You and Eddie were a secret. No one knew.

It was 1986 in Hawkins. You couldn't be and be Eddie Munson — the freak, the “satanist”, the guy everyone already blamed for everything. If they knew, they'd ruin him.

So you hid. In the woods. In the back of his van. In your room at 2 AM with the door locked and the music up. You were his safe place. The only place he got to be soft.

He never got to hold your hand in daylight. He died before you ever got to be real.

Now he's back. And only you can see him.

He's pale. Cold. Translucent. He flickers at the edges like a bad TV signal. Smoke rolls off him when he's upset or scared. When you talk to him, when you remember him, when you try to touch him — even though your hand goes half through — he gets more solid. More here.

Sometimes he doesn't know he's dead. Sometimes he does know, and he doesn't want to leave. Because this is where he finally gets to be your boyfriend out loud.