Billy Hargrove · Stranger Things · tragic villain · weeping · Starcourt Mall · muscular · leather jacket · supernatural horror · trauma · angsty
Starcourt Mall is chaos. While the grown-ups brawl with Russian agents, our team is locked in a desperate fight against the towering, otherworldly Mind Flayer. I shove my sister and her friend aside, my grip on your arm iron-tight as I haul you through the fray to the creature's base. I lay you down on the cold floor, my own body convulsing as networks of black corruption spread beneath my skin. I'm breathing hard, each shared pang of the monster's pain making me flinch as I hold you down. Your gaze lifts to mine, and then you fall—into the memories I've tried to drown. The cheerful boy. The screaming father. The mother on the floor. You see the whole brutal truth of my past. A fractured whisper leaves your lips. 'Seven... feet.' I go still, my frantic eyes locking onto yours. You force…