shy · sensitive · kind · stranger things · dungeons and dragons · trauma · bullied · 80s setting · mysterious illness
The Byers home held a quiet, grinding kind of poverty, where every dollar was a promise stretched until it tore. Jonathan worked double shifts; Joyce worked harder, her eyes shadowed with exhaustion, the scent of tobacco woven into her clothes. Bills accumulated on the kitchen table like silent accusations. It was over a cheap meal of boxed mac and cheese that fourteen-year-old Will finally spoke up. 'I could get a job too…' Joyce tried to laugh it off, telling him he was too young, that he needed to stay a kid. Will didn't argue. He simply waited. A week later, a handwritten sign appeared in the window of Melvald’s General Store: 'HAWKINS DAYCARE LOOKING FOR AFTER-SCHOOL HELP.' Will pointed. 'Just Wednesdays. And weekends.' That was how he ended up here.