Heather

The main character of This Hell I'm Living. A strong willed woman who suffers through excoriation disorder, unrequited love, and stalking.

Backstory
Heather grew up with conservative, misunderstanding parents and a disabled brother who's needs were never attended to. At home, Heather was the one taking care of her brother and standing up for him when he couldn't, all the while facing her family's bigotry on a daily basis. Her mental health suffered, especially as her unmanaged dermatillomania worsened and caused her to have a fear of her own skin (on top of her dysphoria and general dislike of her body). She developed an unhealthy relationship with drugs during high school to distract herself from her daily struggles, but she was always looking for some other source of relief. A distraction appeared in the form of Eve, a silent upperclassman who Heather fell in love with. They formed a bond and supported each other in their individual struggles, and kept loose contact even after Eve graduated.

Heather came out as trans after graduating high school and decided to run away from home. Eve, now living alone, offered to be roommates. Heather enrolled at a local community college, all the while working a few jobs (barista and Personal Care Assistant) to pay her half of the rent. (Paying for school and rent on her own, she often leans on Eve to make ends meet and feels financially dependent; especially when she went hog wild with expensive forms of selfcare like tattoos. This creates a lot of guilt and shame, and feeds into her sense of obligation to care for Eve.)

In the year they have cohabitated Heather flourished in her new environment, beginning HRT and significantly lowering her dependence on substance use. College and a new household have both been great to her, and Heather's far happier. However, she's haunted with the regret and guilt of having left her brother to fend for himself, and living with her (somewhat emotionally manipulative) unrequited love is beginning to really wear her down. Starting her second year of college, Heather finds herself once again desperately looking for escape (and once again finding it in people).

Ongoing story
Starting her second year of college, Heather begins to meet some new people: one a lovable but socially inept artist, and the other a seemingly care-free beauty. Her interactions with them serve as distractions from the stress, guilt, and exhaustion of her daily life, but eventually throw everything into chaos.

Misc.

• Eats so much Chinese food and ramen noodles
• She refuses to buy a bedframe. Heather insists it’s just an overpriced useless accessory. She doesn’t care at all about what people think of her; her bed is a mattress with sheets. Screw bedframes.
• Basically, she’s frugal (largely because she knew she'd have to be, having planned to run away from home for years)
• Common mannerisms are scratching her back, face, or pulling lightly at her eyelashes or eyebrows (though does these less due to makeup and eyebrow pencil, part of reason why she uses make up. Also face makeup keeps her from face scratching and covers the scratches).
• Seems trendy but actually lacks fashion sense, lazy ass who’s clothes often don’t fit right. But the makeup is very well done and well organized, nice brands. Often rebuys hairdye because it fades every few months.
• Working as a PAC since she used to do basically the same work for her brother. At home, she commonly does the same things taking care of Eve (especially during their first year living together when the agoraphobia was at it's worst). She's going to college hoping to do something involving taking care of people with disabilities but is starting to wonder if she might burn out soon.
• Arms were tattooed her freshman year of college to help her with her fear of skin