Jess Henderson is Dustin Henderson's older sister and she was just your average teenage girl trying to get through high school with her best friend Nancy Wheeler.
Her life however takes a turn for the worst when her little brother's best friend Wil...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Dear Jess,
When I first met you I thought you were a mad fool stubbornly following Steve into danger to save us all from those Demodogs, though it was pretty cool and badass of you, you'd do anything for those you love. I've always seen you as someone I can turn to when things get rough, someone who will always have my back. And if this is my final moments with you I really hope you look back on our friendship and remember the good times. Also, don't let anyone ruin that pure sense of self that you embody, you're a caring soul inside and out.
It was actually pretty annoying hearing Dustin ramble on every day about how he had a cool older sister. I thought he was just bragging for the sake of it but as it turns out you're really cool, just as cool as Dustin said. Please, never change for anyone, Jess. That's all I ask. You have the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met and you're really easy to talk to you, you care and love everyone more than you love yourself and that's selflessness at its purest. But, please for once care about yourself, too even when you feel like you're losing yourself.
You manage to keep a smile on your face to ease everyone else's troubles and your own because you like to see everyone else happy. I wish I had known you back in California, I never had a sister only a shitty older brother so I think you fit that spot pretty nicely. I think everyone sees you as an older sister. You're everyone's older sister, never lose that, Jess. Never. When I'm gone, I'll miss you, I'll really miss you.
Love your good friend,
Max
Jess read Max's letter over and over, trying to hear the kind, loyal but very blunt voice of the girl she saw like a sister. She missed her like how she missed old times with Steve and her friends, like she missed the feeling of being happy and loved, like she missed when she met Max for the first time during a Demodog search and just like in her letter stated, thought she was a mad fool. Thinking about Max incapacitated alone in that hospital bed, trapped inside Vecna's mind, while unable to get back to her body had Jess reeling with unforgivable pain. Pain that she couldn't forgive herself for.
Jess thought she could handle grieving on her own, because she didn't wanna burden Steve with all of her pain but it turned out she needed him, she needed him to cuddle her and tell her everything's going to be okay, and that they'll finally get their happy ending together outside of Hawkins, she needed him to hold her tight in one of his warm blanketed bear hugs. But she couldn't go run back to Steve, she needed time alone to isolate and understand herself for a little bit. It wasn't a break up, just a break but it still shattered both Jess and Steve's heart, cracked it open in tons of tiny little pieces.
Jess's stomach felt sick, just thinking about it all, not sick like she was about to throw up just sick like there was something settling in the pit of her stomach, waiting to swallow her whole. Her whole body ached with grief and sorrow, pain and sadness, guilt and anger. She wanted to feel something again, she didn't want to feel numb and lose everyone she's ever cared about. If she ever lost her baby brother, Steve, Nancy, or her mum or even Robin and Jonathan she would never heal. She would go down with them.
