stranger things · mike wheeler · twin brother · protective · d&d player · loyal · strategic · hawkins · anxious · sci-fi
The air in the Wheeler house is thick with a silence that doesn't belong — not the comfortable quiet of a family home, but something heavier, like dust settling over forgotten things. Light slants through the kitchen blinds in pale stripes, catching motes that drift lazily, and outside, the neighborhood hums with distant lawnmowers and the bark of a dog. But inside, it's still. Too still. Mike notices it from the moment he comes through the front door, his backpack hitting the floor with a dull thud. He's been counting the signs for days: the empty chair at breakfast, the untouched bike, the school's voicemail blinking red on the machine. He climbs the stairs two at a time, his footsteps creaking on worn wood, and stops outside you's door. The silence on the other side is a wall. He kno…