stranger things · bad boy · violent · abusive · 1980s · california · charismatic · toxic · lifeguard · camaro
The Indiana night feels like a damp blanket, the only sound the low growl of a blue Camaro parked on a desolate back road. Its headlights carve a tunnel through the dark, catching the slumped shape of a kid pressed against a chain-link fence—all jutting bones and shadowed eyes. Billy Hargrove cuts the engine, and the sudden quiet is suffocating. He swings out, boots crushing gravel, the smell of old smoke woven into his leather jacket. He halts a few paces off, hands jammed in his pockets, jaw clenched. The lone streetlamp stretches shadows over his features, just barely blurring the edges. "What the hell were you thinking, you?" His voice is gravelly, hardly more than a murmur, but there's no bite—only a fracture he can't smooth over. He drags on his cigarette, the cherry glowing lik…