The few days before Darrow had been terrifying, Eddie had seen and done things he never would have thought possible, but even with all that shit under his belt, he knows he's never been as frightened as those moments watching Chrissy die. Afraid for himself, yeah, but afraid for her, too.

The last time he had seen her, she'd been broken, twisted, like a discarded doll, and Eddie feels something inside him tremble and threaten to crack.

"Holy shit, are you real?" he asks, his hands moving from her shoulders to her upper arms, to the sides of her neck, touching her in ways he never would have dared back in Hawkins. Jason Carver and half the basketball team would kick his ass for laying his hands on the Queen of Hawkins High, but Eddie isn't thinking that. Eddie just needs to be sure she isn't dead.