Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

In the Byers home, Joyce and Jane held the ends of a measuring tape. The tomboy stood at the Lover's Lake drawing as Bob was at a table with the actual map of Hawkins, marking down on it to find where the "X" was. "I'm 3.6 inches!" he yelled from the dining room. "What do you got?"

"I don't know!" Jane yelled back before looking at the brunette woman. "Mrs. Byers?"

"Hold on!" Joyce called out, the girl feeling the tape move with her. It stopped and she said, "21 feet and 4 inches."

"What about Tippecanoe to Danford Creek?" her boyfriend asked.

The girl heard the woman sigh. "D-Danford...okay, where's that?"

Will was helping with solving for the "X" as well, so he went into the dining room and pointed at it. "Here! In the dining room!" he told his mom. That made her move to the Danford spot while Jane went to the Tippecanoe spot.

"16 feet and 10 inches!"

"What about Danford to Jordan?"

Joyce sighed and gathered up the measuring tape, Jane letting go as everyone else got to the table Bob was at. "Come on, that HAS to be enough."

He shook his head at her. "It's not."

She began to look stressed. "Can you just...I don't know, figure it out?"

Now he sighed and stated, "It's hard. The ratio isn't exactly one-to-one. I mean, if you twist my arm..." He paused to look up at her. "And you're twisting it hard..." She sighed at that before he looked down at the map. "Then I would say that the 'X' is..." He marked a red line on the map with his blue-ink pen. "...maybe half a mile southeast of Danford?" That made the three look very hopeful, especially Joyce and Jane.

Smiling, the woman grabbed the map and kissed him on the cheek, making him blush and smile. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" She then ran to head for the car, making the kids follow her as well.

They heard Bob ask, "Wait, hold on...are we REALLY going?" They were...they were going to find Hopper and Terry. Jane sincerely hoped that her mama would still be alright. Will did say she could pull through as well as Joyce, so...she had hope.

Dustin rode his bike to the Ives home and got off of it, not even bothering to get out the kickstand. He ran to the door and saw the note Terry left for the girls. He looked a bit puzzled at why this wasn't taken off. Oh well. He pressed the doorbell, waiting for someone to respond. It felt like a minute and there was nothing. He groaned and pressed the doorbell multiple times, still not getting any answer whatsoever. Now he was feeling frustrated. Was NOBODY home? Not even Ms. Ives? Or Jane? Or Kali? Why the HELL would the Ives house be completely empty today?!

"Sonuva bitch..." he muttered under his breath as he began to walk back to his bike. He tried to think, where the hell could Jane be? She said she would check up with Will...he snapped his fingers. "Will's." She probably slept over there and still there, if he was lucky and fast enough. That was it then, he'll go to Wi-

The sound of a car engine turning off broke him out of his thoughts and look to see Steve with a bouquet of lavenders. Was he here for Kali? Well, no shit he was here for Kali. Who was he going to give those to? Ms. Ives? However...seeing him made him think of another idea.

When Steve got out of the car with the lavenders, he took a deep breath and walked towards it, not caring enough to notice Dustin. "Okay, okay..." he muttered to himself before clearing his throat. "'Kali...I...need to tell you something...about the party.'" He didn't look too confident about that one. "Is that too aggressive...?" Here he thought he was ready to tell her the truth and what the hell happens? He's not even ready to greet her. Sure, he's got the flowers. Kali loved lavenders. She always loved purple...she REALLY loved purple. She made sure to tell him that-

"Hey, don't bother," he heard Dustin call out, making him stop and turn to him. Since when was he around?

"What?"

He walked towards him and continued, "No one's home. I rang the doorbell a lot and no one's answering."

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Great." It wasn't like he was completely ready, but he worked himself up over nothing, after all this time. The curly-haired boy suddenly snatched the lavenders from him, making him exclaim, "Hey!"

The boy looked back at him as he then walked to his car. "Listen, there are more important things than your love life." He looked a bit baffled, wondering what the hell he was talking about. He opened the door to the passenger's seat and asked him, "You still have that bat?"

He looked puzzled. "Bat?"

"Y'know, the one with the nails?"

Now he was concerned. "Yeah, but why?"

"I'll explain on the way, okay?" He sat on the passenger's seat. Well, shit, if he was going to get in there...

He ran towards the car and asked, "Now?"

"NOW." He said that with such a large emphasis...what in the hell did he want him to do?

When Jim and Terry dug a big enough hole in the wall, the dirty-blonde-haired woman had offered to get in there herself to see how far it'll go. She had stuck her face into the hole before using her arms to get further in there. It didn't take long before she hit the end. She used her hand to feel if she could break through it. It turned out...it was solid. It made her blood run cold and her eyes to begin watering.

"Terry?" asked Jim, concerned. "Can we go through?"

She sniffled and crawled back out of the hole, shaking her head at him. "No...the end is solid," she answered somberly.

He looked away, looking angry and muttering, "Shit!" They both leaned against the wall and sunk into the ground, being right next to each other. They were both tired as hell and feeling horrible, especially Terry.

She sniffled again and began to sob, a couple tears releasing before she wiped them away. The man looked at her with a completely worried face. "Terry..."

"I just can't believe it, Jim. We've been digging this damn hole for hours..." She pointed at the hole in the wall they dug up. "And it's not even deep enough. We're tired and dirty and..." She let out more tears and wiped them away. "Now we can't get to Michael and I can't get to my girls..." She sobbed some more, covering her face with her hands. "They must be getting worried sick about us, especially my daughters about me! They're going to know that their mom is missing! And Mike, how is he going to handle us being gone for God knows how long?!" Jim looked very sorry for her. He knew how much her daughters meant to her and he could feel her about Mike. The kid was still pissed off at them when they left, but still...

He pulled her into a side hug, letting her cry on his shoulder as his eyes began to water as well. "We'll find a way out, Terry..." he whispered to her. "Somehow..." They stayed like that for a bit, the woman feeling only a little better when he said that. She needed his comfort right now and he needed to cheer her up so he didn't feel more shittier than he did.

However, they didn't notice the moving vines slowly creeping to them...and up on one of their legs. Feeling one, Terry looked down to see it get up on her leg. She screamed and tried to break free from it by moving her leg around. Jim gasped and yelled, "Terry!" He quickly got out his pocket knife and cut one vine off of her. Suddenly, she saw some crawl up on his leg, making her shout, "They're on you, Jim!"

He looked to see that and yelled, "Son of a bitch!" He tried to cut the vines off of him while they both began to stand up. While the dirty-blonde-haired woman tried to rip the vines away from every part of her body, he tried to cut them off. But it was all useless as the vines made them stiff and fall on the ground. They both screamed, more of the vines trying to cover them and hold them down.

Jim had dropped his knife, the two adults looking to find it as they began to curse. Terry saw it near her and tried to reach for it, but bound down like it was, she couldn't get it from that far. They both tried to stand up, Jim yelling, "Wait, wait, WAIT!" However, they got bound back down by more of the vines, making them both yell a lot of nos. They both began to cry, being completely helpless in this situation.

And with being bound down by the vines, they both screamed as loud as they could.

In the dug up crater, their screams were muffled, but still could be heard. Unfortunately, no one was around to hear them...

Making them completely trapped.

"And that was the last we saw of him," Lucas began to finish. "After that...he was just...gone." He rubbed his hands together. "Jesus, it still feels like it happened yesterday. Can't believe it's been that long."

Damn...that was something. "Yeah...I bet," Max replied, looking pretty shocked to hear everything. "Just...wow."

"I know, it's crazy. That's why Jane said that you wouldn't understand and..." He paused to sigh. "...why I told you that you'd think we're crazy."

She released a deep sigh and thought about everything he told her for a moment. So there was this kid, Michael Eleven, or Mike for short, and he had mind powers. She remembered Jane saying that he was their Mage. His hair was buzzed, but his skin was a bit pale, he had freckles, and he was JUST a bit taller than the rest of the boys. That description made her think of that asshole that bumped into her at school yesterday. He had pale skin, freckles on his face, and was a bit tall for his age...but he had a head full of black hair. She thought that couldn't have been him, but the shit Lucas told her that all of that happened a year ago, so...maybe he did grow hair during all that time and that kid WAS him. Plus, he said he didn't talk all that much. He didn't say anything to her before running away. There was also the statement that he really liked Jane, so maybe he was there to...see her?

Damn it, she didn't know. All of what he told her was crazy and unbelievable, but he told her so yesterday, so she had no idea HOW she was supposed to feel about all of this.

Lucas saw her thinking through the expressions she had on her face and frowned, knowing that she was probably digesting what he told her. He held up his hands and stated, "I know it's a lot to take in, Max. Take your time."

She heavily sighed and replied, "It's...it's just that..." She shook her head, closing her eyes for a bit before opening them to look at him. "I don't know if I should believe you or REALLY think you're crazy."

"I KNOW everything sounds crazy, but it's ALL true!"

"INCLUDING this 'Mike'..." She used air-quotes with his name. "...having mind powers?"

"Yes." There was that serious look again...

"INCLUDING this...'Upside Down' Will was trapped in?"

"YES."

"And INCLUDING this 'Demogorgon' and the government baddies from Hawkins La-"

He instantly stood up from his chair and yelled, "YES, MAX, YES!" She tensed up at that. "I would NEVER lie to you, okay? Everything I told you is a hundred-percent TRUE, even if it sounds like some fairy tale!"

This didn't help her thoughts at all. She was still stuck between wanting to believe him and not believe him. She looked at the clock, seeing it has been an hour, and grabbed her skateboard. "Okay...if everything you told me was...true..." She faced him with a serious look. "Then you have to prove it."

His eyes widened at that. How the hell was he supposed to prove all of THAT to her?! "Wait-"

She went to the door and opened it. "I SERIOUSLY need to go." She pointed at him sternly. "DON'T follow me out!"

He sighed as he ran to her when she opened the door and got out. They got out of the end of the arcade thanks to Keith opening the flip door for them, then Lucas asked, "You're not gonna tell anyone about what I told you, right?"

She scoffed. "Even if I did, who's gonna believe me?" she answered as she turned to him. "I don't know, Lucas. Just DON'T FOLLOW ME OUT, okay?" He looked rather saddened as he saw her open the exit door, seeing her brother in the sports car as well as her going to it. He (and Dustin too) saw that she didn't exactly get along with him. So, he had to prove to her that everything he told her was true...but how? Shit, HOW?!

...

Meanwhile, Billy saw Lucas looking at his step-sister in the arcade, making him look out the window as she got into his car and buckled up. "The hell did I tell ya, shitbird?" he asked her.

She looked at him, trying to act coy, and answered, "I'm not late-"

"Y'know what the hell I'm talking about."

It didn't take her long to realize what he was saying. "Who, Lucas?"

He scoffed. "So, the crazy boy's got a name now?"

She mentally cursed herself and stammered, "I-it's a small town, okay? We weren't hanging out."

Yeah, sure. His lips thinned out a little. "Ya know what happens when you lie, right?"

She still tried to act coy. "I'm not lying." He gave her a sharp glance that made her blood run cold before he drove them away. As if she didn't feel shitty already...

She saw Lucas come out and watch her leave, making her feel more shittier than before. She hoped that he could prove his story to her so that she didn't think he was crazy because really...he wasn't THAT bad.

Wait...how was Lucas going to prove her that his story was real if Billy didn't like him...?

Goddamn it.

Kali held the tape recorder and had played everything Dr. Owens said while Jonathan was still standing next to her and Murray sat down like he asked, looking like he was digesting everything. When Dr. Owens in the recording stop talking, she stopped the tape, asking the theorist in confidence, "So, that should be enough, right?" The bearded man looked up at her like he was missing the point of her question, making her sigh. "This entire tape recording should be enough to incriminate the Lab, right?"

He still didn't answer and he stood up and...began to leave the secret office. The two friends looked at each other, being puzzled by his action before following him. They saw him in the kitchen...with a metal cup, some ice in that cup, and a bottle of vodka, some in that cup. That made the Indian girl scoff. "Are you serious?"

The man began shaking the bottle. "I'm thinking."

She looked at him in disbelief. "VODKA makes you think?"

He looked at her with irritation. "It's a central nervous system depressant, so yes, it does make me think." Kali rolled her eyes, thinking this was unbelievable. He poured it into a glass cup and carried it as he walked over to a record player. He set the cup of vodka on another table as he got out a record.

"Music? You're going to play MUSIC while drinking VODKA?!"

"Yes, it helps me..."

"Think?" Jonathan finished for him, the conspiracy theorist nodding. Both of the teens couldn't believe this. They knew this man was a bit odd, but this was stupid. He got out the record and set it to play on the console. Once the jazz music in the record played, he grabbed his cup of vodka again and began to roam around the living room.

Kali walked to Murray and asked, "How long does this take?"

"Longer if you keep talking," he answered, annoyed.

She scoffed again. "I think what I asked is pretty simple: is the tape incriminating or not?!"

He laughed and looked at her. "That wasn't a simple question you asked-in fact, nothing you've told me was simple."

She looked shocked to hear him say that as well as Jonathan, who walked right to her side and asked, "You don't believe us, do you?"

"Oh no, I believe you, but there's the problem: you don't want ME to believe you, you need THEM to believe you."

The two teens looked completely puzzled. "I'm sorry, 'them'?" Kali asked.

"Who's 'them'?" Jonathan also asked.

"Them." He pointed...somewhere to his right and walked to the array of TVs and radios he had at one side of the room. "Capital T-H-E-M. Your priests, your postmen, your teachers, the ENTIRE world at large." He scoffed. "They'll never believe any of this."

Kali gave him an irritated look as she opened her palms. "Why the hell did you think we made the tape?!"

He looked at her once again. "Ah, see, that's actually easy to bury, like REAL easy."

She scoffed at him once again, holding up the walkman. "Easy? EASY?! He ADMITS it! YOU heard it! He admits to CULPABILITY!"

"Stop being naive, Kali!" She gave him a sharp stare as he continued, "Those people...the rest of the world...aren't wired like me and you." He began to slowly approach her. "They don't spend their lives trying to look what behind the curtain." He grinned, chuckling a little and shrugging. "They actually like the curtain because it gives them stability, comfort, and definition. This..." He shook his head. "...would open the curtain, and the curtain BEHIND that curtain, okay? So the second someone of authority calls out bullshit, everyone will nod and say, 'Ha! Yes! See?! It was BULLSHIT all along!' And that's if you even GET their attention!"

She clenched her fists, feeling pissed at what he told her. "So, you're telling me we did all of this for NOTHING?"

"I'm SAYING that I'm THINKING!" He took a sip of the vodka, being hit hard by it as he grunted and went back to the kitchen. Kali huffed, leaning on a chair and feeling frustrated as hell.

The auburn-haired guy turned to her, feeling just as frustrated, and whispered to her, "This is ridiculous."

"I know, it's stupid," she whispered back as she saw Murray water down the vodka...water down...

Wait.

She walked towards him as he said, "That's it!"

Jonathan and Kali gave him looks as he asked, "What's it?"

"It's too strong." They both knew he was talking about the vodka, the teen guy sighing and walking away in defeat. The man took another sip of the vodka, saying, "Much better." He poured some more and took another sip. He released a blissful sigh and murmured, "Perfect."

This made Kali think of something. As much as she hated to admit it, Murray was right. Everyone wanted the comfort of everything being normal and the government saying whatever they want to make them believe it. Leaving the tape as it was would make it easy for the government to call bullshit. She wanted to leave the tape as it was, but now it wasn't an option. Instead...to make it actually believable and have Them question the government...

She chuckled and leaned towards the table, saying, "We water the story down."

He grinned and pointed her proudly. "Exactly."

Jonathan was puzzled by this, making him go to her side again. "Wait, what?"

"Your story, we have to moderate it," Murray stated, getting another cup and pouring the vodka in it. "Just like this drink here." He set the bottle down and continued, "Perhaps...Barbara may have gotten exposed to dangerous toxins from the Lab."

Kali snapped her fingers and pointed at him. "There was a leak from the Lab, maybe from Three Mile Island. She got exposed to those in the water and died."

"Scary, but familiar." He placed the cups right in front of the two teens. "Close enough to hit the man right where it hurts." He grinned as well as she did.

"And those arseholes that killed my dear friend Barbara..." She carried the cup of vodka.

"...will go down in power." That made them all smile, the two teens approving of it. Raising their drinks up, they all began to drink the watered down vodka.

Giana has gotten a sleeping mask from her and John's room and handed it to her nephew. Mike saw that the sleeping mask was soft and black. "This is your Uncle John's mask," she told her. "Will that do?"

He looked up at her, and then John, who nodded in approval, so he nodded back and answered, "Yes."

Suddenly, he and the adults heard Caleb crying upstairs, making Giana sigh and stand up. "I'll handle it."

John stood up as well and said, "Let me come with you."

"It's fine. He probably needs to be changed." She looked back at Mike and asked, "You do want everything to be quiet, right?"

"Yes," he answered again before she nodded at him and proceeded to go upstairs.

...

In the living room, the freckled boy sat in front of his mother, putting the sleeping mask as the TV still spewed static and Caleb was still crying. "So, you want us to stay here with you?" Nick asked.

"Yes," he answered once again.

"And we won't mess up anything for you?" asked Jen.

He shook his head. "No."

The adults nodded as they all heard Caleb's crying fade away, much to their relief. After half a minute, they heard Giana come downstairs and join them in the living room. "It's time?" she asked them.

"Yes, baby," John answered her as she sat next to him. She and Nick released heavy sighs.

"Mike? If...if you can talk to your mom...can you tell her that Nick and I love her very much?"

The man in question gulped and added somberly, "Yeah, and that...we're sorry that we, and our spouses, didn't believe everything she said?"

Feeling their sincerity, Mike nodded and answered, "I'll try." That made all of the adults smile before they completely fell silent.

"Breathe...sunflower...rainbow," Karen muttered, looking at the TV and still rocking on her chair. Mike had started drowning out his senses to finally speak with her. "Four to the right...two to the left. Four-fifty...breathe."

When she said that, he opened his eyes and saw her not too far from Mike . "Breathe...sunflower...rainbow," she continued to mutter as he slowly approached her. "Four to the right...two to the left...four-fifty. Breathe..."

He looked somber, saying, "Mom?"

"Sunflower...rainbow."

"Mom...it's me...Michael." He finally got close to her. "I'm here."

"Four-fifty. Breathe...sunflower...rainbow."

He bent down to her eye-level a little and stated, "I'm home now."

That was when she looked at him straight in the eye and said sharply, "No." His eyes widened and his skin crawled at that one word. Suddenly, she grabbed his arm and got him into that darkness once again.

...

He opened his eyes once again and looked around. She wasn't there anymore, making him worry.

"Mom?!" he cried out before hearing someone run behind him. He turned around to see his mom standing and running as fast as she could, wearing her curly hair down and wearing a dark velvet robe. That made him worry even more. She began to slow her running, her grunting and holding her stomach. She fell to the ground, making him scream, "MOM!" He ran and went to her side, seeing that she was bleeding from her bump of a stomach. "Mom, what's happening?! What do I do?!"

She breathed shakily and muttered, "Oh...my daughter..."

He looked puzzled. "Daughter? What-"

"Oh my God, oh my GOD!" he heard Giana, sounding younger, yell out. "KARRIE!" He looked up where her voice came from and before he even knew it...he was experiencing an entire series of flashbacks from Karen.

I'm actually going to stop here. What do you guys think of this chapter? Any mistakes or typos that I've missed?

I figured that the ENTIRE series of Karen's flashbacks I plan on writing would be too much for this one chapter, so you guys'll have to wait until the next chapter to see them!

Anyways...

Dustin and Steve finally meet...under a circumstance a bit different from canon, but still, they meet! Let the bonding begin!

So...Hopper AND Terry are attacked by the vines...twice the trouble...

So, instead of Max not believing Lucas at first like in canon, she's at a crossroads about what he said. After all, he DID tell her that she'll think he and the rest of the Party were crazy. She still needs proof though.

I figured that Kali would be stubborn about being right, so that's why she was a little more aggressive towards Murray here.

Follow, favorite, review, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!