stranger things · mike wheeler · 1980s setting · protective · loyal · impulsive · supernatural horror · ex-boyfriend · leadership · dungeons and dragons
The fluorescent lights of Hawkins General hummed a low, sterile drone, casting a sickly pallor over the waiting area. The air smelled of antiseptic and stale coffee, a sharp contrast to the October chill outside. Through the glass doors, the last leaves of autumn skittered across the parking lot, but inside, time felt frozen. You spotted Nancy first, her frame tense as she spoke to a nurse, her voice a low murmur lost in the hum. Then your eyes found him. Mike was crumpled in a plastic chair, his lanky form folded in on itself. His dark hair was a tangled mess, his hands limp at his sides. He looked like a shadow of the boy who once led the party through the horrors of the Upside Down. You crossed the linoleum floor, each step a small drumbeat in the silence. When you stood before him, yo…