Eleven wakes up on the floor of the Upside Down world's classroom, a moment of panic as she assesses the situation. The demogorgon is indeed no more, and she is alone amidst a familiar parallel world, surrounded by a blue hue and a proliferation of vines.

"Mike?" She asks again and again, the desperation in her question increasing with every repetition. She wanders the vine-infested halls looking for what's next. It doesn't take long for her to find a red glow that juxtaposes the atmosphere, a glow emanating from a small break between the dimensions. The soldiers who marched through the hallways previously are still out there making one last pass at searching. She waits, not long, before it's safe enough to investigate the perforation.

She tries to push her hand through, the thick film stretching across her hand. The Portals have made some strong impacts in how they are visualized in the parallel dimensions, both in the color and in the sound mixing in the real world, the sound of Eleven stretching through is almost comically quiet, with no echoes or random growls and hums.

With a quick use of her powers a trace of blood still running down her nose the hole enlarges and Eleven bursts out of the Upside Down world through a slit out of the concrete wall. Eleven has been reborn, and is back in the real world.

But she isn't back with everyone. After wandering out of the school, she walks all the way to the home of Mike Wheeler's family, which is illuminated by the flashing blue lights of several otherwise-unmarked police cars.

Eleven sneaks up to the window. The house is crowded with an unnecessary number of agents interrogating the entire Wheeler family in separate spots. Mike's dad is more than understanding.

An agent tell the adults. "The most important thing is for you to try and go on with your lives and to keep all of this."

"Top secret. Understood." Ted replied.

Meanwhile, Mike is being told about how "dangerous" Eleven is, as she looks through the window. They lock eyes, and she knows that this home of hers is not safe. She's back in the world she wants, but in this moment she doesn't have a home to return to.

The agents notice Mike looking out, and knowing what that means, they fan out from the front door looking for her. But Eleven is already in hiding, crouching in the fetal position under a log. She keeps her sobs as low as she can. She is back, but she is alone.
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As time goes on it's Halloween, and the festivities are in the air. Trick or treating, carving pumpkins, parties, and dressing up as anything you want that's what Celeste loved about this amazing holiday.

Celeste is dressed up as a sock hop girl from the 50s, and the boys are Ghostbusters, because this is the early 1980s and nothing is cooler than Ghostbusters. As the boys get ready, it's Will that people should be paying most attention to. It's always Will. While he's putting the finishing touches on his costume, Joyce comes across a drawing of the Demogorgon on his desk. She asks him if he's having more "episodes" and he lies; we have to assume that it's out of a desire to protect his mother and make himself seem as normal as possible. We know Will hates to be thought of as a freak, and admitting to having more episodes would only further push him into that category.

Will saw his friends parking their bikes at the front of the school and heard the ghostbusters opening tune. "Ghostbusters!" He exclaimed.

"Hey, Spengler! Egon! Yeah!" They all greeted.

"Venkman!"

As the boys and Celeste greeted each other Mike noticed something about Lucas's costume. "Whoa! Whoa!"

"What?" Lucas asked.

"Why are you Venkman?" Mike retorted.

"Because I'm Venkman." Lucas replied.

"No, I'm Venkman." said Mike.

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

"Because there's only one Venkman in real life. We planned this months ago." Mike explained.

"I'm Venkman, Dustin's Stantz, you're Egon, and you're Winston."

"And I'm a sock hop girl, never mind I'm not helping the situation." said Celeste.

"I specifically didn't agree to Winston." Lucas argued.

Mike exclaimed, "Yes, you did!"

Will chimed in, "I don't think he did."

"No one wants to be Winston, man." Lucas said.

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

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

"Lucas has a point." said Celeste.

"Yeah, but he's still cool."

"If he's cool, then you be Winston."

"I can't!" Mike said.

"Why not?" Lucas asked.

Mike started stuttering, "B-B-Because."

"B-B-Because you're not black?"

"I didn't say that!" Mike yelled.

"You thought it." Lucas spat.

"Mike, Guys, Guys! Guys! Why is no one else wearing costumes?" Dustin asked.

After arguing about which friend should be playing which Ghostbuster, the boys realize that no one else has shown up in their costumes. They're tossed into the loser pile, the odd ones out the group of friends who are now  childish tweens who showed up to school in costumes.

Things go from bad to worse when Lucas and Dustin spot Max, the new girl they have a crush on, skateboarding down the hall. The goal is to ask Max out on a date, but to get that far, they have to first talk to her.

They're aware of the differences between themselves and Max which go beyond the fact she's not in a costume and they are. It's an example of how Max tries to be cool, whereas their group doesn't. They embrace their nerdiness and, it's only with the appearance of Max, do they realize just how uncool they are.

Still, Dustin and Lucas do talk to Max and without making fools of themselves. They even ask her to hang out and go trick or treating with them later that night. It's not the smoothest of introductions, but it's adorable watching them work up the nerve.
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But back at Hawkins National Laboratory that's where something has gone awry. Remember the employee so busy playing with a ball and listening to music that he didn't notice something very strange was happening in the parallel world? There is an issue, however, and it's up to the guy in the hazmat suit to go in and fix it, which he does, with little concern for his own safety.

The team is working their hardest to ensure that the Upside Down stops leaking into the real world. They're sending in people to cauterize it and ensure that the two worlds remain separate. It's not going exactly as planned, however, based on what's happening with the pumpkins.

They know that the Upside Down is leaking. They know it has a connection to Eleven, Celeste, and Will. And they know that everyone involved at the lab are aware of all these things. It's a race against the clock at this point, and the scientists are losing out.
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As the kids were getting ready to trick
or treat they were waiting for Will who was being monitored by Jonathan here's the thing Will and Jonathan's sibling relationship is one of the better familial bonds. Will looks up to Jonathan, and Jonathan considers Will one of his best friends. Their time together alone in the family car, as Jonathan drives Will to go see his friends is peaceful because Jonathan can feel his brothers longing to be normal for at least one night.

Jonathan has been a father figure to Will for quite some time, including making parental decisions that put him in the "cool older brother" category. Allowing Will to go trick or treating with his friends, instead of under supervision, is more proof Jonathan just wants his younger brother to be happy. Will's life is surrounded by chaos and if he can have one night where he doesn't feel like a freak, Jonathan wants to give it to him.
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Celeste and the guys walked through the streets going from house to house trick or treating and all of a sudden a girl jumps out in a Michael Myers costume, scaring the hell out of them, Taking up Dustin and Lucas on their invite, Max joins them for a night of trick or treating, but not everyone is as pleased as the aforementioned two harboring a crush on her.

They kept walking and as their friends walked ahead there were these idiot kids who scared Will and Celeste making them fall and somehow have an episode they screamed for Mike but couldn't see him then they looked up at the sky and saw a shadowy monster in the sky.

The monster is scarier than ever, so Will and Celeste do the only thing they know how to: run. They run as fast as they can, taking refuge behind a statue as the monster starts to encompass them. They are terrified, frozen in place, trying to block out everything that's happening. It's only when Mike calls their names that Will and Celeste are brought out of the world. Mike decides to take them home, leaving Lucas and Dustin to trick or treat with Max alone.

Mike hates Max. He doesn't know her, but he's not down with a new girl joining their party. It's understandable; Mike is still missing Eleven and she was the first girl to be accepted by the group.

Mike's connection to Eleven is stronger than the rest and he spends his time obsessing over where she is. Like his best friend, Will, Mike just wants to protect Eleven from harms way and that becomes extra challenging when she's not living in his basement.

That's why the sudden introduction of Max is jarring and anger-inducing for Mike. Mike tells Will and Celeste later as they all sit in the basement about how he sees Eleven and hears her voice, admitting that he feels like he's losing his mind.

Mike's connection to Eleven is ongoing, much like Will's connection to the Upside Down. Will, Celeste, and Mike are able to bond over this inability to not move past what's happened; as Will says, he's got one foot in the Upside Down and one foot in the real world.

Celeste agrees with Will because she knows they're both seeing the same thing Mike has one foot in the present, a world where Eleven doesn't live with him, and one foot in the past, where she does.

It comes down to Mike feeling like everyone has moved beyond what happened last year and he's the only one who's worried about their friend. Max is going to be a contentious addition to their party for Mike. It's going to be a bumpy ride for the two of them for a while yet.

Will and Celeste's visits to the Upside Down are becoming more frequent, and it's clear that this monster is a part of them. With the Upside Down leaking into Hawkins and they are unable to escape from the monster's clutches, it's only a matter of time before everything goes to hell once and for all.
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The End of Chapter 2