I gasp and choke on air as I wake up in a cold sweat, my hair sticking to my face. I look all around the room, the events of my nightmare still fresh in my mind.

It was almost the same as last night, but this time it also had some traits of the usual dream I've had since I got home from the hospital. I had been running again, from the Demogorgon, but when he caught me, and all of my friends volunteered to die, Will began to have an episode, and everything went dark like that night at the Arcade. The storm came and swallowed everything, the last thing I remember is Will's cry for help.

I lie back down on my bed and check El's watch from my dresser.

4:57.

I groan, knowing I won't be able to sleep anymore. I head to the bathroom and turn on the light, inspecting my face. I have bruises on my cheek bone and around my eye, and a scratch on my jaw that's covered in dry blood. My neck has a large bruise around it, and I swear slightly, there's no way I can blame this attack on an incident down the stairs. My hand feels stale, and I take off the bandage to look at the burn.

It's huge, covering my palm and the tips of my fingers. The skin is peeled and blistering, shiny like leather. It's a raw pink in most areas, though some is a gross white colour where the dead skin hangs on the surface. It hurts to move, an uncomfortable stretchy feeling that stings my whole hand. I turn on the hot water for my shower and take my clothes off, staring at the bruises on my neck and ribs. The scars on my chest make me look away, not wanting to be reminded of all that pain.

I get in the shower and breath out in painful relief. I use my left hand to wash my hair and body, letting the hot water relieve my aching muscles. I keep my burn free of the line of fire, and I can feel the bits of dry blood coming off my face as I stare into the shower head.

I step out and dry myself off, heading to my room and picking out a pair of sweatpants and my letterman jacket. My mind wanders, and I look around my room until my eyes fall onto my calendar. I drop my clothes when I see the date of today circled many times in red marker. I guess after everything that happened last night I forgot what today is.

I head to my closet and pull out the white janitors suit that I washed with one of our red towels. It's pink now, and perfect for the costume I have in mind.

We all watched ghostbusters a few months ago, and we immediately knew we wanted to be them for Halloween. It all worked out, except Lucas and Mike both wanted to be Venkman. I still don't think they've figured it out, but we'll see.

I get on my costume, grabbing my wig and glasses. I slip on my boots and head downstairs, excitement rushing through my veins. It's still early, so I continue on my math homework until I hear Steve wake up. I can again hear him rushing around upstairs before running down here and seeing me.

He stops, and turns on the light. I grit my teeth as he walks towards me. I let him inspect my face, because I know he has to, and wait in agony as the silence stretches on.

"What happened?" He demands quietly after a while.

I shrug, "He was super drunk and came home angry. Then, you know." I shrug again, "One thing leads to another."

"I'm sorry I left." He says and looks at the bruises on my neck.

"Don't be. I'd rather you not be here so you don't have to get hurt as well."

He sighs and grabs my wrist to regard my hand, "What happened here?"

"The stove."

He groans, "You know when I move out you're coming with me."

"If you move out."

"But I don't know what's gonna happen when I go to college."

"If you go to college."

"Or get married."

"If you get marri—"

He slaps me upside the head and I grin, ignoring the pain. He shakes his head and lets go of my hand.

"You're going out tonight though right?" He asks as he heads to the stairs.

"Yep. Can't miss the greatest night of the year."

He walks up the stairs and I sigh. Halloween is basically the only holiday I've ever celebrated. We don't celebrate my birthday because we never have. We used to have Christmas back when my mom lived here, but that was way back when. All of the other ones are just normal days. But Halloween I would always go out by myself and trick or treat. This year is the first year I'm going with friends, and I am beyond excited.

I stand, heading over to the fridge. I grab an egg and crack it into a frying pan, turning on the stove. I watch as the surface grows hotter, and my hand twitches subconsciously, the memory of my skin melting away making me shudder.

I eat my egg slowly, holding my fork in my left hand. When I finish, it's 6:43, and I know Dustin, Lucas, Mike and Will will be waking up in about fifteen minutes. I wait half an hour, passing the time by organizing the rest of my costume and throwing on my huge backpack, wires and tubes springing from it.

When it's finally 7:40, I grab my walkie talkie.

"This is Loud Mouth. Do you copy?"

I wait for a couple seconds, then my device buzzes, "Yeah I copy. This is Short Stuff. Over."

I laugh. Will hates the name I gave him, but he goes with it like everyone else, and I'm sure it's grown on him.

"This is Curly Head. I copy too. Over."

Soon everyone's on the channel, and we discuss where to meet to ride to school. Will can't of course, because his mom drives him to school like Steve used to when my leg was healing.

I feel bad that he doesn't get to ride with us. But Joyce is definitely not one to negotiate with, especially when it comes to the topic of her son's safety.

I close the door after saying goodbye to Steve, my gun and other gear in my school bag as I hop on my bike and head to school.

Mike, Dustin, Lucas and I sing the theme song as we pull into the school parking lot. When they saw my face, they said nothing, for which I am grateful because I don't like speaking of my fresh injuries. They're not as noticeable as past times, so it could just look like I fell over or something, not so much that I was mauled by a bear. Well, except for the bruise on my neck, I'll have to come up with a better story for that one.

"Who you gonna call?!" We shout as we park our bikes.

"Ghost Busters!"

I turn and see Will standing there, in his Spengler costume, smiling at us.

"Hey!"

"Spengler!"

"Egon!" Lucas hugs Will.

"Venkman!"

I hug Will too and cheer along with the boys until Mike points at Lucas.

"Woah woah woah. Why are you Venkman?"

"Because I'm Venkman."

I share a look with Will. We both knew this would happen.

"No I'm Venkman." Mike insists.

"Why can't there just be two Venkmans?"
Will says.

"Yeah." I agree.

"Because there's only one Venkman in real life!" Mike says, "We planned this months ago. I'm Venkman, Dustin's Stantz, Liz is Janine, you're Egon and you're Winston."

"I specifically didn't agree to Winston."

"Yes you did!"

I roll my eyes, "I don't think he did Mike."

"No one wants to be Winston man."

Dustin shakes his head.

"What's wrong with Winston?" Mike argues.

"What's wrong with Winston?" Lucas repeats, "He joined the team super late, he's not funny, he's not even a scientist!"

"Yeah but he's still cool." Mike says, looking to me for backup. I gesture to them both.

"If you think so then why don't you be Winston?"

"Problem solved."

"I can't." Mike says.

"Why not?" Lucas raises his eyebrows as Mike stutters.

"Uh—Because..."

"B-b-b-b-because you're not black?"

"I didn't say that!"

"Well you were thinking it!"

"Guys?" Dustin says and I look at him as Lucas and Mike continue to argue.

"Guys!" I go to stand next to him and see what he's looking at. My heart sinks as I see all the kids walking out of the school bus.

"Guys!" The other three join us and I readjust my wig. "Why is no one else wearing costumes?"

"Shit."

The bell rings and we stand there in the parking lot, people staring at us as they walk into the school. We follow a couple minutes after, walking as a group through the hallways as people laugh at us.

"When do people make these decisions?" Dustin says and I bite my lip.

"Everyone dressed up last year."

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

"Just...be cool." Mike says.

"You you gonna call?" I turn as a group of girls laughs at us, "The nerds."

I glare at them as they giggle, and roll my eyes.

"Come on guys." I follow the boys to their lockers, "Let's not let these losers ruin our day. We look awesome. They're all lame."

"We look pretty lame to them though." Dustin says.

"Do you seriously care that much? We spent ages making these suits. We spent months planning this. I am not letting them wreck it for us."

I open my locker and pull out one of the only things I keep in there. Steve's boombox. I stole it from him a while ago when I was angry and never gave it back. I brought my tape to school, and I push it into the slot, turning up the volume all the way.

The Ghostbusters theme song blasts through the hallways and more people stare at us. I grab my hair brush and head to the middle of the hallway, shuffling past people and dancing like an idiot.

I take off my wig and whip my hair around stupidly as the boys laugh.

"Who ya gonna call?" I pump my fist and spin in a circle as the music blasts.

"Ghostbusters!" A couple people shout and grin at me as I take my hair brush like a microphone.

"There's somethin strange, in the neighbourhood. Who you gonna call?"

"Ghostbusters!" The boys shout as I point at them, and I grin as people laugh at me.

"There's somethin weird," I lip sync, "And it don't look good. Who you gonna call?"

"Ghostbusters!"

I shuffle backwards and soon everyone's laughing, making me grin in triumph. I carry my boombox around and dance to the music, singing along to the words.

"Watch out!"

I'm stopped in the middle of my lip syncing when something collides with me, sending me to the ground. My boombox clatters to the ground and shuts off the music. I hear a crash and a shout, and I land hard on my butt.

"Liz!" Dustin comes and helps me up, and I take his hand gratefully. However, suddenly he lets go, and I land back on my behind as I frown with confusion.

I look back to Dustin, who's helping up another girl with Lucas. I fee a pang of hurt in my chest as I watch her stand, and I scramble to my feet on my own, picking up my boombox and scratching the back of my neck.

"Sorry about that." I say to the girl, who I recognize as Max. She shakes it off.

"It's fine." She's nice enough, though pushes herself away from Dustin and Lucas, which makes me happier than it should. I watch as she goes and picks up her skateboard, tucking it under her arm.

"Nice costumes." She says coolly before walking the rest of the way to her locker, which is close to mine. I put my boombox away and sigh, glancing at Lucas and Dustin, who continue to stare at Max. I try not to overhear their conversation, but I can't help myself from catching a few words

"It's now or never."

"We must engage."

I roll my eyes and close my locker as Max walks away to her class.

"We could ask her after class."

"Yup."

"Okay."

They close their lockers and walk away as I shake my head, trying to clear any negative thoughts that may have formed from the events that just occurred.

Classes fly by, anyone staring at our costumes regretting it as I would dance around them singing the theme song. I kept the boys' spirits up, which is a relief, since I didn't want this day to be ruined. During English, Dustin and Lucas were whispering about Max, and I had to move to sit next to Mike and Will to avoid eavesdropping. After school, I walk with Dustin and Lucas as they head to their lockers again.

"So, tonight we're meeting at the Maple Street cul-de-sac at 7:00, yeah?" I ask and they nod absentmindedly. We turn the corner and I walk over to their lockers, frowning when they don't stop walking.

"Guys, your lockers are right here you kno—"

I trail off as they arrive at Max's locker, and begin talking to her.

"Um hi, Max." Dustin clears his throat as I roll my eyes and walk over.

"I'm Dustin, and this is—"

"Lucas."

I lean against the locker and blow air from my cheeks.

"Yeah, I know." Max glances at me, "The stalkers."

I snort, looking at the other two expectantly.

"Uh, no."

"Actually...We weren't stalking you."

I scoff and roll my eyes again, being super dramatic for the benefit of my own amusement.

"No, we were just concerned because, you know, you're new and all."

"Yeah, for your safety."

"Mmm-hmm."

Max crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow.

"There are a lot of bullies here."

"S-So many bullies, it's crazy." Lucas says coolly and I raise my eyebrows, shaking my head.

"Yeah."

"Is that why you're wearing proton packs?" Max eyes Dustin's backpack and smirks.

"Well, these don't function." Dustin reaches behind him, "But I do have this handy-dandy little trap here."

"And look, it even opens and closes." Dustin activates the trap and I groan, heading over behind Max to my locker.

"Look, look, look, voila!" Dustin chuckles nervously, "It's cool, right?"

I can practically hear the look Max is giving them right now, and it makes me smile as I open my locker.

"No? Okay."

"But, um so, we were talking last night, and you're new here, so you probably don't have any friends to take you trick-or-treating," Dustin talks super fast, and I don't think I've ever seen him this nervous before, "And—and you're scared of bullies, so we were thinking that it would be okay if you come with us."

"'It'd be okay'?" Max repeats.

"Yeah." Dustin stutters, "O—Our party's a democracy, the majority voted you could come."

Max nods as I put my binders in my locker, shaking my head.

"I don't remember any vote being held." I say absentmindedly. Dustin and Lucas glare at me.

"Yeah well, they'd be okay with it. There was no vote really needed." They try and save it, and I roll my eyes.

"Didn't realize it was such an honor to go trick-or-treating with you."

"We know where to get the full-sized candy bars." Dustin says like it explains everything, "We figured you'd want in."

"That's presumptuous of you."

There's silence, and I snort.

"Big long words make Dustin's brain go—" I make a farting noise with my tongue and Max laughs as the boys stutter.

"Yeah....Presumptuous. Totally." Dustin grins nervously, "Uh, so, um you'll come?"

Max rolls her eyes and closes her locker, walking away from the boys as I smirk. I close my locker too, and lean against it as Dustin panics.

"We're meeting at the Maple Street cul-de-sac at 7:00!" He shouts after her, "That's 7:00 on the dot!"

She rounds he corner and I raise my eyebrows at Lucas, who shakes his head.

"Presumptuous." Dustin smiles, looking at Lucas and me.

"That's a good thing, right?"

Lucas sighs and turns around, leaving Dustin looking nervous.

"Is it bad? Lucas, is it bad?" He chases after Lucas as I chuckle quietly, "Lucas? Son of a bitch, Lucas."

"Is it bad?"

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

Howdy friends.

Another update. Yay. Let me know if you have any suggestions because I need them. Correct me if I need correcting. Comment, vote, etc.