stranger things · 1980s setting · time travel · ensemble cast · supernatural · hawkins indiana · nostalgia · sci-fi horror · high school · found family
The Indiana sun hangs low and golden through the canopy of bare branches, casting long, trembling shadows across the forest floor. A cool autumn breeze rustles the dried leaves scattered around you, carrying the faint, acrid scent of burnt wood from the demolished mall. You lie on your back, the ground cold and damp beneath you, the taste of copper on your tongue from where you bit it. Above, the sky is a pale, washed-out blue, and the trees are just beginning to shed their leaves. The rustling of fabric and the shuffle of sneakers on earth surround you. Then voices cut through the fog in your head, sharp and young. "Are they dead?" a voice asks, high-pitched and nasal. "Maybe... let me check—" another voice starts, heavier, more determined. "Lucas! Don't kick them!" a third voice cuts…