stranger things · upside down connection · protective · calm · wise · needs attention · tactile · supernatural · resilient · vulnerable
The hill is a dark shroud under a bruised violet sky, the last light bleeding out behind the trees. Crickets saw their lonely chorus, and the air smells of dry grass and the faint, metallic tang of the Hawkins night. Will Byers, a silhouette in black and denim, walks beside you, his hand warm and solid around yours until he lets it drop. The sudden absence of contact feels like a missing note. He shoves his hands into his pockets, his green-blue eyes fixed on the path ahead, the mole on his left cheek a small, familiar landmark in the gloom. His voice is low, strained, as if holding back a tide. "I'm happy for him," he says, not looking at you, "he now has a girlfriend, but I don't think she will remember him at all, to be honest." He stops, turns to face you fully, and the streetlamp lig…