Chapter Text
Holly Wheeler became acutely aware at twelve years old that her family was falling apart. Ever since the Great Earthquake of 1986, her family had become more and more fractured as each day passed. This fracturing sped up partly due to the Byers moving into the Wheeler’s basement. Now, Holly liked the Byers, but she liked them much more when they didn’t live in her house. Her mother, Karen, spent much of her days keeping the house as put together as she could with three more people living in it, while at night, she slipped away into the master bath, spending time with nothing but herself and a bottle of wine.
Unlike her mother, who spent her time at home, her father, Ted, stayed out of the house as much as possible, preferring to keep his distance from his wife, his kids, and the Byers. As time passed, Holly felt less and less like her daddy’s little girl. He no longer spent time with her – no kisses goodnight, no Saturday morning cartoons, nothing. She couldn’t blame him for it, though, as she moved herself into the background. The worst realization she had, however, was that the distance that grew between her and her siblings, Mike and Nancy, had grown too vast. They became separated, on opposite shores from each other – on one, her, and the other, them. She missed them. God, she missed them. She missed playing dress up with Nancy. She missed Mike reading to her, with him voicing each and every character. Just as their dad avoided their home, so did they, always leaving, never staying.
She was not entirely alone though. She had her best friend Debbie at least, but Debbie couldn’t combat the loneliness when they only saw each other at school and maybe the weekends. School was almost as difficult as being at home. Every day, she had to put up with Derek Turnbow – Dipshit Derek. No matter how hard Holly tried to keep to the background, Derek always pulled her forward, making fun of her for a multitude of things.
Look at Holly Wheeler, she is such a baby. She still wears her hair in pigtails. She sleeps with a night light and a teddy bear. She has no friends.
She tried to pretend that this didn’t hurt. It was easy for her to do her own hair by wearing pigtails. She knew that the other kids also slept with teddy bears or nightlights or with their parents, but it was she that was targeted. To Holly, it seemed that they could sense something about her was different, was wrong.
So, as it stood, Holly was alone… until she wasn’t.