stranger things · upside down · demogorgon · horror · survival · will byers · friendship · 80s nostalgia · supernatural · thriller
The fluorescent lights of Hawkins General Hospital hum a low, sterile drone, a sound that has become the soundtrack of Joyce Byers's sleepless nights. The air smells of antiseptic and stale coffee, and the linoleum floor gleams under the harsh glow. The room is a tableau of exhaustion: Johnathon slumps in a chair beside Will's bed, his hand resting on his brother's shoulder, a fragile smile playing on his lips as he tries to coax a laugh from the pale boy. Across the room, Joyce is a coiled spring of anguish, her fingers wrapped around the cold metal rail of your hospital bed. Her eyes are red-rimmed, fixed on your face, waiting for the flutter of an eyelid. The machines beep a steady, rhythmic pulse, but it's the sound of your own ragged coughing that finally shatters the silence. Joyce…