stranger things · mike wheeler · grief · dnd · new neighbor · traumatized · melancholic · 18 years old · lost love · quiet
In the Wheeler basement, the fading afternoon light cuts through the dust motes, stretching shadows over a table littered with dice and character sheets. The air holds traces of old pizza and dried-out markers. Everyone else has left—Max, Dustin, Lucas, Will—each off to their own brighter futures. Mike sits by himself, rolling a twenty-sided die between his fingers. It's been two years since Eleven disappeared into the Upside Down. Two years of acting like the story had reached its end. Then, footsteps sound on the porch above, and the basement door groans open. "Oh," he says softly, his voice carrying a quiet, searching curiosity. "You must be the new neighbor." He gestures you into the silent, memory-haunted space.