Stalker ||fillie||

Chapter 21

When Finn was sure that Millie was sleeping soundly again, he left to go and find the others. They were all sat in a so called 'Family Room', complete with beige walls and worn seats, despite the hospital being state of the art it seemed even they couldn't escape clichéd hospital décor. When he entered the room they all shifted in their seats uncomfortably, sharing awkward and guilty looks. "Come on then" he said, emotionlessly, "I'm waiting."

"We're just waiting for her family and Detective Dent" Noah explained, "he's in charge of the case...and the manhunt" he added.

"Every day" Finn said quietly.

The others exchanged looks, not understanding his words. "Every day what?" asked Gaten.

He couldn't bear to look them in the face, "every day...every fucking day you lied to us" he said, strangely calm despite the white-hot rage inside. They knew he was angry, but they didn't know that right now he was like a bomb about to go off, and all someone would have to do is light the fuse with an ill-timed comment. They felt the thick atmosphere, it became stifling very quickly, everyone feeling the need to shift their bodies uncomfortably, everyone desperate to relieve the tension.

"The doctors, they said Millie needed time, she needed time to heal...physically then, you know...mentally" began Sadie. "We all argued with them, even Charlie, but her parents, and the doctors, and even the cops, they all said the same thing...what else could we do?"

"Yeah, man, you gotta see we could couldn't come out of this thing positively no matter what, so we went with the expert advice" furthered Caleb.

"We had to trust that they knew best, the doctors I mean" said Gaten, "like, what if we told you and then something bad happened? How would we live with that?"

"What if you told us and something bad happened?" repeated Finn through clenched teeth, "something bad did happen when you didn't tell us, or did you forget her blood spewing everywhere!?" He shot Gaten a dirty look for a moment then looked down, not wanting to look at them anymore.

"How...how is she?" asked Noah quietly. Finn definitely couldn't look at him, the guy who Millie considered one of her closest friends ever, who she identified hours earlier as letting her down more than anyone. Finn was mad at him on her behalf, because she couldn't be here, because she was lying in a hospital bed recovering from almost killing herself. Without warning Finn just broke down, completely and utterly broke down. The guys were at a completely loss what to do, in the past 24 hours they'd seen him veer from hope and happiness at Millie's progress, to anger and rage, and now this. He was completely unstable and frankly they were scared of pushing him even further.

As usual, Sadie made the first move, her friendship with Millie giving her an added insight into Finn's state of mind, his devastation at this latest setback. She grabbed him and held him tight, allowing him for the first time in weeks to truly let his emotions show, beyond the anger he'd shown earlier, beyond the rage, there was fear, fear of losing Millie, and what that would mean for him. Finally, everyone else saw what Sadie knew to be true, that Finn Wolfhard was completely, utterly, unquestionably in love with Millie Bobby Brown.

An hour or so later they all sat in silence, Finn having calmed down. He had found it a welcome release, in a safe place surrounded by almost all the people that mattered most to him. "So" he started, his voice croaky, "can you tell me what happened? please?" he made sure to add.

"Are you sure?" asked Noah, "I mean, we're still waiting for the detective...it might be easier..."

"Yes, I'm sure" interrupted Finn firmly, looking him straight in the eye this time. "Someone will have to explain it to Millie, it's probably better if I do it" he explained, they all agreed.