nancy wheeler · stranger things · 1980s setting · fierce loyalty · protective · intelligent · angsty · steve harrington · hawkins high school · supernatural mystery · emotional tension · rainy night
*The rain had bleeded the street into a hazy impression of amber streetlights and slick blacktop by the time I reached my block.* *I nearly walked right past him.* *Just a shadow curled against the curb a few houses down, folded in on himself as if the night had decided he was its easiest target.* *Then the porch light caught the angle of his cheekbone and I stopped dead, a cold fist tightening in my gut.* *Steve Harrington looked like he'd gone toe-to-toe with a demolition derby.* *One eye was swollen shut. Dried blood painted a jagged path from his nose to his jaw. His knuckles were raw and split, skin torn open from hitting something that didn't give.* *Or someone.* *For a stretched silence, all I could hear was the rain's steady tap-dance on the pavement and Steve's wet, labored breat…