━━━━ 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 !
𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍
Merely ten minutes later, Jonathan stationed the van next to the curb in front of the Wheeler family's driveway. With a smug grin on his face, the shaggy-haired teenager repeatedly honked the horn to snag everyone's undivided attention.
Perched at the peak of the driveway were Karen and Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley, and Dustin Henderson.
A distinctive look of relief washed over Mike's freckled face after he spotted his mother and older sister. Even after the colossal tragedy that had swallowed Hawkins, they were safe.
Karen squinted her eyes in an attempt to catch a better glimpse of the suspicious vehicle parked in front of her house. Surfer Boy Pizza? She didn't recall anybody ordering a pizza that afternoon, and she knew for a fact that Hawkins didn't contain any pizza establishments with that title.
As if they had overheard the endless string of notions spiraling through Karen's frazzled brain, the teenagers slid the vehicle's doors open and took turns leaping out of it, their faces glowing with sheer joyousness. It felt nothing short of surreal to finally reunite with the people they loved.
Without further hesitation, the teenagers dashed into the arms of their loved ones, nearly knocking them onto the asphalt in the process.
Mike gravitated towards his beloved mother, who had been worried sick about him for the entire week. Jonathan hurried over to Nancy, ecstatic to see her after what he considered to be the longest nine months of his life. In the meantime, Will and El bolted over to the infamous Dustin Henderson. Sobs of happiness and relief sounded from the small crowd as they basked in each other's presence.
"You are never going on vacation again, you hear me?" Karen snapped, grabbing her son's broad shoulders to emphasize her argument. "In fact, you can forget about college. You are staying right here!"
The blonde woman erupted into a frenzy of tears and pulled Mike back into her arms, causing a sheepish grin to spread across his freckled face.
˗ˏˋ꒰ 🎱 ꒱
"Are you okay?" Jonathan questioned his beloved girlfriend, his chocolatey brown eyes brimming with all sorts of concerns.
"Yeah," Nancy swiftly nodded, flashing a toothy grin in his direction. "Yeah, I'm okay. But, Jonathan?"
"This isn't an earthquake — I know," The eldest of the Byers boys interrupted. "I know a lot more than you think."
"How?" The Wheeler girl whispered with bewilderment. "We've been trying to call you."
"I know," Jonathan cut her off a second time. "I'm sorry. We just couldn't risk contact."
"You couldn't risk contact?" Nancy echoed his abnormally perplexing sentence.
"I'll tell you everything, okay? I promise," He replied. "But, for now, I'm just glad you're safe."
"Okay," The girl chirped, shooting another smile of reassurance in his direction.
Jonathan cradled the girl's face with his hands and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. She blushed profusely at his romantic gesture and pulled him in for another long-awaited embrace.
˗ˏˋ꒰ 🎱 ꒱
Despite not having seen him in nine months, Will quickly realized that something was terribly wrong with Dustin Henderson.
Rather than behaving in his typical goofy and carefree manner, the curly-haired boy remained silent. He looked like an entirely different person due to his depressed and downright exhausted appearance. The dark circles sagging beneath his eyes made it evident that he hadn't had a proper night's sleep in days.
"Where's Lucas?" Will tentatively inquired.
"He's at the hospital," Dustin replied, clicking his tongue with a singular nod.
"Was he hurt?" El chimed in with a hint of concern in her eyes.
"No, no, he's fine," Dustin started before freezing at the realization that his friends were utterly clueless about Max's condition. "Oh, God. You don't know."
El instinctively cranked her head around to face her step-brother, who only mirrored her puzzled expression.
"What happened?" Will questioned the shorter boy, his voice cracking as he spoke.
"Vecna happened," Dustin exhaled a heavy sigh, trying his very hardest to fight back the tears threatening to spill from his blue eyes. "Max is in a coma."
"Coma?" El repeated, unsure whether or not she knew the what the unfamiliar word meant.
"It means she's unconscious," The curly-haired boy explained.
"Shit," The Byers boy whispered, his eyes brimming with tears.
"Can we visit her?" El inquired, still not fully understanding the severity of her best friend's condition.
"Yeah, of course," Dustin nodded, his lips curving into a subtle smile.
˗ˏˋ꒰ 🎱 ꒱
The hospital room was dim and melancholy, the only sounds infiltrating the small space coming from the multitude of monitors hooked up to the unconscious girl. The machines beeped once every three seconds, which quickly grew annoying for patients and visitors.
The room looked as blue as it felt. The hospital staff clearly hadn't made any efforts to brighten the place up for their patients. In Will's humble opinion, it was the least they could've done.
Lucas Sinclair had spent every millisecond by Max's side. He loved her too much to leave. His parents tried to convince him to come home every now and then, as they didn't think it was healthy for their son to constantly be reminded of the redhead's condition, but he refused. Even though the hospital chair wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep, it was worth it if it meant he was in the same room as Max.
Erica, Lucas' younger sister, had spent a portion of her time with her brother as well. As much as she enjoyed teasing and downright humiliating him whenever she was presented with the opportunity, Lucas was her brother at the end of the day. Truthfully, she was worried about him.
"Heartbroken" wasn't strong enough of an adjective to convey the dark-skinned boy's emotions. There wasn't a single word in the English dictionary that accurately summed up how he felt. The only girl he had ever loved was in critical condition and there was no telling whether or not she'd wake up. His only option was to pray for the best outcome possible, but nothing was guaranteed. Life was unpredictable like that.
One of the multiple ways Lucas had been passing the seemingly endless span of time in the dull hospital room was by reading stories to the girl. There was a slight chance that she was able to hear everything he said, and if that was the case, he wanted her to be entertained. So, storytelling it was.
Suddenly, merely seconds after he finished the fourth chapter of the novel he was reading to the unconscious girl, the door flew open. This greatly startled him, nearly knocking his body to the ground. He expected a doctor or nurse to enter the room to perform their usual check-ins, but was instead met with his best friends.
Mike, Will, Dustin, and El stood in the doorframe with sad smiles on their faces. Lucas could've sworn his jaw had slammed against the tiled floor from dropping so dramatically.
"Oh my God," He exhaled, immediately rising from his seat and wrapping Mike and Will into a much-needed group hug. "I've been calling you guys like crazy."
"I know," Mike whispered. "We came as soon as we heard."
After pulling away from the embrace, Will caught a glimpse of an almost unrecognizable Max Mayfield. Her fair skin had become a ghastly shade of pale, her eyelids and lips a faint shade of purple. A nasal cannula was attached to her nose and her limbs were wrapped in stiff casts. A neck brace kept her head in an upright position.
Seeing her in such an awful condition was bizarre, as she had always been such an energetic and witty teenage girl.
After greeting the boys, Lucas pulled El in for a hug. Once she was in his arms, it was nearly impossible to hold back her tears.
"I'm sorry," She whispered, her face buried into his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, too," Lucas replied with a sniffle, knowing the circumstances were just as difficult for El as they were for himself.
It took everything in El not to break down when she got her first real glimpse at Max. Her best friend — her only female best friend. The girl she could be herself around. The girl she leaned on for advice.
The girl who taught her how to be a girl.
Mike, who stood in between El and Will, wrapped his arms around them in an attempt to comfort them.
"Do they know when she will wake?" The brunette girl spoke up.
"No," Lucas frowned. "They say she might not."
He slowly inhaled and exhaled before mustering up the courage to continue speaking.
"Her heart stopped for over a minute. She died. I mean, clinically, but then she came back. The doctors don't know how. They say it's a miracle."
Mike shared a look of sadness with his boyfriend. Will, in turn, leaned his head on the taller boy's shoulder as a tear dribbled down his cheek.
Just then, El stepped forward and slowly lowered herself onto the edge of the bed. She stared at the redhead for a moment before gently grabbing her limp hand.
"I'm here, Max," She whispered, praying that the girl had somehow heard her.
𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 !
it should not have taken me 2 whole weeks to update this story but here we are 🤡