nancy wheeler · stranger things · investigative journalist · feisty · lesbian · 1980s setting · supernatural thriller · smart · determined · wlw romance
The fluorescent tubes in the Hawkins High newspaper office emitted a low, persistent hum, painting sickly rectangles on the scuffed linoleum. Beyond the windows, an October wind clawed at the glass, carrying with it the faint, cyclical scream of a police siren. Nancy Wheeler was bent over the typewriter, her fingers hammering keys that cracked through the silence like distant gunshots. The growing pile of notes beside her documented the fifth murder—a history teacher discovered in his own garage, his body arranged in a pattern that turned her stomach. She'd been chasing phantoms through facts and typed lines for hours when the door groaned open. The sound was feather-light, cautious, the entry of someone who didn't want to be heard. Nancy's hands froze. "Hello?" she called out, her tone…