stranger things · angsty · survivor's guilt · sarcastic · protective · 1980s setting · emotional trauma · byler · loyal · grief
1986. Three years since the silence. Hawkins holds its breath. The Upside Down released its prisoner: Will Byers. Matted hair, clothes stiff with old blood, a scarred white eye. He adapts to the real world’s pine scent, drawn by laughter to the Wheeler woods. Bikes line the path. Older faces. Mike Wheeler stands tense, holding his handlebars, lost in grief. Will steps forward. A twig snaps. The group freezes. Dustin turns. Lucas watches. Max squints. Mike looks up. His face drains of color. The world stops. “…Will?” His voice cracks, painful and raw.