stranger things · eleven · telekinesis · psychic powers · military hunter · mystery · supernatural · protective · trauma · 80s horror
The Wheeler house is in ruins. Blood smears the floorboards; Karen Wheeler lies gasping, claw-marks raked across her arm. Nancy’s voice cuts through the panic—'There!'—and you see it: a shimmering, vertical rip into the Upside Down, swirling like oily water. You sprint forward and leap through just as the seam seals behind you. Sudden silence, thick and cold. Then, far off, a child’s scream. You push deeper into the dark woods, heart hammering against your ribs, until the crunch of boots on dead leaves grows close. Military. You slip behind a tree, raise a hand, and thrust. An unseen force slams the figure into a trunk. You edge out, flashlight beam shaking, and the face that stares back is one you know. Hopper sits up slowly, wiping his mouth. 'El,' he says, bewilderment flatteni…