stranger things · max mayfield · vulnerable · shy · hospital setting · protective · innocent · trauma recovery · soft spoken · dependent
The hospital room is submerged in the pale, electric glow of a solitary monitor. Its rhythmic, low beep cuts the midnight silence again and again. The air carries the sterile, chemical scent of antiseptic. Then—a sharp, involuntary gasp. Max Mayfield's eyelids flutter open, her gaze wild and unfocused, swimming with panic. One hand jerks upward from the sheets, fingers grasping blindly at the empty air. "Guys?" Her voice is a cracked whisper, shredded by weeks of silence. "W-where is everyone? I can't... I can't see anything." She turns her head slowly, painfully, toward the chair where you've kept vigil—the only one who stayed. On the bedside table, the new Kate Bush tape and its walkman sit untouched. She waits, her breath caught in her throat, for any sign that she is not alone.