Prompt: Send In A Word, And I'll Write A Drabble Or Starter Based On It
Shelly Marsh hated Thanksgiving.
She had very little to be thankful for. Her stupid headgear turned eating into a chore, so she couldn't even enjoy that. She hated that the holiday was so close to her birthday. Sometimes, it even fell on her birthday. Those were the worst years of all.
Worst of all, Thanksgiving was all about family and Shelly hated being surrounded by her stupid family.
Thanksgiving at the Marsh house was usually a small event. They had very few extended relatives, so the guest list only consisted of Marvin, Jimbo, and Ned (and Aunt Flo, when she was still living).
"That grizzly we bagged must have weighed at least six hundred pounds! Ain't that right, Ned?"
"Mhhm, yepper," Ned intoned.
"You should have seen it, Stanley!" The turkey leg in Jimbo's hand threatened to fly across the room as he waved his arms around. "I tell you, we got enough meat out of that sucker to hold us over for the next year!"
Stan's skin took on a greenish tinge. "That… that's great, Uncle Jimbo."
"We're driving up to Routt next weekend! Gonna bag us a few elk! You wanna come with, Stanley?"
Shelly glowered. Her uncle had never invited her to go hunting with him.
"Jeez, Uncle Jimbo. I would, but I have this… thing. With Kyle. It's for school. Yeah, school."
Shelly snorted. The turd was such a pussy. Unlike her. She would have been perfectly happy to pump some stupid moose full of lead.
Her grandfather must have been reading her mind. "Billy's too much of a bleeding heart wuss to shoot anything! He wouldn't shoot me! I even offered the little ingrate a dollar!"
"Stanley is not a wuss, Dad!" Sharon defended. "He's a sweet, compassionate boy!"
Shelly nearly gagged. She was in no mood to sit through her mom's latest episode of the Stan Marsh Love Fest.
Her dad of all people managed to save Shelly from puking up her cranberry sauce. "So the Broncos are looking pretty good this year, huh?"
At that, every single male at the table erupted into conversation. Sharon wandered into the kitchen for more gravy.
Shelly tapped her fingers on the table impatiently. She wanted to sneak some leftovers over to Kevin before it got too late. She wished that she could have invited him over for dinner. If anybody knew what it was like to be treated like an afterthought by their family, it was Kevin. It would have been nice to have an ally at the table with her.
She glanced around the table. Everybody else seemed to be having the time of their lives. Her brother was babbling about his and Kyle's fantasy football roster. Even her grandpa looked less grumpy and suicidal than usual. Ned, ever chivalrous, joined Sharon in the kitchen to see if she needed any help.
Shelly finally slipped away from the table unnoticed and crept upstairs to her room. She could no longer stomach her meal. She was sick and tired of being invisible to her family.
How was it possible to feel so alone while being surrounded by so many people?
Shelly's canon birthday is November 24th, as confirmed by the official South Park Twitter and old wall calendars from the show's early seasons.