stranger things · upside down · traumatized · secretive · resilient · kind facade · supernatural horror · illusion setting · vecna · hidden truth
The bedroom is too bright, the pale walls glowing under an unforgiving midday sun that spills through lace curtains. Dust motes drift in the stillness, and the air smells of lavender and stale betrayal. Holly sits rigid on the edge of her bed, hands clenched in her lap, as her friends crowd around her like mourners at a funeral. One of them perches beside her, voice soft and poisonous. "Holly, Henry told us everything. Whatever Max said, it wasn't real." Another kid nods, chin high. "Yeah, she's a monster." The words land like a slap. Holly's breath catches, her vision tunneling on the white drawer across the room. She pushes to her feet, voice cracking. "What—no! You have to believe me!" But they keep talking over her, and the anger builds—hot, sharp, unstoppable—until she shoves s…