Lucas were riding together, singing the Ghostbusters theme enthusiastically and smiling. They parked their bikes and all sang, "Who you gonna call~?"

"Ghostbusters~!" Will sang, appearing before them. They all approached each other, being all excited. "Hey, Spengler!"

"Egon!" Jane happily exclaimed.

Will hugged Lucas as he said, "Venkman!"

That removed the happiness the tomboy once had. "Whoa, whoa, wait."

The happiness in the air broke when she said that, Lucas turning to her and asking, "What?"

"Why are YOU Venkman?"

He shrugged. "Because I'm Venkman."

She shook her head and pointed at herself. "No, I'M Venkman."

Will looked concerned, asking, "Why can't there be two Venkmans?"

She looked at him with a baffled look. "There's only ONE Venkman! We planned this months ago! I'm Venkman..." She pointed at Dustin. "Dustin's Stantz..." She then pointed at Will. "You're Egon..." She finally pointed at Lucas. "And he's Winston."

The black-haired boy looked annoyed. "Uh, last I checked, I didn't AGREE to be Winston!"

"Yes, you did!"

Will knew Lucas was right, so he said, "I don't think he did, but-"

"No one wants to be Winston, Jane."

She looked perplexed. "Why? What's wrong with him?"

"He joined the team super late, he's not funny, and he's not even a scientist!"

Jane huffed and rolled her eyes. "Listen, Venkman doesn't look like you."

"He doesn't look like you either!"

"So what?!"

"'So what?!' Do you hear yourself? You sound like a hypocrite!"

She was about to storm to him, but Will managed to stop her by getting in front of Lucas. "Jane, Jane!" he cried out, making her look at him. "Really, it's not a big deal."

She looked baffled at him. "'It's not a big deal?'"

"We're supposed to have fun, remember? It's Halloween. Who cares if there's two Venkmans? We're all still Ghostbusters." He was right...

She sighed and stepped back to where she was, saying to Lucas, "Sorry."

He shrugged, replying, "It's alright. At least we're both a funny character." They both laughed, even Will.

However, Dustin was looking at the kids departing from the last bus, saying, "Guys..." They all looked at him before looking at the kids departing from the bus...wearing normal clothes. "Why is no one else wearing costumes?" That was an excellent question...and they all knew the answer.

As the Party roamed inside the school in their costumes, their peers looked at them and had their share of laughs and giggles. Even one girl said, "Oh my God, even the girl..." All of them felt deeply embarrassed that they were the only ones in costume.

"Why do people make these decisions...?" Dustin muttered to his friends.

"Everyone dressed up last year..." Will added.

"It's a conspiracy, I'm telling you."

"I seriously don't get it..." Jane muttered under her breath. "But try to act normal, you guys."

"Who you gonna call~?" sang a boy they walked past. "The nerds~!" A few other kids laughed at that. All of them tried their absolute best not to react to that.

"Hey, last I checked, there wasn't a GIRL Ghostbuster!" another kid shouted to Jane specifically. "The only girl got possessed in the movie!" Other kids laughed with him. She tried not to give him any attention, though she felt like punching him in the face.

Will felt bad for her, staying close to her and whispering, "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I'll be fine. They're just idiots." He kind of smiled at that.

They all went to their own lockers to get their stuff for homeroom, separating for a bit. Suddenly, they all noticed Max skating through the hallway to her locker. Lucas and Dustin kept their eyes on her, so when Jane saw them look at her with googly-eyes, she sighed and rolled her eyes. She swore, Max made the boys into idiots...

"Jane?" asked Will.

She looked at him, making her irritated expression go away by the sight of him. At least he wasn't looking at her with googly-eyes. "Yeah?"

"What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing."

He looked worried. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Will. Don't worry." She then slammed her locker shut and began walking to class. "Come on." As much as he...liked her, he did spot her looking at Lucas and Dustin looking at Max, so he wasn't stupid. Maybe the fact that a girl like Max suddenly appears was bothering her. Sure, having another tomboy that kicked butt at video games was cool...

But she would never be as cool as Jane, he would know.

Done with this chapter! What do you guys think? Any typos or mistakes I might've missed? Sorry for updating a day late! I just went to a college application workshop yesterday and it went on for 8 hours, so...yeah.

Anyways, I hope I wrote the flashback well, especially with what happens in the house. I also hope you guys don't mind the slight change in Jane and Lucas's argument about being Venkman.

Wonder what Jim and Terry were talking about...maybe I was too on-the-nose about it...

Review, follow, favorite, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!