Becoming More Than Strangers

Chapter 20: Returned

Sadie sat back in the waiting room waiting for the surgery to finish. Mitchell soon returned with a cappuccino and handed it to her. She gratefully sipped it as she sat, deep in thought. Mitchell sat next to her and sunk into his seat. He cleared his throat before saying, "So why didn't you tell me earlier?" Sadie turned and looked at him with confusion. He continued, "You know. About you two..." He motioned upwards with his head, inferring Jess. "And even just about you being, ya know, into girls and stuff. You're literally my best friend. I thought we told each other everything." Sadie shrugged. "I don't know. Being my best friend is the reason why I couldn't. I just didn't want to risk it. If I'm going to be honest, I thought I had more time. I never thought I'd date a girl. At least not yet. But I couldn't help it with Jess. She—she—I don't know. She changed things for me. I couldn't stop myself from falling for—" She was interrupted by the surgeon walking in. Sadie shot up immediately and the surgeon said, "Hi Ms. Sink." Sadie immediately said, "How is she? Is she okay?" The surgeon's voice got lower. She said, "She's stable. We had been planning on waiting until we did this surgery but her pulse kept dropping after she went into cardiac arrest." Sadie said, "When do you think she'll wake up?" The surgeon said, "I don't know. We'll wean her off the sedative today and see how that goes. It could be hours, days, weeks...But Ms. Sink, I'm not going to lie to you: there's always a chance that she won't wake up." Sadie's breath caught in her throat and her eyes welled with tears. She pursed her lips and nodded, solemnly.

Mitchell and Sadie followed the surgeon down the hall, feeling as though it was a journey to the gates of Hell. Mitchell sensed Sadie's unease and reached for her hand, giving it a tight squeeze. They walked in and saw Jess laying there. She looked pretty much the same as before, perhaps with a few additional dressings but Sadie couldn't help but think that Jess looked somewhat peaceful. She gravitated to the side of the bed and held Jess's hand. Without thinking, she took her phone out and took a photo of their interlocking hands, Jess's fingers loosely hanging onto hers. She typed out the following: I don't normally do this but I am desperately asking for you all to send good thoughts our way. They'll be trying to ease Jess off the sedation so every prayer counts right now. She then posted it without another thought. Little by little, the nurse slowed the drip of her sedation until it was moved to a water bag. Something in Sadie stirred her to believe that Jess would somehow wake up then but she knew that's not how these things worked. Ultimately, she slumped back into the chair just grateful to at least be with her girlfriend.

As the week progressed, people continued to move in and out. Eventually, Mitchell had to leave for some work but their mom, Lori decided to come and provide support. Soon came Sadie's last day of filming leaving her extremely anxious yet relieved. Once she was done with this, she could spend the rest of her time waiting in the hospital. She had turned down two major motion picture auditions and a chance to re-audition for Broadway but she didn't care. Conscious or not, she wanted to be near Jess.

For her last day of filming, they were naturally shooting one of the most challenging scenes in which Max and El ultimately kill Vecna to avenge Katie's death. Sadie walked up to her mark alongside Millie as they both screamed at Jamie. Sadie walked up to Jamie as he was rigged up on the wall in costume. Sadie said with as much hatred as she could, "YOU. You caused this. You took everything from me. I hope you rot in hell." Right on cue, Jamie screamed. Sadie panted with vengeance, waiting for them to call cut. Finally Matt sputtered out, "Uh...cu—cut. Wow. Sadie. That was—that was...wow." Sadie wiped her tears and then went back to her mark as makeup did touch ups. Millie leaned over and said, "Hey. Are you okay?" Sadie shrugged and said, "As much as I can be right now." Millie reached over and squeezed her hand.

After a few hours of takes, the Duffer brothers said what was most heartbreaking yet relieving: "Alright, that's a wrap on Max!" Tears streamed from her eyes and from the cast and crew. Millie, Caleb, Finn and the rest of the cast all ran to give her a big group hug. They couldn't believe that they wouldn't be seeing one another—wouldn't be seeing their family—every day again. At least not ever like this. Lots of photos were taken and everyone chuckled at the fact that they were all smiling at the cameras with tears streaking their faces. Finally, one of the assistants ran up to Sadie with her cell phone as they were all about to cut some cake. It was her mom who was at the hospital with Jess in case anything happened while Sadie was gone. Lori crackled through the phone, "Honey?" Sadie responded with intense fear. "Mom? Mom! What's going on?" Her mom responded, "Just come back down when you're done filming." Sadie responded, grabbing her bags, "I'm already on my way." The Duffer brothers mouthed, "Everything okay?" Sadie shook her head and shrugged, rushing to the car.

Sadie ran into the hospital, making her way down the halls. Nurses yelled at her to stop running but she couldn't help it. She sprinted. She needed to see what was going on. She rounded the corner and stumbled into view. Her jaw dropped and tears welled in her eyes as she looked at her mom.