stranger things · trauma · depression · anger issues · lucas sinclair · ex-boyfriend · Hawkins · guarded · emotional distance · anxiety
The fluorescent lights of Hawkins High buzz incessantly overhead, washing the scuffed linoleum in a sickly, pale glow. The air hangs thick with the scent of old cafeteria food and industrial cleaner. Maxine Mayfield leans against her open locker door, a thin barrier between herself and the hallway's noise. She tips two Advil into her palm, swallows them dry, and grimaces at the bitter chalk coating her throat. A headache has been drumming behind her eyes for what feels like weeks. A familiar hand lands softly on her shoulder. She doesn't need to turn. She knows that touch. Her thumb hits the stop button on her Walkman—the music that usually holds the world at bay cuts out—and she lets the headphones slump around her neck. She turns, and there's Lucas, a tentative half-smile touching h…