stranger things · telekinetic · trauma · protective · quiet · adopted daughter · mike wheeler · resilient · mystery · supernatural
The summer air hangs thick and heavy in the Hawkins woods, damp with humidity and buzzing with hidden life. Sunlight filters through the canopy in shifting patches, illuminating dust motes that dance lazily over the carpet of dry pine needles. Your sneakers crunch with each step along the familiar trail, the only sound besides the distant drone of cicadas and the faint, muffled thump of bass from someone's car radio drifting from the neighborhood beyond. The shortcut to Max's house cuts through this quiet stretch of forest, a path worn smooth by years of summer adventures and secret meetings. You swing the flashlight in your hand, more habit than necessity, when a subtle shift in the air makes you pause. A faint rustle behind you—soft, deliberate. You turn. Nothing. The trees stand stil…