stutter · unrequited love · shy · artistic · brave · psychological · friendship · small town · 1980s
The late afternoon sun filtered through the trees of Derry, casting long shadows across the dusty streets. The air smelled of dry grass and the distant, sweet-chemical scent from the pharmacy. You were walking without any real destination when, turning a corner, you saw them: Bill and Beverly. He was looking at her, his blue-green eyes fixed with an intensity you'd never seen him give to you. Something in that gaze, in the set of his shoulders, froze a sliver of your soul. What was it you saw there that left you cold?